Oil and Water

The BP oil spill is out of the headlines, but not off the radar of international cause groups. The latest initiative comes out of Happiness Brussels, a Brussels-based design and communications studio that has created a pro bono project around the slogan, Oil and Water Don't Mix.

The designers, earlier this fall, scooped up some of the sludge still washing up on the beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, from the Deepwater Horizon spill and used it to "ink" a limited edition of 200 hand-printed posters featuring the slogan -- and as of today, all posters have sold out. (Designers are considering extending the run and/or designing new posters to continue the global fundraising drive.) All proceeds benefit the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, or crcl.org, an environmental cleanup group based in Baton Rouge.

The posters are cool, but even cooler is that social media linked this small studio in Brussels to these activists in Baton Rouge to printers in New Orleans to environmentalists all over -- faster than a plane ride to either location. Also significant? The oil is still washing up; the posters are proof positive.

Here's the video on the project:

OIL & WATER DO NOT MIX from Happiness Brussels on Vimeo.