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For the graphic artist working overseas or preparing material for an international audience, researching the audience and their cultures has been of ultimate importance. Though it is impossible to learn everything about all the cultures of the Pacific, I have tried to be observant and keep mental and written or illustrative notes of anything that may seem useful to future projects. When necessary, a trip to the local library, interviews or casual conversations with people of the region were necessary in finding the right approach. One way that I developed a store of imagery was to visit with artisans of traditional handicrafts, learning about the patterns and symbols used in their crafts.

By taking several short-term language classes and trying out my stumbling Fijian with some Fijian friends, I learned some things about the culture that proved useful to the creative process and for developing new ideas. The natural environment and traditional cultures are so closely intertwined in the Pacific and so, as with the coconut in the university's logo, the symbology is often organic in nature. How closely Pacific cultures seem to resemble Native americans in their visual arts, we cannot help but wonder about the connections.

Graphic Designer: Josefa Uluinaceva, USP Media Centre

 

A Student Voice

In a poster promoting a forum held on the Laucala campus of The University of the South Pacific (USP), the theme was the "Students Voice". The success in terms of its attractiveness was such that the posters barely remained up for the period of the conference. Instead, within days of when the conference had been held, the students had taken the posters and reinstalled them in dormitories around campus. The message of promoting pride among Pacific students remained long after the event had passed. This poster, designed by a staff member ofthe USP Media Centre's graphics unit, Mr. Josefa Uluinaceva who is native Fijian, is an excellent example of how the artist has used visual mnemonics that the target audience can relate to. He used a Pacific symbol of the triton's trumpet, known as the davui in Fijian, a special shell used to call a meeting in many Pacific Island cultures, as a mnemonic devisce for the student voice.

An Offering of Welcome

In another example of applying cultural context, Josefa was asked to create a flyer and invitation to a student welcoming ceremony. To be conducted in the manner of the Fijian sevusevu, a ceremony to ask for forgiveness or acceptance, it was being performed by the Fijian students on campus in an effort to welcome back students from the regional Pacific Island nations who had left after a period of unrest on campus. The visual mnemonic chosen for this was most appropriate to the audience being targets. Whereas someone from a western culture may have chosen devices such as a dove, or a handshake, the device chosen by Josefa and his client drew upon the cultures of the Pacific. In the Fijian culture, the sevusevu almost always includes a presentation of yaqona or kava root. And so, in his design, Josefa created a powerful image of a bundle of yaqona held out by confident hands in presentation to those being welcomed as a symbolic peace offering to the returning students, a Pacific version of the western olive branch.