by Eva Jobst -

How design can change the world

Designing for the sustainable development goals

“Some of us choose to pursue design purely as an exercise in the aesthetic. I know that simply creating beautiful objects or surrounding yourself with beautifully designed things can help create a fulfilling and comfortable life. However, that is only the surface of the potential good and sense of accomplishment you can achieve with your creative skills… Go further: recognize the interdependence, power, and influence of your role as a professional, and let it resonate with the world around you and within you.”

– David Berman, Do Good Design

To open this blog post, I’d like to start with a few questions.
What is the powerful role of a designer? To shape the world around us? To empower people to live a more sustainable life? To shift other designers to a more socially and environmentally design approach?

For David Berman, it is exactly this!
So who is David Berman?
David Berman is the author of the book “Do Good Design—How design can change the world”. With his book, he wants to engage people to use their creativity to make a difference in the world. He has over 30 years of experience working with inclusive design and works as an author, expert speaker and strategist. In addition, he works as an advisor in several roles like to the United Nations, at G3ICT and as a governmental advisor on inclusive design policy.

What he is most passionate about is inclusive design. So first I want to make a short definition of this term. 

Inclusive design

Inclusive design strives for including as many people as possible in design decisions. It wants to emphasize the user diversity and to make clear, that user diversity covers variation in capabilities, needs and aspirations. 

It looks at the diversity of experience that may exclude a person from using an interface effectively. That could be, for example, subtitles of audio content for hearing impaired people but also for a commuter on a packed subway who forgot his earphones. 

Inclusive design, therefore, is strongly related to accessibility and can be seen as a methodology to approach design. It is not an outcome, rather it is a design process with which it’s outcome can be used by a diverse group of people. From this follows accessibility as one of the primary outcomes of an inclusive design process. 

See the infographic “accessible design vs. inclusive design”

The power of design has never been greater

So, back to David Berman, he says, when it comes to sustainability, the solution is to make clear to designer that they are part of the solution, not of the problem (Interview D.B.). We have to release a global sustainability design standard and for that, everyone is called upon. 
The author also mentions, that when it comes to bringing more sustainable solutions into the world, we just have to use the tools we have as designers. 

“The opportunity for designers has never been greater, to be able to help design a better society… because the awareness of the power of design has never been greater.”

– David Berman (Q&A with David Berman, The Oslo Manifesto. Design and Architecture for the SDGs)

The Awareness of the importance of good design

And I agree with his opinion. After many conversations and discussions with my fellow students, it often leads to this point. What do we want to do with our skills after graduation? Do we want to work in a company, where sustainability is just a term that is made fun of? Do we want to promote unreflected consumerism, unhealthy lifestyles, 

We also discussed that, fortunately, as students, we have the chance to choose freely in which field and in which company we want to work, what allows us to choose for whom and what we want to use our skills.

Of course, money always plays a role. But through the conversations I had with my fellow students, I noticed that the awareness is already very high for whom and which company you use your skills as a designer. Also, which clients you want to work for is an important part.

In the end, these conversations were one of the reasons why I chose this topic for my master’s thesis.Because in times when many things in the world are anything but round, in times when competent politics is more in demand than ever, but still fails, in a world that is networked and in which every individual can probably contribute to improving this world more easily than ever before, designers are also more in demand than ever to use their skills for a sustainable future in all areas.

The next blog post will be about the SDGs and about some design examples that are in this field.

Sources:

Do Good Design—How design can change the world

https://davidberman.com/wp-content/uploads/DoGoodBermanForCh1Ch12Index.pdf

Do Good Design
Q&A with David Berman: Inclusive Design, Quantifying Sustainability, and Doing Good

https://www.toptal.com/designers/ui/inclusive-design-infographic

http://www.inclusivedesigntoolkit.com/whatis/whatis.html

https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/dossier/megatrends/

by Eva Jobst -

Master Thesis Evaluierung

Autor: Elsa Martina Fasslabend, Bakk.Phil  
Jahr der Veröffentlichung: 2014
Universität: Universität Wien, Magisterstudium Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Titel: Der Filmtrailer. Ein Vergleich amerikanischer und österreichischer Stilmittel
Art der Arbeit: Magisterarbeit
Sprache: Deutsch
Seitenanzahl: 163

Gestaltungshöhe

Die Arbeit hat ist eine rein schriftliche Arbeit, in welcher die Gestaltung selbst im Hintergrund steht. Inhaltlich beschäftigt sie sich mit dem Thema „Filmtrailer“, die mit einer reinen textlichen Gestaltung auskommt. 

Innovationsgrad

Die Arbeit weist insgesamt 5 Forschungsfragen mit 5 dazugehörigen Hypothesen auf, bei der es immer um eine Gegenüberstellung österreichischer und amerikanischer Filmtrailer in bestimmten Genres geht. Als Methode der Untersuchung wurde eine Filmanalyse gemacht, die einerseits durch emotionale Interpretationen und andererseits durch ein Filmprotokoll festgesetzt wurde. 
Den Innovationsgrad dieser Masterarbeit würde ich als sehr gering bezeichnen. Es wurden viele Filminhalte, Genres und Unterschiede zwischen österreichischen und amerikanischen Trailern analysiert, jedoch wurde nichts Neues bzw. Innovatives aufgezeigt.  Im Resümee findet man zwar einen Ausblick worauf österreichische Filmproduktionen bei Trailern achten sollten, jedoch ist dies sehr allgemein und grob formuliert. 

Meiner Meinung nach hätte noch mehr Wert daraufgelegt werden können, wie im speziellen durch die Forschungsergebnisse der Arbeit ein Trailer einer österreichischen Filmproduktion in einem bestimmten Genre aussehen könnte, sodass er dem Wandel der Zeit entspricht und ein großes Publikum erreicht.

Ebenso könnte im Resümee auch zusammengefasst sein, über welche Kanäle und in welchen Formaten Filme in der heutigen Zeit mit der größtmöglichen Reichweite beworben werden können. 

Selbstständigkeit

Die Verfasserin der Arbeit hat sich meiner Meinung nach sehr selbstständig mit dem Thema auseinandergesetzt. Um verschiedenen Input zu haben, hat sich sehr viele, verschiedene Quellen herangezogen. Ebenso findet man verschiedenste Aspekte zu dem Thema, wie historische Entwicklung, Psychologie, Gestaltungsmittel, etc. 

Sehr interessant für mich war auch, dass beim Anhang der Arbeit ein Interview zu finden war, dass die Verfasserin mit einem Experten geführt hat. 

Meiner Meinung nach kommen jedoch ihre eigenen, kritischen Gedanken zu wenig zur Geltung. Die Arbeit ist sehr objektiv, sehr umfangreich, sehr analytisch mit vielen Informationen und Hypothesen, jedoch hat sie keine persönliche Stimme der Verfasserin. 

Gliederung und Struktur

Die Gliederung und Struktur der Arbeit ist sehr ansprechend und übersichtlich aufgebaut und folgt einer guten Logik. Die Arbeit führt zuerst allgemein ins Thema ein und gibt einen historischen Überblick, wodurch man ein Gefühl dafür bekommt, wie sich Filmtrailer über die Jahrzehnte hin verändert haben. Anschließend wird auf alle verschiedenen Aspekte, wie beispielsweise Formen, Psychologie, Gestaltung, Genres & Filmindustrie, eingegangen, die meiner Meinung nach wichtig sind, um der Arbeit und dem Resümee folgen zu können. 

In der methodologischen Annäherung wird nachvollziehbar beschrieben, mit welchen Fragestellungen, Hypothesen und Methode zur Untersuchung sich die Arbeit auseinandersetzt. 

Umfang der Arbeit

Die Arbeit hat einen sehr breiten Umfang. Mit 123 Seiten (ohne Verzeichnisse und Anhang) bewegt sich die Arbeit in einen angemessenen Umfang, da es sich um eine reine wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung handelt. 

Orthographie sowie Sorgfalt und Genauigkeit

Unterzieht man die Arbeit einer orthographischen Betrachtung, wurde sehr sorgfältig und genau gearbeitet. Die Sätze wurden nicht in ewig langen, komplizierten Sätzen verfasst, bei denen man am Ende vergessen hat, wie sie überhaupt angefangen haben. Auch in der Rechtschreibung selbst konnte ich keine Fehler entdecken. 

Literatur

Das Literaturverzeichnis der Arbeit weist 48 Quellen sowie 31 Online-Quellen auf, die übersichtlich in einer einheitlichen Zitierweise und in alphabetischer Reihenfolge aufgelistet sind. 

by Eva Jobst -

Unusual Storytelling with Animation

Through a wide variety of digital tools, there are seemingly endless possibilities to present one’s stories, messages and brands in a strong way. On the one hand, this means that today almost every company uses these tools and there is an ever-growing sea of content. Many wonder how they can still stand out.  

On the other hand, it also means that you can create your own trend through creative and innovative use of these tools. While this is a constant challenge for designers, I don’t think it should be equated with constantly having to reinvent yourself. After watching countless tutorials from animation artists, videographers, and creatives, one message stood out to me: find your own style. And that comes with time.

To create a new trend and stand out from the crowd, sometimes you have to break the rules. Push aside the conventional, the classic, and follow your own path. 

That’s why I would like to show a few examples of unusual storytelling. It’s always about an animation that stands out because of the style and the deliberate unusual use of the artist in any case.

Text as a Character

This animation shows perfectly, how text doesn’t only tell a story, but can become a character or the protagonist itself. It plays with the visual and informative parts of text. I really love the minimalism in it. 

Words by Ende Li & Liz Xiong

Surreal Animation

Since Salvador Dali at the latest, surrealism has developed into a dynamic substance. It wants to blow our minds with incompatible combinations in a surprising context – as we can see from this example. 

Controlled Substance by Jay Sprogell

Reversibel Prose

A beautiful example that there are always two sides of a story. 

Lost Generation by Jon Reed

Sources:

https://medium.muz.li/from-unusual-storytelling-to-new-minimalism-6-innovative-animation-trends-2eced0c18a80

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/reversable-prose-lost-generation-video-portrays-different-storyline-forward

by Eva Jobst -

Storytelling – an introduction

Storytelling is important, whether you are a filmmaker, marketing specialist or animation artist. 

The mere enumeration of facts doesn’t grab us humans nearly as much as an exciting story that appeals to the head and heart. 

One of the most important factors in storytelling is emotion. Because every emotion is a strong feeling that, linked to experiences, memories, situations or even good stories, stays in our minds. And that is ultimately the great goal of storytelling. We don’t want to get lost in the endless, ever-growing pile of information and bland stories. We want to be remembered. We want attention. We want to change the world – or at least we should. And you can’t do that with stories that get under your skin.

Stories are as old as people. Over the centuries, therefore, various ways of conveying stories have developed – from cave paintings to sagas, songs and fairy tales.

The term “history” describes in German usage “Vergangenheit” (history), but also “Erzählung” (story). History is a review of the real and historical developments of mankind or of a certain period of time that lies in the past. A story is a narrative form, a narration that depicts different events from the past, present or future and has much more scope, as it can be real or fictional. (Sammer 2017, 20f.)

However, history and narrative are equally about “how people deal with and in particular circumstances.” (Sammer 2017, 21)

Storytelling thus combines both terms and can be seen as the art of how to reproduce actions and experiences from the past on the one hand and how to narrate real or fictional events – which are independent of time – on the other. (Sammer 2017, 21)

But what is the classic recipe for successful storytelling*?

Basically, there are five building blocks: 

1. every good story has a good reason for being told.

If you want to tell your story successfully, you have to clearly state your motives and explain the meaning behind them. 

2. every good story has a hero

A protagonist with whom you can identify is an important aspect of successful storytelling. 

3. every good story starts with a conflict. 

Because if everything is fine from the beginning, it’s hard to create tension. We must not only be able to identify with the protagonists, but also empathize with their emotions.

4. every good story arouses emotions.

Real enthusiasm and motivation can hardly be achieved by pure facts and data. 

5. every good story is viral.

Virality has not just existed since social media – stories like Hansel and Gretel have been told for a very long time. But through the Internet, there is an incredibly powerful platform for this, with which one can tell transmedial. (Sammer 2017, 49)

So, in summary, the classic ingredients for a successful storytelling recipe are:

  • A meaningful brand
  • A hero
  • A conflict
  • Emotions
  • And multimedia (Sammer 2017, 50)

Is it possible to break these rules? How can you do storytelling in an unconventional way? I will address these questions in my next blog post. 

*in this blog post storytelling refers to companies and brands

Sources:

Sammer, Petra (2017): Storytelling. Strategien und Best Practices für PR und Marketing. Heidelberg: dpunkt.verlag GmbH

by Eva Jobst -

Design Activism – Guerilla Marketing

Guerilla marketing is a communication strategy that thrives on the surprise effect, in which topics and ideas are staged in an attention-grabbing way. The main aim is to draw attention to one’s brand, product, company or a specific topic through unconventional measures. Often a rather small budget is available, with which the greatest possible advertising effect is nevertheless to be achieved.

Behind the term guerrilla marketing is the marketing professional Jay C. Levinson, who developed the basic concept back in the 1980s. Moreover, the term is derived from military language.  Guerrilla warfare is a form of warfare in which one tries to weaken the opponent through unconventional tactics.

The special thing about guerrilla marketing is that the actions normally can’t be repeated simply and unchanged; moreover, consumers are addressed directly and personally. The aim is that the surprise effect of the campaign creates enough buzz that it spreads by itself via word of mouth and social media. Since the surprise effect would be lost if an action were repeated exactly the same, one would also lose the interest of the public.

So how does guerrilla marketing work?

A guerrilla marketing campaign will mainly take place on places and objects where one does not expect advertising. There are the most diverse areas of application, such as escalators, furniture, cars, public benches or even street actions and stagings, such as flash mobs, can be part of it. The actions aim to shock or even scare consumers, break taboos or ridicule the competition. In summary, it aims to touch consumers emotionally through a personal experience.

In contrast to classic advertising, when using guerrilla marketing you do not struggle to stand out from thousands of other advertisements. However, this is exactly why such campaigns have to be planned precisely.

Risks of guerrilla marketing

One risk of guerrilla marketing that should not be underestimated is that the viral effect cannot be controlled. In the worst case, a campaign that goes viral can also develop in a negative direction, anger the target group, lead to a shitstorm, loss of image and sales. Therefore, it is also advisable to play through all possible scenarios and the necessary reactions in case of emergency when planning such campaigns. 
Moreover, guerrilla marketing often moves in legal grey areas. 

Success factors of guerrilla marketing

It is important for a successful guerrilla marketing campaign that it fits the brand and its target group. In order for consumers to engage with the campaign, direct and immediate points of contact should be created during the campaign. With a cross-media approach, the chances of a successful campaign are even higher, for example by involving the target group and encouraging them to post content on the internet.  

Four types of guerrilla marketing

Ambient marketing refers to surprising product stagings that reach consumers in their normal environment. This is the unusual implementation of outdoor advertising in public spaces. Ambient marketing can mean, for example, innovative advertising at the airport, on buses and trains or in restaurants. Possible advertising media are, for example, beer mats, postcards or toilet seats in pubs.

Ambush marketing is also called free-rider marketing. In this case, the attention for a topic or an event is used to put one’s own brand in the limelight. Ambush marketing is also frequently used at major events to carry out an image transfer to one’s own brand.
This form of marketing is, however, controversial, as with this form of advertising an association with an event is, so to speak, tricked.

Sensation marketing involves unusual actions or spectacular installations, for example at the point of sale. Multipliers, such as promoters, are used for this. Examples of sensation marketing are surprising fashion shows or flash mobs in the pedestrian zone.

Viral marketing is about achieving as much attention as possible in the respective target group as quickly as possible. Viral marketing aims to spread content virally, for example by consumers recommending or sharing it personally via word of mouth or online via social media.

Beispiele klassischen Guerilla Marketings

Once consumers are done with their ice cream, the message printed on the tip of the stick shaped like a toothbrush reveals “Don’t Forget” with the Colgate logo. This simple message effectively reminded consumers to brush their teeth.
To draw attention to human trafficking, Amnesty International also decided to use sensation marketing. Suddenly, transparent suitcases containing real people appeared on the luggage tapes. A shocking advertisement that is sure to stick in the mind and be retold.
Nike Guerilla Marketing to talk about, but also to get angry about

Guerrilla Campaign Packages Garbage as Seafood

The Advertising Agency Saatchi & Saatchi created a Guerrilla Campaign for Surfrider Foundation to put beach pollution into perspective. Therefore, trash was collected from various beaches, packaged, so that it looked like seafood and displayed at local farmers’ markets. With this campaign they wanted to raise awareness for the need to keep our oceans clean.

https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/beach-pollution-garbage-food

Links:

https://www.textbroker.de/guerilla-marketing
https://de.ryte.com/wiki/Guerilla-Marketing
https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/guerrilla-ad
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/beach-pollution-garbage-food
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/surfing-ads
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/fost-plus-litter
https://www.trendhunter.com/slideshow/10-environmental-awareness-ads-super-gallery
https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/climate-change-warning-beers
https://www.adsoftheworld.com/media/print/surfrider_foundation_farmers_market_condom_strips

by Eva Jobst -

Design Activism – Protest Art

In 2020, an analysis of Shutterstock search data showed the importance of protest art. Topics like inequality, environmentalism or Black Lives Matter were search terms which show that there is a need for images that both represent and inspire change. When you look at the action of protest itself – walking on the streets and raising your voice – protest art is a powerful tool to underscore and accompany the protest itself.

But what is protest art?

Protest art has the aim to promote activism and inspire social and political change. Therefore, it refers to a wide range of visual media and can be split in three categories, which influence each other: 

  • Art produced for demonstrations, such as posters, billboards, costumes, and performance art.
  • Campaign art created by groups looking to raise awareness of a particular issue, and circulated in print or online. 
  • Artworks created by protest artists, which are displayed in galleries, online, or in the outside world.

Protest art aims to evoke both shock and empathy in relation to issues that need attention. Basic design rules and carefully chosen words are used for this purpose. In today’s world, where protests, marches and demonstrations are almost the order of the day, also the role of protest art is getting bigger and more important. 

Yet protest art is not an invention of the 21st century. It is just as much a part of human history as great discoveries, wars and inventions.

The history of protest art

The invention of the printing press was also at the same time the gateway to a world in which the mass distribution of art and literature was suddenly possible. Protest art was not exempt from this. The technology, which made it possible to reproduce prints by using repeatable, machine-accurate letters and images, also made visual design possible as we know it today. And through the freedom of visual design, ideas could spread without gatekeepers.

The invention of the printing press in 1455 also made it instantly easier for citizens to protest. They no longer had to rely purely on word of mouth and were able to mass disseminate their philosophies and ideas, which also turned against the church and the government, in a summarized, concise form.

The first result of the printing press, The Gutenberg Bible, changed how humanity communicated. (Photo credit: imageBROKER/Shutterstock.)

Gutenberg’s printing press thus enabled entirely new avenues for protest through text. Art has always been used to supplement this text, but the early 20th century in particular is considered the time when visual art began to challenge the status quo. For example, Pablo Picasso led the reconstruction through Cubism, which in turn inspired the Bauhaus – who resisted the Nazis. This deconstruction, coupled with the ability to reproduce and share design, led directly to what we know as modern graphic design. The spirit of artistic protest was evident in the desire to deconstruct systems of oppression through modern, visual communication.

Protest art today

When it comes to protest art in today’s world, on the one hand you have a lot more reach through social media and can take your message around the world in no time, on the other hand it is increasingly important for protest groups – as well as companies – to stand out from the information overload and the multitude of visual signs. Protest art is no longer about the message alone, it’s about a unique brand identity. Logos, typography, and color schemes are just as important as they are in corporate identities for commercial companies. While the concept of branding might seem in contradiction with the anti-commercial nature of protest groups, the increasing visibility of and competition between groups online means that visual identities have quickly become a common feature of protest organizations.

Visual identity of Black Lives Matter Movement

For example, if you look at Black Lives Matter: it is a protest movement which has experimented with creating a visual identity. They have a logo (wordmark), color palette (black and yellow) and even typography. An independent design agency created it and the designers used a simple layout and a freely accessibly font, so the logo can easily be recreated – digitally and by hand. This is important for protest movements like Black Lives Matter as it makes it much easier to support the movement and spread the word. 

Links:

www.shutterstock.com/blog/trends/2020-creative-trends
www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/activism-design/
www.shutterstock.com/blog/designing-for-change-protest-art-now
www.wired.com/2014/07/11-classic-examples-of-design-for-political-protest/
www.designweek.co.uk/issues/14-20-october-2019/protest-by-design/
www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/history-of-raised-fist-global-symbol-fighting-oppression

by Eva Jobst -

Design Activism – Protests and famous symbols for activism

In design activism, the designer seeks to effect change on a critical issue. Even when you go on the streets to protest, you stand up for something to change the world a little bit for the better. You are part of a movement, that has the aim to shape social and political processes. 

A powerful tool in protest is art. It is used to make change happen. From hand-drawn posters to large-scale art installments, everything is used for protest art to draw even more attention to a topic. Especially in 2020, Protest Art was developing as a stand-out visual trend for 2020. From an ongoing global pandemic to a mounting demand for social justice, the stories of 2020 have been illustrated along the way with art that helps us understand — and calls for — momentous changes. But integrating art into protest is not a 2020 invention. Powerful symbols, posters with often very reduced designs and effective messages implemented in artistic form have long been part of protest.

Following I would like to present three amazing, well-known and strong symbols for activism and protest: 

The Raised Fist

https://www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/activism-design/

The Raised Fist is a symbol of solidarity and one of the most widely used graphic symbols in the world. It was first used by as the logo of the Industrial Workers of the World in 1917. In the Spanish Civil War, the symbol was popularized by the Republicans and has been copied by many different organisations and campaigns ever since. It has been used by Irish Republicans, Feminists and during the May ’68 uprisings in France. Probably the best known use of the Raised Fist is the Black Fist. It represents Black Nationalism or Socialism and was used widely by the Black Panther Party in 1960s’ USA. It is a global symbol of fighting oppression and it has a strong history. From1936, where a Parisian crowd demonstrates its support for the Popular Front, a coalition of socialists, communists, and other anti-fascist organizations, over members of the anti-Nazi Red Front Fighters, who gave the clenched fist salute in 1928 to black lives matter protest – there are a lot of examples for protest including the symbol of the raised fist. 

The history of The Raised Fist

The Smiling Sun

https://www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/activism-design/

The Smiling Sun is a globally recognised symbol of the Anti-Nuclear movement. Today it is most known in the slogan as “Nuclear Power? No Thanks” but it was actually originally Danish: “Atomkraft? Nej Tak”. In fact, the symbol was originally a badge designed by 21 year old Danish activist Anne Lund. Lund belonged to the organisation OOA (In English: Organisation for Information on Nuclear Power).

The special thing about the icon is that it is non-confrontational. It’s friendly appearance combined with its polite but firm questioning calls for communication by dialogue. This badge has been produced in 45 different regional and national languages. Over 20 million have been produced and distributed worldwide.

The Peace Symbol 

https://www.shillingtoneducation.com/blog/activism-design/

The Peace symbol can be definitely seen as one of the most famous symbols worldwide. It was designed by British designer Gerald Holtom as a logo for Nuclear Disarmament. Soon after its release in 1958 it became the official logo for the British Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). It was first used in the march to the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston, England. Holtom began with Nuclear Disarmament, ND for short, and then took the semaphore signals for those two letters. He combined the symbols, added a ring, and ended up with one of the most well-known icons of our time.

The logo was never copyrighted and in the decade after its introduction became the general purpose peace symbol we know it as today.

by Eva Jobst -

Design activism – Design and political communication 2.0

Design in the context of political events – The Gorilla Collective

A good example of how to put political events in the context of design and art so that they reach a broad audience regardless of background and culture is the Gorilla Collective made up of five Danish designers. They comment on news stories by remixing the visual symbols and icons that surround us. 

In 2006, they launched their visual column in the front page of Dutch daily newspaper de Volkskrant, commenting six times a week on current events through persuasive images. They still publish their work in the weekly magazine De Groene Amsterdammer. The power of Gorilla lies in translating complex stories, the chaos of the news, into direct and sometimes iconic visual language. It can be seen as a current affairs column in the form of a picture – if it works, it shifts the perception of reality, and gives an alternative world view. Appearing for over a decade, their work covers a period of global turmoil. They cover various topics, from Islamic State, Donald Trump, Brexit and Climate Change to Credit Crisis and Fake News. The Gorilla columns are a reflection of how quickly our world is changing. At the same time, however, they also show in an alarming way how topical some issues remain.

For the collective, there are only a few rules while doing their visual art. They only use graphic tools and try to avoid cartoon elements like speech bubbles as much as possible. Their only no-no is photography, so that Gorilla is a unique visual commentary on the news. They are playing with cliches to twist an image to create a picture that say it all in one fell swoop. 
For the Gorilla Collective, cliches are a powerful tool, but you have to rework them to create a new image. A Gorilla always play on a familiar image taken from our collective memory bank. For examples, if you look on  topics like America, Aids, EU, oil, environment, angry leaders, refugees or natural disasters, they always try to find the icon that captures the context immediately. 

Illustrative examples from the Gorilla Collective

Graphicdesign&

Two other designers, who deal with how graphic design can help mend a political divide are Lucienne Roberts and Rebecca Wright from the Designstudio Graphicdesign& in London. The studio advocates for what graphic design can do and why it matters. Intelligent books, vivid exhibitions and thought-provoking talks and events explore how graphic design connects with the wider world and the value that it brings. Informing, educating, entertaining, provoking – and challenging perceptions about what and who graphic design is for. GraphicDesign& has released several titles to date—books focusing on graphic design in the context of mathematics, health, social science, literature, and religion. With their new book The Other Side: An Emotional Map of Great Britain, they explore graphic design and politics and take on Brexit and the capacity of design for reconciliation.  

For the title, 26 Leave and 24 Remain voters cite one loss and one gain from the UK’s 2016 referendum results, as well as their reasons for voting the way they did. The book is double-ended so that neither side is favored—it simply has two beginnings and no end. The intention behind The Other Side is not to change minds, it’s more about the intention to encourage readers to consider the perspectives of those who voted differently from them. At its most radical, the book might even prompt empathy, most often, it reveals the depth of emotions the UK has felt in recent years – the pride, anger, revenge, relief, fear, devastation, and hope—forming a snapshot of a volatile moment in national history.

Their projects are about brokering a different kind of conversation. ‘The Other Side’ is a GraphicDesign& title because it uses graphic design to try to frame the conversation. Graphic design is the language they’re using, as well as examining—it can help understand things, challenge things and question things.

The Other Side: An Emotional Map of Brexit Britain
by Eva Jobst -

Design Activism – Propaganda and Media

Design activism is about using one’s responsibility as a designer to draw attention to social, political and socially relevant issues. However, this does not mean influencing opinions. It’s about shining a light on areas that are still too much in the shadows. It is also important to research facts, backgrounds, motives, cultural differences, etc. In doing so, the contents should not be blindly and one-sidedly illuminated. Research and the comprehensive study of a topic are the prerequisites for quality work. Design activism aims to exert a positive influence in relation to a specific topic, not to be confused with (opinion) influencing. It is intended to create attention and an incentive for society to deal with certain topics. 

Propaganda, on the other hand, intends to deliberately influence people’s thoughts, actions and even feelings according to the particular interest of the sender. Propaganda is mainly used by politicians and the military in war to convince the population of their own war, whereby there is a one-sided illumination of the necessity of the war and important aspects, such as own power and economic interests, war suffering, war crimes, etc. are disregarded. Another goal of propaganda, however, is to recruit soldiers for the war, to maintain the military’s readiness to fight, to weaken the enemy’s war morale and to deceive the enemy by spreading false information. 

Forms of propaganda

The means used for propaganda appear in different forms. Forms that have existed since ancient times and do not require the classical media are, for example, preachings, speeches or songs in front of an audience. In modern times, however, propaganda is carried out almost exclusively via the media, as this has the advantage of rapid and widespread dissemination. Specifically, these are propaganda messages in the form of leaflets, newspaper and Internet articles, posters, photographs, film recordings, radio broadcasts and even computer games. 

f. l. t. r.: Nazi propaganda poster with anti-espionage campaign, 1944;
Magazine “Die Wehrmacht”, 1941;
Nazi propaganda brochure on the “Total War, 1943
War propaganda for the so-called home front.
The legendary poster featuring Uncle Sam was designed by artist James Montgomery Flagg in 1917, shortly after the U.S. entered the First World War

Computational propaganda

In context of social media there is a specific form of propaganda called computational propaganda. The Oxford Internet Institute from the University of Oxford made a research project, where the use of social media for public opinion manipulation was examined. Referring to this research project, computational propaganda is a term and phenomenon that encompasses recent digital misinformation and manipulation efforts. It is the use of algorithms, automation, and human curation to purposefully distribute misleading information over social media networks (Woolley & Howard, 2016). It’s about learning from real people and to mimic them, so that the public opinion can be manipulated across different platforms and device networks (Woolley & Howard, 6:  2016). The research project from the Oxford Internet Institute demonstrates the origins and concrete consequences of computational propaganda. Social media platforms are the primary media over which (young) people develop their political identities, which is why social media is also actively used to manipulate public opinion in different ways and on different issues.

In summary, it can be said that computational propaganda is one of the most powerful tools against democracy. Social media firms are the platforms for it, so they also should take their responsibility to redesign themselves for democracy. 

Sources:

https://www.bpb.de/gesellschaft/medien-und-sport/krieg-in-den-medien/130707/geschichte-der-kriegspropaganda

Samuel C. Woolley & Philip N. Howard, “Computational Propaganda Worldwide: Executive Summary.” Samuel Woolley and Philip N. Howard, Eds. Working Paper 2017.11. Oxford, UK: Project on Computational Propaganda. comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk. 14 pp.

by Eva Jobst -

Design Activism – Design and political communication 1.0

Design as a discipline has an inherent dynamism that results from the constant development of the term and its different ways of looking at and interpreting it, which is why the nature of this discipline is also the subject of negotiation and dispute. At the core of design thus also lies a constant expansion and appropriation of new spaces for action, which can be observed constantly in the development of design since its beginnings in industrialization.  

The development of new, social-entrepreneurial business fields and design perceptions are linked to terms such as Design Activism, Design as Politics, Transformation Design, Civic Design, Social or Transition Design, which means that design today stands in a context in which it is socially and politically engaged. It is endowed with the ability to contribute directly to changing social processes. So, design today is directly embedded in social and political changes, such as maker cultures, new economies and forms of production and use of technologies, shifting global power relations, crises, climate change, expanding war zones, civil society collectives and initiatives, etc., which means that design must also assume an interventionist role in shaping social reality.

Communication design and it’s essential role in our everyday life

For this time, I would like to take a closer look at the term communication design, because communication designers shape everyday culture.

The field of activity of the communication designer finds expression in the form of advertising posters, public signage, advertisements, television, newspapers, magazines, books, packaging, and much more. We even come across word or image marks in the label of our T-shirt, a glance at the dial of our wristwatch provides us with an example of information design, or we activate our smartphone to immerse ourselves in a digital media world designed by communication designers.
By creating communication media, communication designers also influence the shape of our everyday culture. The goal is to convey specific content and messages to a specific group of people through media. To do this, designers must know, develop and structure the content as well as know about the communication channels in order to present the information and messages in the right way for the respective target group to understand. Since there is an incredibly large amount of information that reaches us every day, communication design is seen as an umbrella term for diverse, specialized disciplines. These include, for example, editorial design, branding, corporate design, identity design, packaging design, information design, interaction design, motion design, UX design and so on. What connects all disciplines is the competence for the design of visual communication, both in 2D for print and screen and increasingly as moving image in combination with sound.

Communication designers are design professionals who use visual codes to formulate or compose messages in such a way that they inform, convince, seduce, entertain, enlighten, warn, identify, personalize, organize, structure, provide orientation or are simply beautiful.

The following graphic shows the broad field of competence of a communication designer: 

The supreme discipline

Among the clients of communication designers are actors from business, science, culture, etc. Looking at the field of competence, the need for the expertise of this discipline can also be found in politics. According to Gerda Füricht-Fiegl, head of the master’s program in political communication at Danube University Krems, political communication can also be considered the supreme discipline. Although there are many similarities with PR, a large number of interactions are triggered in political communication, and many more influencing variables must also be taken into account. Under great time pressure, one must nevertheless proceed very thoughtfully and analytically. Strategic and analytical thinking skills, an eye for the big picture, the ability to abstract and conceptualize as well as creativity, media and production skills and design skills are just some of the prerequisites for successful communication design, especially in the field of politics. 

If we look at the past, design has already played an essential role in major, social change processes, such as in the modernist art movement of the Bauhaus. A particularly vivid example, however, can be found in the construction of national identities under National Socialism through the effective use of design strategies, whereby here we mostly speak of propaganda under National Socialism. These national identities were created through the targeted influencing of opinion. In which forms propaganda occurs and what exactly counts as propaganda will be discussed in the next blog entry.

The power of design

To conclude this blog entry, I would like to recommend the following Ted Talk, in which JD Hooge reflects the power of design in a very vivid way. In my opinion, exactly this power affects all areas of social, societal and political life.

JD Hooge | The power of design