OUGD603 / Peter Kennard / Placard Design Competition

OUGD603 / Peter Kennard / Placard Design Competition

Brief

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.

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / Insight - Pro or Anti Nuclear Arms?

Insight – building my own views on Trident.

Before starting the project I believe it is for my own morality that I decide if I am for or against Trident, to take part in the project while being pro-Trident would be contradictory and morally wrong to do. I aim to investigate opinions, perspectives and insight into the nuclear program in order to develop an informed understanding that will grant me the ability to carry on with the project. The act of attempting to build an opinion does beg further questioning on my own perspective such as

Could I benefit from an anti-Trident initiative? Would the money spent of the program be used for education, healthcare or a general bettering of my quality of life?

If Trident is scrapped, is the country in more danger from forces that would have previously been discouraged due to our possession of such weapons.

One must acknowledge the difference between multi and uni-lateral disarmament; Multilateral disarmament is an agreement by all countries to disregard nuclear weapons whilst unilateral disarmament refers to a singular country agreeing to disarm nuclear weapons. These versions of disarmament create further dialogue within the argument for or against.

One must too acknowledge M.A.D in order to develop a perspective on the argument and to subsequently develop an informed opinion; ‘Mutual Assured Destruction, a.k.a. MAD. Mutual Assured Destruction began to emerge at the end of the Kennedy administration. MAD reflects the idea that one's population could best be protected by leaving it vulnerable so long as the other side faced comparable vulnerabilities. In short: Whoever shoots first, dies second.”

The M.A.D concept was to develop into M.A.S (Mutual Assured Stability);

“a condition in which neither party has the intention or capability to exercise unilateral advantage

over the other.”

Stop Trident Videos

Jeremy Hardy

Mr. Hardy discusses the idea of a power balance, if one country has a nuclear weapons program; other countries are motivated to do the same in order to sustain a mutual balance of power. Hardy refers to this armament as an act of insanity and that to trust the powers that have undertaken such armament is too, insane.

Caroline Lucas

Mrs. Lucas focuses on the monetary cost of the Trident program noting that, the 183bn that could be possibly spent on the cause would be more efficiently used in sustaining the security of the country in renewable energy initiatives alongside industry development.

Victoria Britain

Referring to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Mrs. Britain notes the immortality of the use of nuclear weapons and aspires for Britain to be a leading force in the demise of nuclear weapons globally. Britain too refers to the monetary cost of the nuclear program as Lucas has, proposing the money to be spent of other financial crises such as the NHS and education.

Bruce Kent

Describing the spending of £100bn as ‘absolute nonsense’ Bruce Kent dissects the power associated with British nuclear armament as only possible with American relations therefore the need for Britain to hold nuclear weapons as ‘nonsense’. Kent notes the accidents possible with nuclear weapons and a questioning of the effectiveness of a deterrent to groups such as ISIS in which death is not feared and does not hold a location to retaliate against. Kent concludes by calling for nuclear free security based on justice and friendship.

Dennis Skinner

Skinner, a British labor MP begins by referring to the similarities between the CND Aldermaston marches in the 1960s and them to take place on February 27^th. Skinner identifies Britain’s armament as hypocritical as attempts to disarm Iran, amongst other, stating ‘We are calling upon nations [to disarm]… why don’t we?’.

100 reasons for pro-disarmament published in the run to the UN’s National Day Of Peace include:

54. because many nuclear weapons today would explode with up to 100 times the force of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

50. because nuclear weapons cannot deter terrorism.

27. because if we don't, nuclear weapons will continue to proliferate.

7. because it will make the world safer for our children and grandchildren - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Pro-Nuclear Weapons

10 Pros and Cons of Nuclear Weapons

“1. Global Defense

Nuclear weapons are likely key deterrents to major wars flaring up and acts of aggression by rogue nations. With such power behind them, nations that have nuclear weapons are far less likely to be attacked by another nation, even if that other nation also has a nuclear arsenal. The better a nation can defend itself, the more likely it is that no one will want to risk going against them and that results in more peacetime. This fact also makes it easier for diplomatic talks to work out since no one really wants to get into a conflict that can end with nuclear weapons.

2. Power Supply

Nations that have nuclear weapons can benefit from the power and status that comes with the territory. As small and insignificant as many view North Korea to be in certain ways, other nations pay attention to their actions and wishes since they have a large fighting force and a small amount of nuclear weapons. No one wants their homeland to experience a nuclear weapon attack and most nations will do whatever they can to avoid any conflict that may lead to one. This makes it better for communication and the willingness to listen to one another.

3. War Deterrent

Smaller nations can stand a chance of defending themselves against larger nations that have more money and military capabilities when the have nuclear weapons. This can increase the peace and make it less likely that certain nations will get bullied or invaded. Alliances have this same affect when a nation that has nuclear weapons is allied with nations that do not have them. The protection that non-nuclear capable nations can have from nations that are capable has prevented many conflicts over the years that could have went badly.

The number of nations that have the resources and ability to create nuclear weapons is high enough to where nations that already have these weapons want to hold on to some of them. If a nation that has a dangerous leader wants to make new nuclear weapons, it is logical for some other nation to have their own weapons that can face that threat. Removing every single nuclear weapon from the earth can leave an opening for some combative nation or group to build their own and pose a real risk to others.”

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / Peter Kennard

Peter Kennard

Peter Kennard, an artist who has a portfolio of anti-nuclear agenda driven imagery, judges the CND brief. A collation of his works taken from the TATE's collection below shows the use of photomontage to communicate a CND agenda. Wit, wordplay and irony communicated through the appropriation of imagery can be seen in Decoration 1982, the image shows a boat being blown upon in replace of a medal pendant - addressing the light and shrapnel seen as decoration; contradictory to the decoration usually associated with the obtaining of medals due to honour and achievement of war service.

"Peter Kennard is a London-based artist, recently described by The Guardian as "a living hero of pacifist photomontage". He is senior tutor in photography at the Royal College of Art and his work is in many major collections, including Tate, the V&A and the Imperial War Museum. His work has been published in numerous publications including The Guardian, The Observer, Sunday Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Scotsman, New Statesman and Time Magazine."

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / CND - Peace Symbol

Designed in 1958 for CND by Gerald Holtom.
The CND symbol has been appropriated to represent peace.

Gerald Holtom notes one of two origins of the symbol as a representation of that similar to Goya's Peasant;a man in despair with his arms outstretched.

The second of the two origins of the symbol came from flag semaphore,
a communication system based upon visual positions.
A mergence of N and D represented nuclear disarmament.

The logo is not copyrighted therefore commercial use if unrestricted.

An archive of Holtom's original sketches are available in close proximity to Leeds College Of Art.

'The first badges were made by Eric Austen of Kensington CND using white clay with the symbol painted black. Again there was a conscious symbolism. They were distributed with a note explaining that in the event
of a nuclear war, these fired pottery badges would be among the few human artefacts to
survive the nuclear inferno.'

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / Existing CND Visual Communication

A selection of CND visual communication are freely available to any who wish to be involved in local activities, demonstrations and general support here, the agenda driven content includes a selection of posters, logos and other imagery in various formats to help support the cause.

The open source material is available to anyone interested in various formats. 

The open source material is available to anyone interested in various formats.

The democratised access to such material is common with agenda driven causes as financial gain isn't a motive, the strength of the visual communication reflects an 'amatuer' appeal; design isn't the greatest consideration here. It is my belief that the strengthening of the agenda's visual communication would benefit the cause through greater collation of supporters, understanding and a general improvement of communicating the cause.

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / CND February 27th Demonstration details

"CND has called for a massive demonstration on the 27th of February to show the extent of public opposition to Trident. The demonstration is being supported by the Stop the War Coalition,

Muslim Association of Britain and the People’s Assembly,

with more organisations pledging support all the time."

Source: CND

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"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."

Source: CND 

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Details of the demonstration taken from the event page.

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Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament marches back into public arena after years of decline

By Andy McSmith for The Independent Friday 29 January 2016

[Blue italics indicate notes of my own]

  

More than three decades have passed since the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament had a following large enough to bring traffic in central London to a halt, and fill the streets with banner-waving ( Banners have been prolific in public protests due to their ease of production, practical storing and unfolding as well as the ability to be large and seen at a distance ) protesters united in their belief that the UK should renounce nuclear weapons.

The movement hit its peak on Saturday 22 October 1983, when supporters in their thousands poured into Hyde Park, urged on by 2.3 million advertisements fly-posted (Fly-Posters have been a method of distribution of agenda driven material due to its temporariness, ease of use, cheapness and technical ease which allows the common man to do so) by CND activists ahead of the event urging them to “be there”.

Jeremy Corbyn risks splitting his party further with new role at CND.

The crowd heard from a succession of eminent speakers, including the fiery new leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock. Scotland Yard estimated that the crowd numbered 200,000. The organisers claimed 300,000.

For all their enthusiasm, the marchers had no impact at all on government policy. The land-based missiles to which they objected were taken away years later, not because of objectors, but under an international agreement. The Trident missiles are still carried in submarines, though there’s now a debate as to whether they should be renewed.

CND may have slipped off the news bulletins, but it never went out of existence. Bruce Kent, the former Roman Catholic priest who was a public face of the 1980s protest, still calls into CND’s north London headquarters a couple of times a week. The coming month will see several events designed to get CND back in the public eye, culminating in a rally in Trafalgar Square on 27 February where the main speaker will be Jeremy Corbyn. Organisers are expecting 50,000 or more.

Kate Hudson, long-serving CND general secretary, was a face in the crowd at the 1980s Hyde Park rally. “It was very exciting,” she said. “Those big demonstrations were my first experience of collective resolve. I have a very clear memory of one of those large demonstrations in Hyde Park. I remember seeing in the distance the little white shirt that was Monsignor Bruce Kent. I met him years later: it’s amazing to meet one of your heroes face to face.

“Then there was the fear factor. We felt that with cruise missiles coming, the Soviets and the US were gearing up to fight their nuclear war in Europe. Now people are thinking more about what is our security threat today. They think it’s terrorism, climate change, pandemic and cyber-crime, and are asking why are we spending potentially £183bn on something that doesn’t appear to have any military utility.”

Also working in CND’s favour is the shift in the political landscape, summed up in two words – Jeremy Corbyn. He stuck with CND during the wilderness years. One of his roles was as chairman of Labour CND. In 2014 he was confirmed in that position at an annual meeting that drew fewer than 50 supporters.

The next annual meeting takes place today. This time they have had to book a hall for 150 to 200 delegates. They will hear from Diane Abbott, the shadow International Secretary, and the first serving member of a shadow cabinet to address Labour CND for more than 30 years. Mr Corbyn will stand down as chairman to be replaced by Walter Wolfgang, a 92-year-old who escaped from Nazi Germany and was one of the founders of CND, nearly 60 years ago.

In 1957 the UK exploded a nuclear bomb. This inspired the launch of CND, with the philosopher Bertrand Russell as its president and the Labour MP Michael Foot as a prominent member.

But people became accustomed to living with the bomb. CND almost vanished until Margaret Thatcher decided to purchase updated Trident missiles from the US, and to allow the Americans to place cruise missiles at Greenham Common.

Between 1980 and 1984, CND membership swelled from around 4,500 to more than 100,000. Under Michael Foot’s leadership, unilateral nuclear disarmament became official Labour Party policy. But when disarmament talks between the superpowers began in the mid-1980s, CND again went into decline. Unilateralism was a vote loser. Neil Kinnock let his CND membership lapse as he fought a long, successful battle to reverse party policy.

Ian Chamberlain, CND’s spokesman, said: “The 1980s veterans have always been the core membership, but we now have a very large number of young people who were brought into politics by Jeremy Corbyn. During the Labour leadership election we were getting hundreds of new members each month. Success is closer than ever”.

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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.

OUGD603 / CND & D&AD / Ken Garland

"Even if I hadn’t been on the very first Easter March (yes, the one that ended up in that awful muddy field outside the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston) and become a devoted adherent to the campaign, it would have been quite impossible to refuse anything to the late Peggy Duff, the Organising Secretary of CND. Though she never had a penny to offer me, she was my most inspiring and endearing client, and I was always ready to bust a gut whenever she got us on the blower with yet another all-but-impossible task."

"This photograph of a child looking out of a window was used for a CND poster entitled SAY NO. It was also reproduced as a leaflet, of which 500,000 were printed and distributed during the Easter March of 1963."
Note the use of full caps in 'SAY NO' as well as the use of the CND/Peace symbol as an 'O'.

Various banners outside of Barbara Castle in 1963 show a location followed by
Y.C.N.D (Youth Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). Note the use of full caps created with the use of a stencil as a reflection of the accessibility of the production method - anyone could do it!

A negative crop of the CND/Peace symbol; Garland's use of Britain's silhouette
within the symbol reflects the mentality of the event; Britain's hope of ND.

Again using the CND/Peace symbol alongside a full capitalised font design by Ken Garland and Associates,
the repetition of the symbol can be seen as representation of the 1962 march; a movement of peace.