Graphic Design Activism

Design activism is referred to as the use of design as a vehicle for activism . This mode of expression is fast gaining momentum in countries and organizations worldwide, with the aim to sustain future and social change. Design activism also appeared during the #ENDSARS campaign that demanded the disbandment of SARS unit of the Police force in Nigeria. The #ENDSARS campaign is an act of activism that started from the social media platforms. A challenge that can be perceived today is the lack of practice, discourse, education and understanding of design activism in Nigeria. This study therefore seeks to foster understanding of design activism and determine its impact in the recent #ENDSARS campaign.
To undertake this mission, the study makes use of selected works as case studies, online survey, interviews with designers and literary materials that focus on design activism. It employs qualitative research approaches and uses thematic analysis to measure the effect of design activism in the #ENDSARS campaign. Though present during the #ENDSARS protest, design activism was not consciously utilized to its full potential. It was however able to spread awareness, provided visual communication for the protest and stimulated people to participate in the protest. To achieve a better result through design activism it is needful for designers to be taught the necessary skills to cope with social, environmental and political issues, to keep in mind the necessary factors when designing a specific-oriented product, and discourse on design activism should be engaged in regularly to create substantial awareness.

El diseño socialmente responsable es un diseño comprometido y el compromiso es político. Eso permite descartar muchas variaciones de diseños autoproclamados como “responsables”. Así, entenderemos en esta reflexión el diseño visual socialmente responsable en su variante denominada “activismo gráfico”. La idea de activismo nos remite a una práctica específica del diseño visual: un diseño que pretende transformar una situación social. Si esta es la finalidad del activismo gráfico es clave evaluar su efectividad sobre este aspecto. Esa efectividad, desde luego, es un tipo de efectividad política. Agruparemos el activismo gráfico en tres variantes, según los siguientes objetivos o propósitos de tal diseño: 1) Concientizar al público sobre una situación problemática, 2) Movilizar a la ciudadanía en torno a alguna causa y 3) Conmover al usuario para la recaudación de fondos. Ahora bien, como el activismo gráfico es abiertamente político en necesario evaluar su efectividad.

In this lavishly illustrated work, Zeina Maasri tells the tumultuous story of the struggle for Lebanon through the poster wars which raged on its streets. From 1975 to 1990, different factions in Lebanon's civil conflict flooded the streets with posters to mobilize their constituencies, undermine their enemies, and create public sympathy for their cause. Showcased here for the first time, the posters display a dramatic clash of cultures, ideologies and meanings. Maasri shows how the iconography of the posters changed over time, and links this to changing political identities and communities as the war progressed. She looks at the aesthetic influences of different groups, from modern Arab visual culture to as far afield as Latin America and revolutionary Iran. She urges a radical rethink of the idea and function of political posters in civil war contexts, too often dismissed as mere 'propaganda', arguing instead that they should be seen as sites of symbolic struggle, every bit as fiercely contested as the streets they adorn. Combining in-depth knowledge of the local context with fascinating insights into the semiotics of visual media, Off the Wall is a highly original contribution to our understanding of visual culture, civil conflict, and the politics of the Middle East.

The manifesto is commonly defined as a call-toarms, a public declaration of principles and intentions and a "powerful purveyor of ideology" . For the Italian Futurists, typographic experimentation allowed language itself to be a tool for attacking, disrupting or subverting convention. For the designer, the manifesto may be used to give more "meaning to our present way of life" (Garland, 1964), to "deliberately manipulate the public view" (Cawes, 2001) or to playfully blast and bless the cultural landscape. My hypothesis is that the manifesto is not only a forum for design debate, a framework for a visual argument, but also a script for action. From the pamphleteers of 17th century England designers have appropriated the most effective means of communicating an urgent message to the masses, forming a sphere of popular public opinion. Whether online or in print the manifesto demands a re-envisioning both message and medium, in this context a 'Manifesto for Sustainable Design' project given to first year graphic design degree students. By embedding notions of sustainability, responsibility and action into their design curriculum the manifesto has enabled individual students to engage in incendiary debate in a non-dogmatic format. MAIN TEXT range of artists' manifestoes are discovered and discussed for their particular merits: linguistic, poetic, typographic, creative and political. Examples, such as the Futurist and Vorticist manifestoes described here, are explored as vehicles for the conceptual, ideological and material concerns of artistic practice and principles at that time. The artists' dynamic integration of form and content helps the students explore a more experimental mode of communication than conventional graphic design commonly allows. The manifesto project is not intended as a traditional problem-solving activity but as a problem-finding process, instigating a challenge to the terms with which design is understood as a service, as an activity or even as an attitude. By not requiring collective consensus of opinion, each student engages more freely in embracing a new paradigm of user-centred, silent or social design. The notion of the citizen designer is tackled as an alternative mode of design practice in additional to more familiar commercial practice. Without dismissing the traditional job or tools of design, this manifesto-based project aims to: 1. Engage graphic design students in a proactive mode of design debate 2. Research and explore the power of the written word as a visual form of language, to shock, intrigue or elucidate a message 3. Tackle the issues of design and sustainability as an integral part of the design discipline, illuminating how to integrate them into their own practice Bartram, Alan (2005) Futurist Typography and the liberated text The British Library: London

Indiscipline is a manifesto for opening graphic design futures beyond capitalism towards social and political articulations.
It’s an exercise on learning to see all those relations between vision, envision, design attending to various kinds of indisciplines — speci c movements, modalities and gestures through which communication, interaction — and representation more broadly — is attempted by and with di erent kinds of beings.
It does not (yet) o er any new reconceptualizations of graphic design. But I hope the concrete actions can be a starting point for rethinking your own graphic design practices.

The aim of this paper is to promote discussion of the skills and qualities of a Co-creative Agent, in order to identify desirable elements and attitudes to start promoting the knowledge and contexts that will model the new designers who can drive this active role in the projects. This elements could work in addition to applying existing methodologies and may lead processes of co-creation promoting social structures necessary for optimal development of a new approach of design.

O presente artigo tem como objetivo apresentar o design ativista, que têm como fundamento manifestações político-culturais, e está ancorado no design autoral. O artigo propõe a utilização da temática sexualidade como tema de projeto gráfico de futuros cartazes ativistas os quais pretendem buscar o posicionamento de uma identidade homossexual. Para isto, o texto referencia os estudos da Teoria Queer e as discussões de Foucault em “A História da Sexualidade” (1999).

We who have gone before do not rest in peace We who have died shall never rest in peace There is no rest until the fighting's done » Diamanda Galas « Le 10 décembre 1989, Diamanda Galas était arrêtée avec Act Up à la cathédrale St Patrick pour interruption d'un office religieux, résistance à l'arrestation et intrusion criminelle. Les 12 et 13 octobre 1990, elle interprétait sa " Messe pour l'épidémie " à la cathédrale St John the Divine, seconde plus grande cathédrale au Monde ». Ainsi débute un texte inclus au CD de ce concert (Galas 1991) (Figure 1), signé par le président de Documentation of AIDS Issues and Research Foundation (San Francisco). D. Galas, chanteuse et musicienne expérimentale, est

Conway + Young are a collaborative design practice based in Leeds whose practice inhabits the intersection between design, education, art and community work. Their work is driven and shaped by the social, political and environmental conditions they live in and they often work with limited means and an inventive resourcefulness. This low-key approach is not motivated by the search for a particular style but by the wish to engage with their local environment and to contribute to the society within which they live.

http://www.conwayandyoung.com/

Este trabalho investiga a produção imagética recente de design ativista no Brasil. Para compreender o fenômeno, são apresentados os principais fatores socioeconômicos em torno da economia da atenção, forma de geração de valor que predomina nos ambientes digitais. Em seguida, são analisadas imagens selecionadas de design ativista no Instagram, observando contexto e características. Por fim, elencamos alguns atributos do design que o aproximam da transformação social e da partilha do comum. Como resultado, observamos a importância do design gráfico no que diz respeito à sua relação com as tecnologias de informação e a construção de consciência político-identitária no país.

This work investigates the recent imagery production of social and activist design in Brazil. In order to understand the phenomenon, the main socioeconomic factors around the economy of attention are presented, a form of value generation that predominates in digital environments. Subsequently, selected images of activist design on Instagram are analyzed, observing context and characteristics. Finally, some attributes of design are listed, such as the will to social transformation and sharing the common. As a result, it is observed the importance of graphic design with regard to its relationship with information technologies and the construction of political identities in the country.

Nas últimas décadas, é notório o engajamento de uma parte considerável dos designers gráficos em atividades que possibilitam o emprego de seus conhecimentos e estratégias em prol de interesses socialmente relevantes. Esses profissionais constroem suas carreiras em torno de interesses louváveis em si mesmos, contribuindo para o desenvolvimento de comunicação acessível, justa e democrática. Contudo, é importante destacar que "não apenas o design voltado ao protesto, à defesa de direitos, à prevenção ou à informação, mas toda comunicação gráfica voltada para o público deve ser conscienciosa" (Heller, 2003, p. 11, tradução nossa). Desse modo, uma área que utiliza as competências dos designers gráficos constantemente deve ser considerada com especial atenção na reflexão sobre a ética de trabalho desse profissional: a atuação junto ao mercado.

We designed graphic designing courses in Delhi which is teaches under the supervision of experienced trainers.  Our main focus is to provide graphic designing knowledge to all students  so that they can get desired job profile in any company.