Peter Kennard Placard Competition
http://cnduk.org/component/k2/item/2330-stop-trident-placard-competition
Purpose:
‘This is an exciting opportunity for you to play an important role in the Stop Trident campaign and help make our demand clear: we don't want Trident and we don't want a new Trident.’
‘For your design to be considered, we ask that you follow this simple specification.
• Must convey the Stop Trident message
• Dimensions: A2 landscape or portrait
• The rest is up to you. We welcome your creativity!’
Audience:
The general public currently uninterested or believe in favor of renewing the Trident program. As similar to the D&AD Monotype project.
‘In the press coverage of the demo, your placard might feature in photos and TV footage of the event. Your design will also be displayed in promotions on social media and the CND web site ahead of the demo. We are also working with our demo partners to put on an exhibition of the shortlisted designs - more details on that soon.’
Deadline:
11 / 02 / 16
Research
Sources:
The Commonweal Special Collections Archive – A library of peace related print.
Interviews with CND UK Members.
Tate Modern – Peter Kennard
Paris 1968 uprising
Main Deductions:
Just as Peter Kennard had achieved with photomontage, the intent of the brief is to communicate a anti-nuclear agenda. Kennard communicated the agenda through the literal illustration of breaking a warhead in ‘Broken Warhead, 1980’ and an act of subversion in ‘Protest and Survive, 1980’.
The brief demands imagery that can be translated universally therefore the use of heavy copy is to be avoided, Kennard’s work can be understood regardless of language.
A.Stacey, head of Yorkshire CND admits ‘Everyone knows the CND symbol so we normally make sure it stands out and we usually use simple slogans’.
While Kennard’s work does most definitely communicate an anti-nuclear agenda, the context the work was created for is not suitable for the use on placards (bar Broken Missile, 1980). The imagery was created to be an artwork, to be viewed in a gallery space, not on a placard from a distance.
The posters noted in the Paris 1968 uprising do demonstrate the ability to concisely communicate a social agenda. The succinct delivery of rebellious beliefs is achieved through simplistic illustration, usually a single colour print as to be the cheapest therefore the most accessible.
‘OUI USINES OCUPEES’ – combines text and image to accumulate a message in both forms of communication resulting in the succinct, powerful message, as the CND brief desired for.
Initial Ideas
Approach:
The brief demands a design 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. = Concise, simple narrative.
The peace symbol, as seen at Bradford University, illustrates a mark that can be simply repeated by hand. This ease of repeating grants the common man greater accessibility in communicating the message, with hand-rendered repeat, the need for downloading, printing and constructing is dismissed. The scope for a mark to extend beyond a placard into other mediums too offers the stronger communication of an agenda. = Easy to repeat.
The placard must communicate ‘We don’t want TRIDENT’, the wording to do this can vary, the identification of the most concise manner to do which will then dictate design.
#STOPTRIDENT
STOP TRIDENT
SAY NO TO TRIDENT
SAY N£100b to TRIDENT
£100bn ON TRIDENT
DON’T REPLACE TRIDENT
NO TO NEW TRIDENT
£100 BILLION ON __________
SAY NO TO TRID£NT
NO=>
NO>
(INCLUDE SKETCHES)
As Kennard’s practice exemplifies – the fewer words, the more universal and subsequently, the greatest reach.
As the posters of ’68 Paris illustrate, the collating of image and copy create a stronger communication.
Limitations / Constraints
The imagery is to be printed on a A2 placard however the scalability of the design will bode well in it’s extended use – just as logo design requires.
The design must be set to CMYK and appear identical when viewed digitally – only colours that sit in both spectrums are to be used.
The design must be easily interpreted at great and close distances.
Development
How is the best way to communicate ‘NO>’ – A mergence of ‘No’ and a nuclear warhead.
Digital or Hand-rendered?
The digital translation using glyphs; N,O & > struggle to communicate the imagery of a warhead in 3D form.
Hand-rendered forms grant the ability to exaggerate a three-dimensional illusion due to the use of shading. The evident use of forms created by hand reiterates with a sense of humanity, just as ’68 Paris did, the evident DIY creation communicates through medium, a reflection of passion, individuality and personality rare to find in digital glyph forms.
Social Media Handle
The use of #STOPTRIDENT gives context to the ‘NO>’ message, relating it to the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmement while granting the ability for the imagery to extend into digital activism and publicity.
Peace Symbol
The inclusion of the peace symbol derives from 1st hand research, Yorkshire CND’s Adam Stacey identified the use of the symbol as a simple, effective manner in communicating the CND to the general public, a requirement identified in the brief.
Application
Why applied in this way?
The scale of the illustration needs to adhere to the requirement to be seen from varying distances while allowing space for the social media handle #STOPTRIDENT and the peace symbol.
Where? How?
500 double sided A2 Placards of two selected designs would be printed and distributed around Leicester Square on the 27th of February. The stock and process in which the placards would be printed was undisclosed.
Extension
The submitted design was awarded one of the two winners and subsequently distributed at the demonstration. Coinciding with the D&AD research trip, images of the placard in context illustrate the effectiveness and desired attributes of the piece.
The social media coverage of the design heralded the use of a hashtag as a successful manner to gain publicity.
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