Pentagram, Koto and Two Times Elliott donate posters for downloadable mock-ups, celebrating NHS heroes

A group of ten leading design studios have created posters to live within downloadable mock-ups by design resource platform Layers, with 100% of sales being donated to NHS Charities Together. The platform started by Tom Robinson and Will Alexander offers mock-ups for designers to use to demonstrate their design work in real photographic environments. This latest set includes posters by the likes of Pentagram’s Marina Willer and Stu Gough, Ragged Edge with illustrator April Mepham, Studio Makgill, Koto, Face37 and Two Times Elliott, which respond to the brief “showing our love for the NHS”. Amongst the contributors you can also find posters by MultiAdaptor, Nomad, Only and Post. Of course, once you download the mock-up, you can replace it with your own work to use it in a presentation, pitch or portfolio page.

The designs range from bold and playful typographic artworks to heartwarming and cheerful illustrative pieces. Studio Makgill’s refers to the stickers children are chuffed to receive after a visit to the doctor, drawing on this visual language to “flip the cycle of giving. We can't say thank you enough,” Studio Makgill explains. “So, we are literally trying to say it as many ways that we can.”

Ragged Edge and April Mepham’s posters are inspired by Michael Rosen’s poem These are the Hands, designed to “immortalise the nation coming together each week to clap for the NHS”. Pentagram’s Marina Willer and Stu Gough explain of their artwork: “NHS. Thank you for the unconditional love for all our lives. I hope you are rewarded and recognised forever for the enormity of what you have done.”

Face37’s explores the contrast between the UK’s Brexit discourse and current outpouring of support for NHS workers. “The Brexit debate opened up societal disparities centred on the role of immigration, often resulting in discrimination and antipathy towards migrant workers,” the studio explains. “Covid-19, however, has caused the UK to rally around its beloved NHS in a secular display of devotion and appreciation. I wanted to convey this mass feeling, whilst demonstrating the huge cross section of nationalities (102 of them) representing this key institution. The design execution subtly references all these people working away tirelessly in the background.”

Robinson explains that the project has personal beginnings. “Both myself and Will have close family and friends working within the NHS, as I’m sure many of us do. Like most people we are isolating with more time on our hands, and inspired by the nationwide efforts already we wanted to do our bit from the comfort of our own homes by creating this project to show our support and thanks for the NHS working hard to keep us safe.”

The ten new mock-ups can be bought and downloaded as PSD files from the Layers website. All proceeds for the next two months will be donated to NHS Charities Together, helping raise funds to support NHS workers and volunteers in their vital work.