Kien Quan (Creative/Content creator/Photographer) and Jillian Young (Creative/Designer). Images courtesy of Kien Quan

A passion project that exploded into a worldwide movement. Made by Refugee was designed and created by Kien Quan and Jillian Young (students from Miami Ad School in the US) to remind the world of the priceless contributions that refugees have made all across the globe. This project was created in response to Trump’s travel ban that saw a rise in racially-motivated attacks, negative comments and perceptions about refugees. What was this movement exactly? It was a simple sticker with a design featuring the official Refugee Nation flag placed on physical items across NYC that highlighted the things that were, in fact, made by refugees. Alongside this was a series of posters that conveyed the same message.

Some of your favourite things were made by refugees, like Sriracha invented by David Tran - a Vietnamese refugee, Freddie Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody and Carl Djerassi who invented the birth control pill just to name a few. We really liked this project because as designers we may feel powerless against governments and policies but by using our skill sets coupled with the process and thinking behind design, it can really give birth to a powerful communication tool to change attitudes, perceptions and incite ideas and action.