Graphic design senior wins poster contest for March for Our Lives

calendar icon27 Mar 2018    

Lincoln, Neb.--Natalie Dettmer, a senior art major in the School of Art, Art History & Design from Lincoln, won a national poster contest sponsored by Amplifier and Adobe Project 1324 to create posters for the March for Our Lives event in Washington, D.C., on March 24. The march was organized to bring attention to the issue of ending gun violence in response to the February shooting at Florida’s Stoneman Douglas High School.

More than 15,000 copies of her poster were distributed at March for Our Lives in Washington, D.C., and Dettmer was able to attend the event as one of the winners of the contest. Three winners were selected among the open call for submissions from artists between the ages of 13 and 24.

“I was really excited to find out that my poster had been selected as one of the winners because it’s being used to support a great movement, and I’ve never had my work shared on such a large scale before,” Dettmer said.

She first found out about the contest on Facebook.

“I decided to enter because ending gun violence is something I feel strongly about, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get my work more exposure,” she said.

Her poster features the phrase “Not One More.”

“I think this phrase is really powerful because the March for Our Lives movement is centered around the idea that one more shooting or one more life lost or one more day without action from government is unacceptable,” Dettmer said. “With that in mind, I wanted to make the poster bold and to the point.”

More than 200,000 people participated in the march in Washington, D.C.

“I really enjoyed getting to be a part of the march, along with the two other winning artists and the Amplifier and Project 1324 teams,” Dettmer said. “It was really awesome to see my poster being used by many people at the march in D.C. I’ve also seen images on social media and the news of my poster being used at marches across the U.S. and in other countries, which is cool to see. At the march in D.C., the other artists and I had a lot of fun handing out posters, and we got several compliments about the quality of our artwork.”

Associate Professor of Graphic Design Stacy Asher was glad Dettmer entered the contest.

“I’m extremely proud of Natalie for taking on this project that addresses social concerns, independently, outside of her capstone and coursework,” Asher said.

Dettmer said she is a graphic designer “because I like solving creative problems,” and she said it has a role in social justice.

“Art and design play an important role in social justice issues by spreading awareness and encouraging action in ways that other mediums can’t,” she said.

She likes the focus of the graphic design program in the School of Art, Art History & Design.

“One of the things I like most about the graphic design program at Nebraska is that we are taught to think outside the box and encouraged to pursue the topics and mediums that interest us,” Dettmer said.

Dettmer is scheduled to graduate this May and plans to work at a summer job in Oregon.

“I hope to start working full time as a graphic designer this fall,” she said.

For more information on the contest, visit https://go.unl.edu/zpdv.