2026 DOUBTFEAR

Taken together, these posters explore language as words on a page and as sound, symbol, gesture, memory, and belonging. Some designers lean into typography, using bold, expressive letterforms that stretch, layer, fragment, and shout, while others translate language into image: a bird carrying the words “You Belong,” a heart mapped with handwritten text, a quirky forest path spelling out “UPTA CAMP,” a delicate handmade paper sculpture, or a constellation of icons that reminds us listening can take many forms. Across the exhibition, language shows up in multiple alphabets, dialects, and visual codes: Arabic and Hebrew, phonetic spellings, data-like grids, collage, handmade marks, and quiet poetic statements. These varied approaches invite us to slow down, to decipher and decode, and to consider how meaning is shaped by culture, identity, and experience. The posters offer a vivid, layered portrait of Maine’s design community today. The work responds to this moment and to the shared experience of living in this place, reminding us how language can connect and challenge us, help us be heard, and teach us how to listen.

—Amy Hausman, Judge

Exhibition Dates

Portland: Month of May at Flatiron Coffee Bar

Bar Harbor: June–September at Jesup Memorial Library

Bangor: October–November at Bangor Public Library