How&How’s Forgotten Forests campaign seeks to raise awareness of seaweed forest reduction

Following their Eat Less Plastic and Deadly Dust self-initiated campaigns, Lisbon and London-based design studio How&How have released the next endeavour in their BeHalf series, Forgotten Forests – a campaign to raise awareness of seaweed forest reduction, and the importance of its restoration. In partnership with the charity SeaForester, Forgotten Forests’ release coincides with World Ocean Day, seeking to challenge people’s attitudes and the respect paid towards our oceans through the similarities made to our land-based woodlands. “Humans tend to focus on what we can see on dry land,” How&How’s founder Cat How suggests, “and often overlook the potential of what is growing (or could be grown) underneath the water.” Visually representing this with the production of delicate photography, the resulting aesthetic is semi-celestial and somewhat ghostly, taking something familiar and making it seem unusual. This is then paired with Wulkan Display as the campaign’s primary typeface, utilising its exaggerated construction and sharp features to typographically reference both the kelp itself and the severity of the issue. To cement the typeface’s integration within the context, the headlines are seemingly diluted, as if underwater themselves, using relaxing animated ligatures to react as if they are submerged – a sense of calm further reflected in the limited, yet tranquil colour palette.