The @covidesigners project arose from the following question: "How can design be useful in times of crisis?". In March 2020 the COVID-19 virus was arriving in Brazil and the country was about to be deeply affected by the pandemic. And with the intention of diminishing the crisis effects in more fragile social groups, an idea came up: what if I invited some talented friends and we made beautiful, positive and inspiring posters that could work as rewards to raise funds for homeless people? Thus @covidesigners was born, a project that brought together creative professionals with two main purposes:

1. Develop posters that would bring a little joy to this dark moment we were living. The artworks were submitted and posted on the project's Instagram profile.

2. Raise funds through a crowdfunding campaign, with the posters printed in Risograph as a reward. The net amount collected was transferred to the project “Ninguém Mora na Rua" (“Nobody Lives on the Street”), which supports homeless people in the Capão Redondo region and in other vulnerable areas of São Paulo. The posters were printed by Entrecampo.

The project also sought to expand and question the role of design - usually linked to consumption and profit generation - and, at the same time, make use of this tool to effectively contribute to improving the lives of vulnerable social groups that were deeply affected by the pandemic.

2020