The SILENCE=DEATH project was founded in 1985 by Avram Finkelstein, Brian Howard, Oliver Johnston, Charles Kreloff, Chris Lione, and Jorge Socarrás. While the impact of grassroots initiatives in raising awareness and changing public policy on HIV/AIDS is now widely recognized, posters like this one Were crucial in converting attention into action by catalyzing the formation of groups like AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). 

The bold,urgent, color contrast between black, white, and dark pink would have jumped out from a sea of wheat-pasted posters in New York. The simplicity and directness of the design is key to its ability to both grab attention from afar and sustain it by drawing viewers closer to read the fine print. Through a  collaborative process lasting nine months, the artists came to the consensus that an abstract symbol would be more inclusive than the depiction of specific places and figures. Like the phrase “SILENCE=DEATH,” the symbol is also at once specific and universal, originating from the pink triangle gay prisoners in Nazi camps were forced to wear and later reappropriated by gay activists in the 1970s.

Read more about this project here, here and here.