For people who are incarcerated, a letter or photograph from home goes a long way. But more jails and prisons are introducing cruel policies that mean people in those facilities never get them.
When I was assigned this illustration I started thinking about the elements that could represent the connection to the outside world mail is for incarcerated people.
The physicality of mail and the profit gains for third parties involved in the mail processing. I then, decided to go for a loose silhouette of a person reading a letter overlapped with handwriting, and a solid square to signify isolation. The colors in these comps are also deliberate. The blue associated with coldness from the lack of human touch and sadness, and the note in yellow represents that hint of excitement and happiness from receiving mail. Another detail to take into account here is the overlap of the number mask signifying the financial capital a person represents in this process.
Process
Final artwork
