OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / Brief

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament / D&AD Monotype

Brief:

Create an A2 design to be used as a placard at the demonstration in London on the 27^th Of February.

The design needs (see blue highlight):

“On the 27th February thousands will descend on London to protest against government plans to spend over £100 billion on replacing Trident, the UK's nuclear weapons system.”

Placard designs have defined movements for more than a century of protest. Placards, and the slogans they carry, attempt to distill political ambitions into simple and clear messages. That's why good designs are remembered, why they help change opinion, build support in the general population, and put political pressure on the government to change course.”

Peter Kennard, an artist who has a portfolio of anti-nuclear agenda driven imagery, judges the brief.

The purpose of the placard is to communicate the agenda of the march, it is to simply convey the disarmament message however there are several narratives in which the design could do this. Selecting a narrative which holds the most resonance with the regular, currently not agenda driven, person grants the best chance of gaining supporters, creating a stronger force and subsequently creating a greater pressure upon government decision.

This focus could be one of the several;

·       Focusing on the £100 million cost of the program as a negative or how this could be otherwise spent.

·       Focusing upon the negativity and destruction associated with nuclear armament.

·       Focusing upon the positivity of disarmament – Nearer to peace / United world.

D&AD Monotype Brief

Considerations:

The design of the placard will be seen at the demonstration when held above a demonstrator’s head. Imagery and live footage of the event may too capture the placards, the design is to adhere to this viewing from distance by being relatively simply and legible.

Simplicity bodes well with the need to recreate the imagery easily, for supporters who are to create their own signage, rather than print. This is not always the case however as Peter Kennard’s 1980’s broken missile graphic is a photomontage and cannot be simulated with ease. It is due to such an example that grants me to believe a large variety of mediums and methods could be used to produce the graphic, hand-drawn to photomontage.