[ An interpretation of:

A Concise History
of World Population.
words + design by Maximillian Malone
]
 After receiving the
publication ‘A Concise
History of World
Population’ and being
only a few days away
from a six-week trip
to India (the second
most populous country)
it seemed a brilliant
coincidence to be given
such a topic.

The challenge of
interpreting the
publication was never
going to be a two- Designing a poster
dimensional solution. highlighting three
Being in India meant of the most highly
that I could add a human populated cities in
level to the discussion, India; Delhi, Kolkata
which predominantly and Mumbai, using local
deals only in numbers. Xerox machines was a
fun challenge and met
with much curiosity.
Positng it up in public
locations led to
interesting discussions
with locals that ended
with such questions as
“what is the meaning
in this?” “but what is
the importance of this
issue?” and even such
philosphical questions
as “yes Sir, but how
many of this population
are at peace?”
When you experience
the crowded cities
and the packed train
stations you view our
planets situation in a
different light. From
the comforts of home
in the west, learning
these figures from texts
books does not make you
realise how it must be
for these countries.

Population is a real
issue for humanity and
the human race must
resist placing itself at
the top of importance
and re-align itself in
regards to the balance
of nature and the earth
as a whole if we are to
overcome this dilema.
There is no quick-
fix answer with this.
Designing an A2 poster
with no motive other
than presenting facts
meant that I could
attempt to reinforce
the numbers into
Indian peoples daily
consciousness. The
following document is my
artistic response and
interpretation.
 Varanasi-1,435,113m
‘A Concise History
of World Population’
was an extremely
insightful publication.
Its forecasts for
population increase were
startling. It mentioned
the recent history of
India and its battle
for population control.
Indira Gandhi in 1976
encouraged legislations
to pass a law making
sterilization obligatory
after three children.
This legislation was only
approved within the state
of Maharastra in 1977 yet
it was not imposed.
 Indira Gandhi’s
authoritarian approach
led to her defeat in the
political elections the
following year. With
hundreds of languages
spoken in India, a
variety of cultures,
traditions and religions
being practised it seems
impossible to impose
single legislations on
such a diverse country.
Seeing first-hand the
impacts of population
it seems something must
be done, but what?

lucknow-4,588,455m
 During my travels in
Uttar Pradesh, North India
I came across quite an
astonishing site; The City
Montessori School which is
the largest school in the
world in terms of pupils.

An updated certificate in
October 2010 from the
Guinness World Records
stated: “The largest
school in terms of pupils
is the City Montessori
School in Lucknow, India,
which had a record
enrolment of 39,437 pupils
on 9 August 2010 for the
2010-2011 academic year.”

The book ‘A Concise

History of World
Population’ presented
impressive facts,
forecasts & figures but
failed in portraying
any human factor to its
numbers; walking past
the school and seeing
population and its effects
first hand was a completely
different experience.

Largest School in
Lucknow, India
the World. Girls of CMS smiling on
their journey home.
Photograph by Lea Gotfredsen ©
Photograph by Lea Gotfredsen ©