Thursday, March 31, 2016

OUGD603 / D&AD / Overview

D&AD Monotype

Purpose: To promote and campaign for nuclear disarmament.

Audience: The general public currently uninterested or believe in favor of renewing the Trident program. Most likely to be politically left aligned.

Why?: Myself and the CND want unilateral disarmament, to stop trident and it’s renewal.

Where / Context: Primarily focusing upon local campaigns until the national Stop Trident demonstration taking place across London on the 27th of February.

Application

What needs or can exist (Application)?

Currently: Banners / Placards / Stickers / Information leaflets & booklets & posters








Innovation: Protest Packs / Books / Graffiti aids / Personalized sign tools / Typeface / Online aid / Social media campaign / App / Product / Tote bags / Denim Jacket / Fabric Banners / Flags








Practical Considerations:

Making signs at home – cheap, fast, easy and able to assemble/disassemble quickly

Adaptions to laws:

No metal tubing / pools / wood – use cardboard rolls.

Wearing signs on head as hats / backpacks / umbrellas / shopping bags / paint on signs

Need for clear and concise signs / short / simple as protest material is seen instantly from great distances.

Print / Digital / Other

Print:

Paper / Fabric / Clothing / Card / Umbrella / Paint on Skin / Badges

Digital:

Instagram / GIF / Image / Website / Email / QR Code / #’s / Tumblr / FB

Other:
Props / Performance / Packaging / Book / Typeface / Posterzine

Design Considerations:

Production:

The production of protesting equipment needs to adhere to the context of the type of protest, the constraints of campaigning at home are different to them of partaking in a demonstration.

Campaigning at home may consist of communication tools placed in windows, walls or hung from buildings – similar to the flood of football related material seen around the times of international tournaments such as the World Cup. Campaigning at home may too consist of digital activism, be that posts to social media, the running of blogs or more extreme variations such as hacko-thons.

Experiencing the Stop Trident Demonstration in London on the 27th of February granted me the ability to understand the practical necessities for a demonstrator; Traveling through the underground with heavy banners and placards is impractical and discourages demonstrators from committing to use such tools. Many demonstrators travelled great distances to London on the day of the demonstration and intended of staying in and around the city after the demonstration, any materials that would be used as tools of communication through the day would have to be stored and carried with them in more orthodox social situations.

Communication tools at demonstrations then would benefit activists by being as of little convenience, being able to be assembled and disassembled in as little time and effort as possible.







Cost / Accessibility Considerations:

The cost of producing and possibly maintaining protest equipment would benefit from being as cheap as possible in order to cause as little financial inconvenience while making the act of protesting as accessible to the greatest amount of activists.

Legal Considerations:

How To Protest On The Right Side Of The Law (See Blog)

Can I decorate my wheelie bin? :

“As long as the covering does not damage the recycling bin or affect us collecting or emptying it we are happy for you to cover the bin. As long as the covering does not damage the recycling bin or affect us collecting or emptying it we are happy for you to cover the bin. Please note that we cannot be held responsible if the bin and/or its cover is lost, stolen or damaged. We can replace the bin but not the cover” Source GOV.UK

Production:

The production of protesting equipment needs to adhere to the context of the type of protest, the constraints of campaigning at home are different to them of partaking in a demonstration.

The context of campaigning dictates the form of protest material.

Campaigning from home may be print based flags, banners or posters in which the product is designed to last.





Digital Activism is produced digitally and will adhere to the social media platform is designed for.

Protest and demonstration require different production considerations, they have to be of little inconvenience, assembled and reassembled quickly and even hidden in the more extreme of cases.

Campaigning at home may consist of communication tools placed in windows, walls or hung from buildings – similar to the flood of football related material seen around the times of international tournaments such as the World Cup. Campaigning at home may too consist of digital activism, be that posts to social media, the running of blogs or more extreme variations such as hacko-thons.

Experiencing the Stop Trident Demonstration in London on the 27th of February granted me the ability to understand the practical necessities for a demonstrator; Traveling through the underground with heavy banners and placards is impractical and discourages demonstrators from committing to use such tools. Many demonstrators travelled great distances to London on the day of the demonstration and intended of staying in and around the city after the demonstration, any materials that would be used as tools of communication through the day would have to be stored and carried with them in more orthodox social situations.

Communication tools at demonstrations then would benefit activists by being as of little convenience, being able to be assembled and disassembled in as little time and effort as possible.


The D&AD brief demanded a visual language that can be used consistently through a range of at least 3 different applications. As these applications are to influence the visual language of the communication, I identified three formats that were to best fit with the CND campaign and demonstrations beforehand.



POSTER

Similar to the research undertaken for the dissertation, the visual language of protest graphics reflects the production and distribution of such. The production of CND poster, if not made and distributed by the official CND groups, are produced by individuals or collectives, most commonly using resources available to the common man.

Although hand-rendered typography is most commonly used in similar communications of agenda, digital manifestations offer greater legibility, due to clarity, and can even prove cheaper and more time efficient (if a computer and printer is already owned).

POSTER

Application informing design:

The presumption that the vast majority of people have access to a computer and printer is a safe assumption.

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The most readily available printer prints in an A4 format = A4 Paper

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Printing text in black is not only the cheapest, but allows coloured stock to be used. Printing coloured copy is more expensive and limits variation in stock, as does printing in negative (white) = Black Text


Application:

The campaigning leading up to the demonstration is just as important in communicating to potential demonstrators and collating a greater audience. Where is the best place to apply posters to capture the target audience cheaply and legally?

Without buying advertising space and breaking the law, promoting a cause publicly can be difficult. A similar communication is seen during football tournaments and elections, flags, banners, placards and posters decorate houses.

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With the application of wheatpaste (cheap and easy to make) paper can be applied to the majority of surfaces.

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Wheelie bins, an empty canvas, unavoidable, legal to decorate and each viewed by every passer-by, seemed more than fitting to use as a platform to communicate from.

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A4, black copy (possible coloured stock) on wheelie bins with the use of wheat-paste.











DIGITAL

The first of two digital touch points was to home the ‘Print’ and ‘Other’ touch points; allowing potential and existing activists the ability to download the posters and to ‘order’ scarves. The website will also showcase curated #STOPTRIDENT material, give information surrounding Britain’s Trident program and conclude with a donation page.

The second of the two touch points focused upon social media platforms, sharing the same imagery found upon both the scarves and posters, to sit alongside written content to encourage the STOP TRIDENT agenda.





OTHER

“Experiencing the Stop Trident Demonstration in London on the 27th of February granted me the ability to understand the practical necessities for a demonstrator; Traveling through the underground with heavy banners and placards is impractical and discourages demonstrators from committing to use such tools. Many demonstrators travelled great distances to London on the day of the demonstration and intended of staying in and around the city after the demonstration, any materials that would be used as tools of communication through the day would have to be stored and carried with them in more orthodox social situations.”

Derived from my own research at demonstrations; noticing activists struggling carrying heavy placards around post-demonstration, I deduced communication tools would benefit activists by being as of little convenience, being able to be assembled and disassembled in as little time and effort as possible.

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A platform of communication that is viable, light and can be kept on a person without tiresome holding = Fabric

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A platform of communication that can communicate from a distance yet can be deconstructed and kept on a person made from fabric = scarf














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