Hope Garden Locks

I’ve recently begun an internship with a non-profit organization called Madison Cares. They partner with Madison School District to provide mental health and family services/awareness to the community. I am an intern for the Marketing department and had the opportunity to design invitations and posters for the Hope Garden ceremony. Here, the community was invited to come write what gives them hope on the back of a lock, lock it onto the Hope Garden fence and throw away the key forever. My job in creating posters was to raise awareness of how common suicide is and what we can do to help prevent it.

I was first given facts and quotes that my team wanted me to base the posters around. I tried to pair up each quote and fact in a way that I felt best complimented each other. From there, I researched different symbols that represented hope. I came up with a plant beginning to grow, a sunrise, a dove (which represents both hope and peace), a lantern, and the seeds of a dandelion which are often associated with wishes. I wanted to keep the designs simple as to not take too much away from the main point of the quotes but recognizable enough that others would see and easily know what each object was.

For the invitation, I worked hard to make sure the invite would properly represent the importance of the event. I made the lock into a heart because I believe love and hope go hand in hand. I then created the fence behind it and created a sunflower pattern since all the flowers in our hope garden are sunflowers. This made the invitation feel bright and help others recognize the overall “feel” of the event.

The Hope Posters Printed

Hope Poster Designs

Hope Garden Lock Invitation

If you’d like to learn more about Madison Cares or The Hope Garden, you can visit http://www.mymadisoncares.com/ or visit The Hope Garden in person at 60 W Main St, Rexburg, ID 83440. The garden is behind this building just east of Broulim’s and west of the Public Library in town.

There are other hope gardens that people have built all over the world. Click here to see one made in Jamaica!