In a brand-new world turned upside down by the coronavirus pandemic, people are putting their skills to use in the best way they know how. And that includes graphic designers.

Two such projects in metro Atlanta caught our eye recently. We’re always looking for an excuse to tell you about the city we love, and we also love how these projects are honoring our modern-day heroes and giving hope to an anxious world.

One of the projects originated in Canton, a small town about 40 miles northwest of Atlanta. Bill Grant is best known as the town’s mayor, but he’s also a graphic designer who owns Grant Design Collaborative.

Business dried up at the firm after the coronavirus pandemic hit, and Grant was looking for a way to salute healthcare workers and first responders.

“Our clients have gone into hibernation, and we’re sitting here twiddling our thumbs, so we decided to take this nervous energy and turn it into positive energy,” he told Project Q Atlanta.

So Grant created the Signs of Hope project. It’s a series of colorful lawn signs with inspirational messages like “Hope. Heal. Together,” “Strong. Capable. Essential” and “Courage. Trust. Peace.”

Grant is also a copywriter, so he created the final word pairings. He said he wanted it to be a “simple quick read” for people driving by.

And they are. Take a look at the eye-catching colors, design, and messages. Grant and his team were able to put their design and copywriting skills to use to create an eye-catching message that is sure to inspire.

Grant and his team plastered Canton with the signs in April, including outside the local hospital. And the project spread from there to downtown Marietta and its hospital, plus Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.

Grant was also thoughtful about making sure the project wasn’t seen as a promotional tool for his business.

“The signs we designed don’t have our logo, just the message,” he said. “We just wanted to lift community spirits and support healthcare workers.”

We admire Grant for that choice. It reminded us of the countless other selfless acts that people have performed throughout the pandemic’s spread.

The Signs of Hope project started getting noticed around the U.S., so Grant offered to send production-ready files for people to print the signs on their own and spread the inspiration across the country.

At KEYLAY, we know all about when it’s time to scale up a project, and Grant found a convenient solution to address it in his case.

But Signs of Hope isn’t the only sign project that’s inspiring Atlanta during the pandemic.

Lawn signs started popping up around the city in March that said, simply, “Everything Will Be OK.” It’s a strong, simple message in black font on a white background.

From a design standpoint, there’s something soothing about the font, the basic black and white colors, and the message. In a world of unrest when no clear end to the pandemic is in sight, it’s exactly the message we want to hear. And it turns out the project is helping people affected by the pandemic.

The signs are replicas of a mural created by an Atlanta artist in 2009.

An arts center in Dunwoody, a small city in metro Atlanta, began selling the replicas as the virus spread. Proceeds from the sales go to artists struggling financially during the outbreak.

The campaign has raised more than $40,000 for local artists and has received national attention, being featured on CNN and “Good Morning America.”

The artist who created the mural also started selling the signs directly through his website as well, with profits going to local artists.

It’s projects like these that keep us hopeful, both as everyday people navigating the pandemic and as designers. We love seeing design used for good, and we’ll be exploring ways that we can help our city and our country get through this.

Do you know of a graphic design project that’s stood out to you during the pandemic? Let us know at info@keylaydesign.com, and we might feature it in an upcoming blog post.

Stay happy, healthy, and safe out there!