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.
>
The most readily available printer prints
in an A4 format = A4 Paper
>
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.
>
With the application of wheatpaste (cheap
and easy to make) paper can be applied to the majority of surfaces.
>
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.
=
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.
=
A platform of communication that is viable,
light and can be kept on a person without tiresome holding = Fabric
=
A platform of communication that can communicate
from a distance yet can be deconstructed and kept on a person made from fabric
= scarf
