Social posters and visual communication regarding concepts such as "public health", "civil
responsibility", "responsible action" and practices connected to the reception of non commercial
advertising images are the focus point of this article. Designers conceptualize and produce designs
hoping that these become integrated into the cultural and social practices of their receivers. In the case
of posters on food waste, our questioning is as follows: How does the designer conceptualize and create
his final version? How do receivers appropriate these posters? Do these designs have the capacity to
influence the receiver to a change of attitude? In an attempt to answer these questions, we met with
two French designers, Axelle Roue and Hélène Petit and we questioned them on their designs on food
waste, exhibited in July, 2013 in Parisian subway stations. We interviewed them on their design process,
on their first versions (rough copies) up to their final version. In parallel, we also questioned the
receivers (the passers-by in the Parisian subway) on how they felt about these posters. The objective
was to discover if the meaning of the image sent to the receiver was identical to what the designer had
planned in his design.
