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Planet B. Colonial patterns in visual communication and space exploration
Conclusion
When it comes to explaining what this project is about, I never know how to start. For me, it is about everything. It is not just another design fiction, it is personal. I have started to work on Planet B with excitement about moving to Mars. While researching more on the topic, I realized that it is more complex and versatile than I thought. My point of view changed completely when, after discovering the homesickness theme, I continued to find more and more ethical critique on space exploration. Some of the points, like aesthetic or linguistic, were underestimated and not well-known in society. That is why I set myself a goal to reveal all the ethical issues of space exploration in order to increase the awareness of the problems. I have found some connections and came to a single cause of all the issues. These were still existing consequences of the Colonial era. They have a dramatic impact on all the spheres of life. No matter whether it is rocket science or art, we still can notice the same imperialist colonial patterns in them. The oppressing western graphic design “standard” and the terraforming of Mars have all the same roots. The capitalist system is the main sponsor of colonization, racism, cultural appropriation, and many other issues. It created the system of oppression that I find necessary to debunk. That is why I think it is important for designers to decolonize their design practice and thus, to start changing the inadequate norm. The final form of Planet B is an installation with a diverse range of digital and analog graphic elements. It is a design-fictional project of the Defensive
