HOW ART AND DESIGN HAVE SHAPED THE POST ELECTION WORLD
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR 2
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WHAT IS TYPOGRAPHY? WHY DOES IT MATTER? HOW DOES IT IMPACT OUR LIVES? The Merriam-Webster definition of TYPOGRAPHY is: “the work of producing printed pages from written material” or “the style, arrangement, or appearance of printed letters on a page.” How those letters, words, and sentences are styled and arranged affects how they are perceived. Good typography clarifies content, establishes hierarchy, and presents information in a manner that makes it easier to read, and, therefore, to understand. Good typography is good communication: it can start a dialog or advance an idea or make a difference in the world. Typography is also intertwined with our daily lives—we encounter type in everything from the products we buy, the signage around us, the books we read, the news we consume, and the directions we follow. Typography can be beautiful, functional, persuasive, and inviting. It can also fail, especially when there is a disconnect between how the type looks and what the text says. This debut issue of THE DIVIDE examines typography and design viewed through the lens of activism and social justice. Topics range from the recent presidential election to ethics within the design industry to the power of the poster as a means of expression and protest. The content was conceptualized, collected, curated, and created by students in Art 338: Typography II at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo during winter quarter 2017. The magazine reflects the diverse interests and talents of the students who brought this project to life.
CHARMAINE MARTINEZ EDITOR, INSTRUCTOR AND TYPE ENTHUSIAST
PUNK YET PEACEFUL POSITIVITY THE SECRET TO ETHICAL DESIGN?
THE BEAT OF CHANGE NOTEWORTHY ALBUM ARTWORK
THE AFRO COMB AND AMERICAN CONSCIOUSNESS
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ARTIST PROFILE: FRED MARTINS
HOW DESIGN CAN HELP END CULTURAL APPROPRIATION
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JR AND ACTIVISM
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ARTIST PROFILE: JR
HISTORY’S MOST POWERFUL PROTEST ART
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THE DRAW OF WAR
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THE WAR ART AND PROPAGANDA OF WALT DISNEY
WHY TATTOOING IS UNIVERSAL EXPLORING THE CANVAS THE ALLURE OF THE BODY AS CANVAS
AN ARTIST AGAINST HATE SHEPHARD FAIREY’S REVEALS NEW POSTERS TO PROTEST TRUMP
WHAT WOMEN ARE WORTH THE CURRENT STATUS OF THE WAGE GAP AND THE GLASS CEILING
THE CAMPAIGN DESIGNS OF 2016
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PUNK
YET
PEACEFUL POSITIVITY MADELEINE MORLEY, NOVEMBER 18, 2016
THIS YOUNG BERLIN DESIGNER WALKS THE LINE, STEERING CLEAR OF TWEE
Art director and graphic designer Marius Jopen’s work first came to me in the form of a quote from H. G. Wells, written in an off-kilter, cursive style with thick black Sharpie. It was hung on the door of my co-working studio, where he was set up for a brief stint. “More than machinery, we need humanity, more than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness,” it read.
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T
his hand-written style is a signature of his, appearing across the board on identities and posters that he penned throughout his time working for Mirko Borsche and Stefan Sagmeister. It continues to be a staple, featuring throughout the continual scroll of the young designer’s website and on his work for cultural clients in Berlin and Amsterdam. Having worked for two of Germany’s most indemand designers and having recently garnered attention as a finalist for the Dutch Design
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Awards’ young designer category, starting his THE SCRUFF own studio is the logical next step for the 2014 JOPEN’S STYLE Rietveld Academy graduate. SEEM PUNK, N I’m not one for inspirational design quotes by any means, but this wasn’t what his Welles poster was; the scruffiness of Jopen’s style COLLAGIN makes it seem punk, not twee. It has the same ILLUSTRAT effect on client work. For a recent campaign and identity system for the Rotterdam museum Het ARTICULATE Nieuwe Institute’s The Body exhibition, Jopen, ISUES WITH SIMPLIC in collaboration with Berlin-based designer
Max Kuwertz, created a system in which FINESS OF E MAKES IT clean grids collide with scrawled felt-tip pen. While studying in Amsterdam, Jopen NOT TWEE
NG AND TING TO E COMPLEX STRIKING CITY
simplicity. Eventually he found the routine frustrating, feeling as if he was participating in a merry-go-round of negative news. began a project akin to the Daily Drop Cap or Perhaps as an antidote to submerging poster-a-day craze that has become an almost himself in daily disasters, around the same compulsory exercise for students. For almost time Jopen co-founded The Love Foundation. two years he created a poster reflecting on the The open network of students and artists news headlines, printing out a grid he’d put raises money by putting on music nights, together on InDesign and scrawling across using the profits to provide clean drinking it in felt-tip pen, collaging and illustrating water for people in the Busia region of Kenya. to articulate complex issues with striking Instead of invoking guilt through distressing
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JOPEN BELIEVES DESIGN WITH AN OPTIMISTIC MESSAGE CREATES A CONDUCIVE ATMOSPHERE FOR SOCIAL CAUSES imagery, Jopen—in line with the sweeping positive news movement—believes design with an optimistic message creates a conducive atmosphere for social causes. In order to connect all members of the foundation together (which now has branches in Amsterdam, Berlin, Dresden, Perth, and Santa Cruz, California), he designed a “Love Logo” of two interlocking rings that have become the only recurring motif for the posters promoting events.
This is what Jopen’s work does—it elevates— but its aesthetic is wild, quick, and cut-and-paste enough, so that there’s nothing too sentimental about it. It’s vital to consider the role of ethics for contemporary graphic designers, an area often over looked, and to highlight who is using their skills for ideological or political purposes. Jopen’s approach—as symbolized in that small act of tacking a Charlie Chaplin quote to a door—is one that communicates heart and heft.
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THE BEAT OF CHANGE 1960
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1971
We Insist!
The Last Poets
Max Roach’s Freedom Suite (1960)
This Is Madness (1971)
The cover of this impatiently-titled, classic jazz record references the sit-in movements of the civil rights movement which started in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1960. As with To Pimp a Butterfly, the confrontational nature of the image is accentuated by the fact that everyone in the frame is staring straight down the camera.
The Last Poets was an amorphous, ever-shifting collective of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s black nationalist movement. The staunchly Africanist imagery, flamecoated backdrop and Black Power salutes tell the whole revolutionary story on the cover of their album This is Madness.
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NOTEWORTHY ALBUM ARTWORK FROM THE LAST HALF-CENTURY by Ashley Clark
1973
1982
Sun Ra
Bad Brains
Space is the Place (1973)
Bad Brains (1982)
Born Herman Poole Blount in the Jim Crow hotspot Birmingham, Alabama in 1914, Ra maintained he was not of this planet and painstakingly crafted a mythical persona that fused sci-fi ideas and aesthetics with Egyptian mysticism. In his sole fictional film appearance – an adaptation of the album of the same name – Ra plays a seer whose mission is to get the disenfranchised black youth of the day to relocate to the utopian haven of space. Its allegorical take on a blasted, post-civil rights urban America as no place for black people was hardly subtle.
The self-titled debut by DC Rasta-punks Bad Brains—once regarded as one of the fastest albums of all time—flies by in a flurry of aggravation and spittle-flecked spirit. Its cover courted controversy by depicting the chrome dome of the Washington Capitol building being struck by lightning and cracking apart. Perhaps the electricity was conducted by their furious hardcore.
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1988
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1999
NWA
The Roots
Straight Outta Compton (1988)
Things Fall Apart (1999)
The forthcoming biopic of LA gangsta rappers NWA, named after their debut LP, illustrates that their influence is far from waning. Straight Outta Compton has one of the all-time great covers – a shot taken from the point of view of a man (very possibly a cop, if the song Fuck Tha Police is anything to go by) about to be dispatched by a gun-toting Eazy-E. The rest of the group glower with a memorable ferocity intended to strike fear into the hearts of white America.
Taking its title from the classic 1958 novel by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, the artwork for Things Fall Apart draws a terrifying line between the past and the present in its use of a stark, monochrome photograph from the civil rights movement era. It depicts the terrifying sight of riot police chasing two black teenagers— one boy, one girl—down the streets of Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant.
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TO CALL ITS VIVID IMAGERY CONFRONTATIONAL WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT
2000
2015
Dead Prez
Kendrick Lamar
Let’s Get Free (2000)
To Pimp a Butterfly (2015)
Among the most politically-conscious rap outfits of the era (alongside the likes of Black Star and X-Clan), Dead Prez matched their thrillingly didactic wordplay with uncompromising imagery. The cover of Let’s Get Free represents an open call for armed revolution and aligns contemporary, capitalist, repressive America with colonial-era Africa in the form of an armed village preparing to strike. Unsurprisingly, the cover was censored in many outlets around the US.
On March 11, 2015, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar posted the cover art for his forthcoming LP, To Pimp a Butterfly, on Instagram, prompting much excitement. To call its vivid imagery confrontational would be an understatement. Shot in striking monochrome with the quality of a vintage Polaroid, it features a large group of mostly shirtless black men and children – plus one baby, cradled by Lamar himself and, possibly, one woman – arranged in a victory tableau on the lawn in front of the White House.
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AFRO COMB
THE
&
AMERICAN CONSCIOUSNESS CELEBRATING AFRICAN ACTIVISTS USING THE SYMBOL OF THE AFRO COMB 14
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NIGERIAN ARTIST FRED MARTINS SHARES HIS LATEST COLLECTION OF POLITICALLY CHARGED ART His previous series drew attention to the serious issue of climate change, which was aimed at triggering an emotional response in the viewer—which might then lead to better global stewardship. This new project celebrates African activists, who were jailed for trying to enforce the freedom and fairness for Africans. Using the symbol of the “afro comb,” Martins’ series includes portraits of Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba and Fela Kuti. DESIGN AND POLITICS
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IT GOES BEYOND STYLE AND ADORNMENT; A COMB HAS A STRONG HISTORICAL PLAY FOR AFRICANS. Tell me more about the image of the comb. Lately, I started listening to some early 90’s West African highlife music, the nostalgic feeling from that retro world inspired me. Their passé style made me brood on our music and culture and later, on the African struggle for freedom, social justice and fairness. And on those that gave their all, breaking into pieces like a comb trying to liberate the scalp from lice. So I illustrated strong and symbolic images in honour of some celebrated African activists and past leaders that still inspire a lot of people. What do you think is so strong about the comb as a symbol? Afro combs were worn in the 70’s by fluffy-afroed youths in America as a protest against repression and it goes beyond style and adornment, a comb has a strong historical play for Africans. Combs were connected to both cultural and religious beliefs, even though they were fashionable and also used for combating lice, ticks and fleas. The over 5500-year-old Afro-combs discovered in Kemet (Egypt) disproves the present theories that denies Egypt its blackness. It connects Africans to their ancestors.
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FOR SHARING THE SAME GOAL AND STRUGGLE THEY SHOULD BE UNIFORMLY HONORED. Why the bold orange background? The orange color is associated to prison. I realized that most of these legendary activists—from Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King Jr, Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Fela Kuti to Angela Davis—were at some point jailed for enforcing the African consciousness. Your characters are not only Africans who lived on the continent, was it important for you to included the diaspora Africans? Africans for me are indivisible, not even by geography. They are treated as one people across the globe and it does not matter their birth place so they are not limited by global mapping. And for sharing the same goal and struggle they should be uniformly honored.
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HOW DESIGN CAN HELP END
Cultural Appropriatio BY
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CANDICE ZAMORA
DESIGN AND POLITICS
on
IF YOU THOUGHT OUR ‘POLITICALLY-CORRECT’ SOCIETY HAD ELIMINATED ISSUES OF RACE AND STEREOTYPES FROM ADVERTISEMENTS, BRAND LOGOS, AND THE FIELDS OF WEB AND GRAPHIC DESIGN, YOU THOUGHT WRONG.
A
complex and extremely controversial topic is creeping up in American culture: cultural appropriation. The Professional Association for Design (AIGA), which is the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design, reports that 86% of graphic designers in the field are Caucasian American. The remaining demographic breakdown is as follows: 2% are Black, 4% are Hispanic/Latino, 6% are Asian/Pacific Islander, and 2% are “other”. This lack of diversity makes the entire career field less credible—after all, how can graphic design be taken seriously if only a certain demographic is creating everything? The real problem is designers are being denied the chance to advocate for certain viewpoints from the actual source of the information. This increases the chances of appropriation appearing in real life and stereotypes appearing in graphic design work.
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Q IS DIVERSITY REALLY THAT IMPORTANT IN DESIGN?
A YES. Technology and globalism make diversity and inclusion more necessary than ever in today’s world. From a design standpoint, diversity and inclusion within the field leads to more innovation- we can’t advance without different ideas from different viewpoints. As Americans, we absorb brands, logos, and visual representations into our identities-so they need to be accurate and respectful. It’s important that our culture welcomes expression and participation from all ethnic, gender and socioeconomic populations because their insights and experiences can inform and enrich the lives of our whole society. 86% WHITE
6% ASIAN
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4% LATINO
2% BLACK 2% OTHER
Q SO HOW CAN WE FIX IT?
A DESIGN COMPANIES MUST OPENLY EMBRACE MORE DIVERSE PRACTITIONERS AND RETAIN THEM THROUGH INCLUSION. The industry as a whole has a responsibility to foster new talent and create communities of contributors who represent more realistic gender and ethnic ratios in order to give everyone an equal chance succeed. Additionally, designers can take measures to avoid placing stereotypes on other cultures. The chances of this happening decrease when diversity is welcomed; designers then get the chance to understand the history behind certain elements of another ethnicity’s culture. The more designers of different backgrounds know about each other the better they can create intelligent and sensitive expressions and avoid appropriation. America can’t afford to lose the amazing contributions that can be made by misrepresented segments of its population, and reaching out to these populations is the first step toward ending racist designs and cultural appropriation.
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JRISM &
ACTIV
T H E A RT I S T O N A C R U S A D E • by Ana Bambic Kostov
HE STARTED ON THE HOUSES OF PARIS BY WRITING HIS NAME ON ROOFTOPS. After realizing he could make use of photography to tell a wider story, he began pasting images he took on walls in numerous 24
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illegal sidewalk galleries. When Paris was caught by the riot fire in the mid 2000s, his social consciousness reached a new level of lucidity, and his activist crusade began. His moniker is JR and he is probably the most globally spread street artist. It’s obvious that JR’s art comes
from activism, but the manner in which this TED prize winner conducts his affairs is entirely different. He does not focus only on several concrete issues as Keith Haring did, nor does he engage in advocating revolution in style of Carrie Reichardt. JR thinks wider, always bearing a universal picture
in mind, even if he focuses on concrete, local issues in any of his continuous travels. Recognized by the art world as a prodigy, JR is today known as an activist for women’s rights, peace and equality, always having one common quality in all his projects— an idealistic belief in humanity.
ROOFTOP BEGINNINGS The beginnings of JR’s activism stem from his firm convictions that people are often served with wrong ideas about anything ‘other’, while he seeks his subjects in areas where there were no museums, or other cultural institutions. In the Portrait of a Generation project, realized in Paris between 2004 and 2006, JR turned his focus towards the marginal groups of society. Initially, those were kids against whom the prejudice of Parisian bourgeoisie was overwhelming, so pasting posters with their faces across the posh arrondissements of the City of Light had an immense impact. So immense in fact, that the Paris City Hall allowed for JR’s photographs to be wrapped around its outer walls.The word prejudice played the crucial role here, as it did in the next adventure of JR, located in the dangerous west bank area.
WEST BANK AREA. Hearing a lot about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, the artist embarked on a journey wanting to experience the situation and, perhaps, help overcome it on some level. Fighting against prejudicial ‘other’, he pasted photographed portraits of Palestine and Israeli people on the West Bank barrier, one next to the other, on both sides of the wall. He called the project Face 2 Face, and as he was looked disapprovingly by some for putting pictures of Israelis or Palestinians in the enemy zone, rarely DESIGN AND POLITICS
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could those people tell apart which one was which. By confronting two opposites, putting them in the same place and leveling them, JR did the unthinkable in a way, which aided in the understanding of absurdity of their discord. His actions stood for tolerance and acceptance, for peace, suggesting an alternative of friendship instead of clash. The development of JR’s evolving artistic and socially engaged practice took him in the direction 26
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of advocating women’s rights as well. He started this initiative in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and spread it across places with the highest rate of social distress. The Women are Heroes project went from Brazil to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Kenya, India, and Cambodia highlighting women as the most vulnerable and the strongest survivors of any given problem they encounter in the unsettling conditions they live in.
H A A
HIS ACTIONS STOOD FOR TOLERANCE AND ACCEPTANCE, FOR PEACE, SUGGESTING AN ALTERNATIVE OF FRIENDSHIP INSTEAD OF CLASH. DESIGN AND POLITICS
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ART TO THE PEOPLE It’s hardly surprising that JR chose public art for his primary expression. The illicit nature of his works is there to emphasize the direct communication with the people, his partners in crime. The response and the reaction is what JR is trying to provoke, while the opinions of the stale elite are of little interest to him. He wants to move the masses, propagating equality and human values with every step of the way. Even his more sentimental projects, Unframed and Wrinkles of the City, posses a clear critical or empowering tone, fighting for everyman, or the too-frequently overlooked social groups. Still, his latest concept, the one that made him a global phenomenon, is what embodies JR’s activism the best.
INSIDE OUT CAN CHANGE THE WORLD Already a king of street art, JR decided to involve people in his ideas. When giving his inaugural TED talk in 2011, JR asked a crucial question – Can art change the world? He did not offer a yes or no answer at the time, stating that art definitely can change how people perceive the world, altering the viewing angle, while proclaiming his wish – to use art to turn the world inside out. Then and there, the biggest participatory art project in the world was born – Inside Out Project.
HE WANTS TO MOVE THE MASSES, PROPAGATING EQUALITY AND HUMAN VALUES EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. 28
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JR’S ANONYMITY IS LOGICAL AND DELIBERATE, AS HE IS ONLY THE VESSEL OF THE COMMUNITY. As the winner of a million dollar prize, JR started engaging people across the world to make a photographic statement, to stand for their beliefs, to make their mark, The response was (and still is) vast, as the photobooths aiding in photographing people and the exhibitions spread from the USA to China. Using photography as activism, JR achieved in reaching out to millions, who dared in making themselves to be, visible and thus, known and heard. Accomplishments of JR’s artistic engagements have surpassed all expectations. The success and the acceptance they get from local communities testify to the purposefulness of his actions, as he succeeded in changing the dynamics of various, tightly knit, groups of people. Acting locally, they made an impact on the global scene, reintroducing the most universal human values into a over-stratified global society. People have become their own brand, while the artist insists on not having any logos, sponsors or credits on his art, giving it back to the people. Therefore, JR’s anonymity is logical and deliberate, as he is only the vessel of the community. His photographic activism takes him to where he is needed the most, where he endeavors to put an ordinary man on the global map, so that when he is looked at, he can always look back.
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PROTEST H I S T O RY ’ S M O S T P O W E R F U L
ART BY BELINDA LANKS Editor and creative lead at Huge and Magenta. Formerly of Bloomberg Businessweek, Fast Company, and WIRED.
CHANGE THIS TITLE
Change ESIGN AND POLITICS 32 thisDcaption
ANGER WAS CURRENCY IN THE MOST RECENT U.S. ELECTION. It fueled Trump supporters as they reacted to job insecurity, global competition, and the threat of terrorism. And following Trump’s victory, it is driving an opposition to an administration characterized by questionable appointments (including the president-elect’s own family members, a white supremacist, a racist, and a climate-change denier), conflicts of interest, and apparent disdain for the First Amendment. Adding to the rage is the fact that Trump lost the popular vote — by a lot. Hillary Clinton’s lead in the popular vote currently stands at 2 million. So yeah, these are legitimate reasons to be inconsolably pissed off. And now is the
time to take to the streets, because if recent history is any guide, protests can be effective: Last month, the Polish government proposed a bill that would have punished women who had abortions with up to five years in jail. Tens of thousands of women, dressed in black, launched a one-day strike in major cities. Three days later, legislators voted down the abortion bill. That’s what mobilization can do. And if more distant history is any guide, it’s also a time when designers can have an impact, creating the iconic images that galvanize movements. This is the moment when designers can articulate the truths, define the moment, and urge action toward a common cause.
Homemade posters can pack a punch. But well-designed images can deliver powerful messages that resonate for decades, as these examples, chosen by prominent designers, make clear. From a gold-swallowing Hitler and babies killed in Vietnam to the “I AM A MAN” posters used by black sanitation workers in Memphis to protest poor working conditions, these images harken back to disturbing moments in history. But they’re also reminders of the progress that we’ve made, the challenges we still face, the dangers of sliding backward, and the vital importance of staying engaged in the good fight.
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CLENCHE
“Protest art itsel it aims to embol people across s to mobilize for a so successfully immediate, braz soul. It should a re-created and image of a clenc successful them
CH O SE N B Y D E VA
VICTORY 1945 The message is clear as day, even if you’re not sure of the specific context. It t designed for the Warsaw Poster Contest in 1975, but is arguably one of the most timeless images ever created. You could call it a graphic rebus, simply implying ‘put down your weapon,’ or even easier, ‘stop war.’ C H O S EN B Y JESS E REED A S S O CIATE PA R TN ER AT PENTAGRAM
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A CALL T IMMEDIA IMPORTA
ED FISTS
lf doesn’t create change, but lden and galvanize enough socio economic backgrounds a cause. In order to do a call to arms should be zen, and most importantly, have also be something that can be shared. That’s why I think the ched fist in the air is such a me in protest art. It’s been used
by artists during the Mexican Revolution, by American students during the Vietnam war, by French students during the Paris Rebellion, by the Black Panther Party, and for countless other causes over time. This image is so universal it can be reduced to such a simple graphic form yet it symbolizes perfectly that the people are mad as hell and the world’s going to hear about it.”
A P URDUE , G R A P H I C D ESIG N ER
TO ARMS SHOULD BE ATE, BRAZEN, AND MOST ANTLY, HAVE SOUL. DESIGN AND POLITICS
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FREDDIE GRAY’S DEATH “I see pain and promise in this image. The struggle is larger than life in the background. It is timeless (unfortunately) and it is tangible. Images from this day were posted to social media in real time. One of the shots captured on this day became the cover image of the April 25, 2015, issue of Time magazine. In the foreground, you see the photographer, Devin Allen. The juxtaposition of his emotion with those behind him give context to the struggle. We are fighting simply to be.” CH O S EN B Y JU LIA N AL EXANDER FO U N D ER O F S LA NG INC.
THIS IS
“Without c piece of p world abo covered in CH O SE N B CO - CH A IR
WE ARE FIGHTING SIMPLY TO BE. 36
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AND BABIES “This was one of the central images to spark outrage in the U.S. about the war in Vietnam. It also brings up the question today of the media’s limited access to war zones. This work assumes the ‘designer as journalist,’ an idea that I am excited by — the ability we have to expose the truth (as ugly as it may be) and not merely decorate fiction.” CHOSEN BY ARTIST A ND D E SIG NE R JAM ES VICTORE
S NAZI BRUTALITY
caricature or stereotype, Shahn created a protest journalism that helped inform the out the horrors that were not being duly n the U.S.” Y STE V EN H E L L E R OF SVA’S M FA D E S I G N P R O G R A M
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I AM A
“It’s a represen in Memphis w workers died b the great Afric Man. In 1968, this stoic, pow
CH O SE N B Y E D PA RT NE R AT PE
ADOLF THE SUPERMAN “John Heartfield was the greatest instrumentalist artist/ designer. His activism reached beyond his art, leading him to change his name from Helmut Herzfeld to John Heartfield to further distance himself from German’s Nazi regime. His poster Adolf the Superman portrays Hitler as a heartless puppet who swallows gold and spews junk in return. It’s a striking image, and was only one of many anti-Nazi works he made in his career.” CH O S EN B Y A MY NICOL E SCHWARTZ D ES IG N D IREC TO R AT CARDS AGAINST HUM ANITY
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MAN
ntation of the signs used by 1,300 black sanitation workers who where striking in protest at bad working conditions (two because of them) and low wages. The wording derives from can-American author Ralph Ellison’s masterpiece, Invisible the photographer Ernest Withers captured the protests with werful black and white photographs.
DDI E O PA R A ENTAG R AM
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THE DRAW OF
WAR DISNEY’S WORLD WAR II ART AND PROPAGANDA
IN DECEMBER 1941, Time magazine was about to print its end of year issue, its front cover carrying a big picture of Dumbo—that loveable elephant with the gigantic ears who had helped The Walt Disney Studio achieve soaring box office figures that year. But on 7 December, Japanese aircraft attacked Pearl Harbour, abruptly bringing America into World War Two—and ousting Walt’s latest creation from the front page.
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Within just six months, The Walt Disney Studio in Burbank, California, was declared a war plant. Its filmmaking capacity was given over to the Allied effort and its well-loved cartoon characters all enlisted to do their bit for their country - from Donald Duck and Pluto to Mickey Mouse, Snow White and beyond. Through a mix of groundbreaking military training films, features and propaganda shorts, as well as insignia, books, posters, and much more, Disney sought to boost troops’ morale on the frontline and promote government policies on the home front.
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1943
YET, IF THE WAR LED TO A DIP IN DISNEY’S FORTUNES, IT WAS ONLY A TEMPORARY ONE.
Disney artists created a wealth of war-rel for many other federal, state, and local go departments and agencies besides the Tr This illustration was designed for the War Commission in 1943, to try and convince e stay at the jobs they were trained to do an critical manpower shortage caused by me into the military. It appeared in several ma was issued as a poster.
1941
lated material overnment reasury. r Manpower employees to nd help ease the en being drafted agazines and
In late 1941, Walt Disney had artist Hank Porter design a family of carrots for England’s food minister. The January 11, 1942, New York Times Magazine announced, “England has a goodly store of carrots. But carrots are not the staple items of the average English diet. The problem…is to sell carrots to (the) country.”
The front of this flyer features an illustration of Carroty George, and the reverse, six different carrot recipes. The entire family of Disney-designed carrots included Dr. Carrot, Pop Carrot, and Clara Carrot. They were reproduced on a poster, in a recipe booklet, and in an extensive newspaper ad campaign.
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1943
The insignia for the USS Escambia (AO-80) fleet refueler was created by famed Disney artist Hank Porter, the man responsible for creating the lion’s share of combat designs at the studio during the war. Escambia, named after a river that flows through Georgia and Florida, fueled ships during the invasion of the Marshall Islands, aircraft carriers as they launched strikes against the Philippines, task forces vessels supporting the invasion of Okinawa, and aircraft flying raids against Japan.
1943
This mobile naval gas station was represented by a 50-gallon drum and Jose Carioca, a character made famous in Disney’s two South American films, Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. Virgil Grier, who served aboard the Escambia said, “Ken Hackett reproduced the insignia on each side of the bridge, where it drew admiring chuckles from the crews of the ships we refueled.”
Christmas was often a depressing time of the year for men serving overseas. To help raise morale, many units created their own custom holiday greeting cards. Units with Disney-designed insignia often incorporated their insignia into the design of their cards. This particular postcard was sent out by men serving aboard the navy fleet oiler USS Housatanic (AO-35). This tanker saw action in both the Atlantic and South Pacific, where she delivered fuel oil for warships and highoctane gasoline for aircraft.
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1942 Over the course of the war, Disney artists designed more than 1,200 combat insignia for all branches of the US military and for its allies. Besides the famed Flying Tigers insignia, one of the most celebrated designs was made for England’s Royal Air Force. Prior to Pearl Harbor, many American pilots joined England’s Royal Air Force as members of Eagle Squadrons 71, 121, and 133. An entry in a Hearst newspaper insignia stamp album stated, “Walt Disney artists were quick to chronicle the significance of this combat union with an American Eagle ‘on guard.’ Fiercely he advances to contest the fouling tactics of a barbarous and un-sportsmanlike adversary, as he moves into the attack with his English ‘comrade-at-arms.’
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1943 1941
This 26-page booklet was published by the Aeronca Aircraft Corporation in 1943. The booklet told the story of the Aeronca Grasshopper, a multi-purpose airplane. The Grasshopper was used for artillery spotting, scouting, and air ambulance duties. Disney artists drew all of the illustrations in the booklet, as well as the corporate logo on the front cover. The general public could receive a copy of the booklet by sending 10 cents in stamps to Aeronca’s publicity department.
This whimsical training bo created for the US Army A Safety Education Division Command. The concept s manual that would hold th an airman while teaching principles of cold weathe a fun manner.
Through humorous sketch details the perils Allied ai while flying at high altitud very cold. The featured c spandules, the winter cou Roald Dahl’s mythical gre wreaked havoc on aircra
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ooklet was Air Force, n, Flight Control simple: make a he attention of g him the basic er flying in
hes, the booklet irmen could face des and in the characters are usins of author emlins, which aft.
1942 The USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) was an Essexclass aircraft carrier that saw extensive action in the South Pacific. Supporting the invasion of Okinawa, Bunker Hill was severely damaged when two Japanese kamikaze pilots successfully crashed into her. The resulting explosions killed more than 340 crewmen.
WHAT MOTIVATED WALT TO USE HIS INKWELLS AS WEAPONS OF WAR IN THE FIRST PLACE: WAS IT PURE PATRIOTISM OR JUST A SHREWD BUSINESS MOVE? Before the war, Disney distributed its films to around 55 countries. By 1944, 81% of box office revenue is said to have been generated by just three: the US, Canada and the UK. So it’s clear the Studios needed to find alternative ways to keep afloat to survive. Yet, Disney made a lot of the wartime animations for the government and military at cost, even bankrolling the air strategy film Victory Through Airpower himself, not to mention the insignia his Studios created for troops entirely for free. As incongruous as Disney characters are to the horrors of war, these cartoon military patches embodied pop culture, innocence, American values, and everything the troops loved about home—a much more fitting emblem than a heraldic pompous symbol with no sentimental significance.
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WHY
TATTOOING
IS UNIVERSAL BY OLGA KHAZAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHRIS RAINIER
CHRIS RAINIER, A PHOTOGRAPHE PUBLICATIONS, HAS TRAVELED T DESCRIBES AS HAVING “ONE FOO
(HE WAS ALSO ANSEL ADAMS’S L TATTOOING, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, IS LIKE SMILING: NEARLY EVERY CULTURE DOES IT, BUT NOT ALWAYS FOR THE SAME REASON. In a given society, the motivation for covering oneself in paint, ink, or even scars speaks to what the civilization as a whole holds dear.
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Speaking at the Aspen Ideas Festiva which is organized jointly by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute, he explained how “many cultures aroun the world believe that the body is a canvas waiting for a story to be told. From New Zealand’s Maori peopl to Angeleno gangsters, most culture incorporate some form of tattooing. “where the skin is too dark to tattoo there is scarification,” Rainier said. When he would visit African societie that practice scarification, and he would ask locals who they thought w the most beautiful woman or the mo handsome man, they would inevitab point to the most scarred. Often, body modifications go beyo vanity, reflecting a necessary part of the transition to adulthood. He photographed one group of Papua N Guineans who believe all of mankin originated from crocodiles, and
ER FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC AND OTHER THE WORLD IN SEARCH OF CULTURES HE OT IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN.”
LAST ASSISTANT.)
al,
therefore have their young initiates scar their skin to resemble the scales e of a reptile. nd To varying degrees, the same is true even of cultures that practice .” less extreme versions of tattooing. As le Smithsonian wrote regarding Rainier’s es work, “In New Guinea, a swirl of tattoos . But on a Tofi woman’s face indicates her o, family lineage. The dark scrawls on a Cambodian monk’s chest reflect his es religious beliefs. A Los Angeles gang member’s sprawling tattoos describe was his street affiliation, and may even ost reveal if he’s committed murder.” bly “They say, ‘This is who I am, and what I have done,’” Rainier told the ond magazine. Which just goes to show, the ways in which we mark our skin may vary widely, but deep down we’re all New the same. nd
DESIGN AND POLITICS
ARTISTS AGAINST
HATE
‘HOPE’ ARTIST SHEPHARD FAIREY REVEALS NEW POSTERS TO PROTEST TRUMP by Stephy Chung
•
Thu. January 19, 2017
Stephy Chung is a Senior Producer of CNN Style, as well as a filmmaker, runner, and recovering Beijinger now residing in Hong Kong.
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hepard Fairey -- the artist behind the a Trump administration,” Fairey told CNN. 2008 “Hope poster depicting then Fairey, along with artists Jessica Sabogal presidential candidate Barack Obama— and Ernesto Yerena, teamed up with the non has produced a new set of images in profit Amplifier Foundation—a self-described time for President-elect Donald Trump’s “art machine for social change”—to inauguration this Friday. produce works for the organization’s The three posters feature Muslim, Latino, We the People campaign. and African-American women. It’s really about making sure that people “We thought (they) were the three groups remember that ‘we the people’ means that had been maybe criticized by Trump everyone, it means all the people,” Fairey and maybe were going to be most, if not said. “I think the campaigns were very necessarily vulnerable in a literal sense, most divisive, more from one side than the other. feeling that their needs would be neglected in But (it’s) just reminding people to find their
S
“WE THE PEOPLE”
Shephard Fairey • Photo courtesy of Amplifier Foundation DESIGN AND POLITICS
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common humanity, and look beyond maybe one narrow definition of what it means to be American.”
THE CAMPAIGN’S OBJECTIVE, AS STATED IN ITS KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN, IS TO FLOOD WASHINGTON WITH SYMBOLS OF HOPE ON JAN. 20. “On January 20th, if this campaign succeeds, we’re going to take out fullpage ads in the Washington Post with these images, so that people across the capitol and across the country will be able to carry them into the streets, hang them in windows, or paste them on walls,” organizers wrote. So far, more than $1.3 million has been pledged, exceeding the Amplifier Foundation’s $60,000 target. Fairey, who has previously depicted him in an image inspired by George Orwell’s “1984,” has long been vocal about Trump. “Trump is dangerous,” Fairey told CNN in the lead-up to the 2016 election. “He’s a demagogue who’s a bigot and is sexist. He really has no respect for a lot of different people, no experience in politics, and is pursuing the presidency out of his own ego rather than a desire to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people.” Fairey is not the only artist making a statement against Trump. Los Angelesbased artist Illma Gore recently revealed a mural painted with human blood to protest Trump, and actress Meryl Streep earned the Presidentelect’s scorn when she spoke out against him in a speech at the Golden Globes earlier this month.
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“WE THE PEOPLE” • Shephard Fairey
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WHAT WOMEN ARE WORTH BY CHERYL HELLER • MA RCH 10, 2015
BUSTING NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES FOR MORE MONEY AND POWER
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I
was asked to speak at a conference in Chicago about the fact that women make less money than men. It’s an endless emotional subject colored by centuries of opinions. Following, nevertheless, is one more point of view. I believe that money and power will not come through legislation, although that may give women the confidence to act. It will come through an understanding of how our behavior has been
conditioned by stereotypes and how our expectation levels are set and the responsibility we share in setting those expectations. The time has come for this issue of men versus women to end. Too much has been said and written and too much money has been made by those to stand to profit from analyzing the gender gap. The most honest and useful belief we can hold is that the battle we have to fight is an individual battle having nothing to do with gender. DESIGN AND POLITICS
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BOTH MEN AND WOMEN EMPLOYERS PAY FEMALES ROUGHLY $12,000 LESS THAN MALES WITH SIMILAR POSITIONS. 56
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It’s undeniably true that women make less money than men, and money is the sign of equality. Women earn less money than men at every level of education. The gap is as large for college graduates as for workers who have not finished high school. Both men and women employers pay their female subordinates roughly $12,000 less than their male subordinates with similar positions. It’s a fascinating statistic. Women pay women less than they pay men. One-third of all new businesses today are started by women, and surprisingly, among the self-employed, the gap in hourly earnings is slightly larger. That means that even when women have their own companies, they pay themselves less than men pay themselves.
THE FACTS ABOUT THE WAGE GAP ARE RELATIVELY UNCONTROVERSIAL, BUT THERE’S A LOT OF DISAGREEMENT AS TO WHY. The first inclination is to blame employers, but if employers had the power to control wages, why wouldn’t they drive down the wages of men? They have to face the issues of supply and demand and they pay, to men and women, as little as they can while remaining competitive in the marketplace, and they respond to whoever applies the most pressure. A second definition of discrimination is job segregation, the assumption that women are
suited to some jobs more than others or the menial tasks rather than managerial. It’s called sex-role differentiation and there are a million reasons as to why it exists. The assumption that we’re not the same has existed forever. Within the original myths of almost every culture, there seems to be a preference for dichotomous thinking, which, as Simone Dabougraur wrote in 1945, “Casts men as the norm and women as the other possessing traits opposing to men.” Not surprisingly, the fact that men have been in power has had an effect on the study of sexual differences. First of all, women had not been considered important enough to study, DESIGN AND POLITICS
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WITHIN THE ORIGINAL MYTHS OF ALMOST EVERY CULTURE, THERE SEEMS TO BE THINKING WHICH CASTS MEN AS THE NORM AND WOMEN AS THE OTHER
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and the study that has been done has been directed towards discovering proof of women’s biological inferiority. Men have simply been protecting their turf. We have been considered less intelligent because of our smaller brain size and are unable to perform several tasks simultaneously because of less brain lateralization. It’s been discovered that people do “emotion work” on themselves to create feelings that appropriate to their role in society; also, that through anticipatory socialization, men condition themselves to have masculine feelings and women to have feminine feelings. Nora Ephron wrote about this self-fulfilling prophecy: “I adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself. I discovered that even now men prefer women to be less informed, less able, less talkative, and certainly less self-centered than they are themselves, so I generally oblige them. I didn’t particularly want to be good at reversing cars and didn’t in the least mind being patronized by illiterate garage men. But all stereotypes disintegrate when we look at individuals. The fact of the matter is that more men than women do certain things and behave in certain ways and vice versa, but in reality, the world just doesn’t split neatly down that line. What differences there are between men and women turn out to be much smaller than the differences between rich and poor or between managers of small and large companies or old and new companies. They may even be smaller than the differences between old and young people, or those with professional parents and those with working class parents. We’re believed to be more controlled by our hormones than are men. Edgar Burman, who was medical advisor to the late Hubert Humphrey, warned against
women’s participation in public affairs because of their “raging hormones” and U.N. Ambassador Jean Kirkpatrick reported that some White House critics resisted her appointment because of her female “temperament.”
WE’RE BELIEVED TO BE GENERALLY FIXED AS HOMEMAKERS AND BREEDERS OF CHILDREN THROUGH THE EVOLUTION OF HUNTERGATHERER SOCIETIES. We’re also believed to be more “social” and more suggestible, to have lower self-esteem, to excel over men at repetitive tasks, to be less analytical, less motivated towards achievement, and more auditorially oriented rather than visually. None of these things is true. What is true; however, is that we’re conditioned to behave in certain ways
regarded as appropriate to our gender by our parents, our teachers, and by society. The overwhelming evidence that’s come to light in the last decade indicates that gender differentiation is best explained as a social construction rooted in hierarchy, not in biology. It’s been proven that jobs affect behavior tremendously. Recent research found a direct link between the pace complexity, or routinization of a job and the person’s commitment, intellectual flexibility, moral perspective, and competence. In other words a person’s interest and competence turns out to be linked to exposure to new situations and opportunities to learn in advance. We actually condition ourselves as we are being conditioned to fit this hierarchy. DESIGN AND POLITICS
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It’s been discovered that people do “emotion work” on themselves to create feelings that appropriate to their role in society; also, that through anticipatory socialization, men condition themselves to have masculine feelings and women to have feminine feelings. Nora Ephron wrote about this self-fulfilling prophecy: “I adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself. I discovered that even now men prefer women to be less informed, less able, less talkative, and certainly less self-centered than they are themselves, so I generally oblige them. I didn’t particularly want to be good at reversing cars and didn’t in the least mind being patronized by illiterate garage men.
BUT ALL STEREOTYPES DISINTEGRATE WHEN WE LOOK AT INDIVIDUALS. The fact of the matter is that more men than women do certain things and behave in certain ways and vice versa, but in reality, the world just doesn’t split neatly down that line. What differences there are between men and women turn out to be much smaller than the differences between rich and poor or between managers of small and large companies or old and new companies. They may even be smaller than the differences between old and young people, or those with professional parents and those with working class pare nts. The concepts of male and female cause the sorting and skewing of perceptions by focusing on differences rather than similarities. Often these distinctions are based on very slim evidence. It was Coleridge’s idea that a truly great mind is androgynous, one that rises above the traps of gender. We create our own opportunities. We must accept responsibility for doing that, and
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EACH OF US MUST WORK TO PROVE THE STEREOTYPES WRONG. IT’S AN INDIVIDUAL BATTLE. we must accept that we are just as responsible for not creating opportunities. For everyone it’s an individual battle. No organization and no legislation will change enough people. What will help is for each of us to work individually to prove the stereotypes wrong to ourselves and to everyone else. People who are successful have many qualities in common. They have a passion to be great that carries them through rough times and keeps them focused. They’re clear about what they want. They don’t focus on limitations. They take risks and they have courage. These are qualities shared by both genders. We have a tremendous advantage. We have learned a lot from not being the ruling class. I read once that children always know their parents better than parents know their children. That’s because those with power are studied carefully by those they control. We still have the element of surprise. If you’re not expected to be strong or brilliant, it can work to your advantage. t seems to me that the conflict is to be treated roughly, so you must choose. At a conclusion of A Room of One’s Own, Virginia Wolf wrote, “If we face the fact, for it is a fact, that there is not an arm to cling to, but that we go alone and that our relation is to the world of reality and not only to the world of men and women, then the opportunity will come.”
2016 CAMPAIGN DESIGNS OF
ILLUSTRATIONS AND PREFACE BY MATT HANSEN
LET’S FACE IT, The 2016 presidential election was pandemonium—an all-out fist fight between the left and the right. In the left corner, weighing in at 33,000 deleted emails, the undisputed wall street heavyweight, Hillary Rodham Clinton. On the right, weighing in at 6 bankruptcies and 34 thousand tweets, the reality tv show host and political newbie, Donald J. Trump. Instead of boxing trunks, the candidates sported expensive suits; and instead of hooks and jabs, they threw negative commercials and obvious subtweets. America watched as the two fighters sparred in the ring, ducking questions and dodging the real issues. After battling it out for the full 12 rounds, one fighter finally tapped out. Just like that, the historic 2016 election was over. Both politicians left the ring unscathed, but the fate of the U.S. was riddled with uncertainty.
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BEHIND THESE POLITICIANS WERE THEIR SPIRITED CREW, THEIR CLAMOROUS SUPPORTERS, AND OF COURSE, THEIR SLEEP-DEPRIVED TEAMS OF GRAPHIC DESIGNERS. It’s time to take an inside look at the design language behind the two campaigns—which one packed a punch and which one was on the ropes?
IF YOU WERE (OR HAPPEN TO BE) SOMEONE TO VOTE FOR TRUMP, THIS IS A FAIRLY RALLYING LOGO. B R A N D N EW
retation o With a better interp e concept “TP” monogram, th constru the American flag to the p ke where the initials ta w) is fitti stars (while not ne re (or ha case and, if you we r Trump, someone to vote fo . fairly rallying logo B R A N D N EW
THE PUBLIC CAN GET FIRED UP ABOUT ALMOST ANYTHING, even graphic design. Forget what Trump said about immigrants, what about his sinful use of tracking and his dull color choices? Regardless of the result of the 2016 election, it’s nice to see the importance placed on good design, a domain that quite often goes unrecognized. With the rapid spread of technology and social media, campaign design will become more and more significant; it must accurately illustrate who a candidate is and what they are hoping to accomplish — all in one graphic. As we move into future elections, it will be up to the designers of the country to fight for their candidates and design logos that won’t start an uproar. Well, you have four years to come up with something, so you might as well get started. 62
DESIGN AND POLITICS
I’M JUST NOT ENTIRELY SURE A BIG RED ARROW POINTING RIGHT IS THE BEST LOGO FOR A DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE, IS ALL. ER TH E N EW Y O R K
andl “Obama’s ‘O’ was h f nua a certain amount o ry’s elegance and Hilla anc that nuance or eleg now Hillary. We don’t k TI M ES TH E N EW Y O R K
of the t of taking uct a logo place of the ing in this appen to be) , this is a
led with ance and ‘H’ has none of ce, her name is w her as Ms. H.”
go] is bland and o [l ’s io b u R o rc a “M as going for h it g in th ly n o e h T uninspired. ad it.” it is that you can re Y M IK E P R ES TO N V E D IR EC TO R , N TI EA R C TE IA C ASSO
ughtfully “Different, and tho what toxic e m so is h m o fr g in distanc els amateurish fe it t u b , e m a n st la t simple.” and simplistic—no M IK E TY S O N ER , N Y S EN IO R D ES IG N
t forgettable ye ) ie st ri h C e ik (l ld “Bo (unlike Christie).” M IK E TY S O N ER , N Y S EN IO R D ES IG N
lanced, has a b ll e w is o g lo s r’ “Sande pears happy p a st o lm a d n a rs good colo ave. on top of its little w e star over the ‘i’, th f o n fa e g u h a t o I’m n rated the logo g te in ve y’ e th y a w but the d used it across into his website an ise shows its d a range of merchan e.“ versatility. Nice on
le logo, it’s ib rr te y tt re p a e il h W l Stein uses interesting that Jil red, white n a th rs lo o c t n re fe dif and blue. CKE M A TT H IA S M EN E D IR EC TO R , LA G R O U P C R EA TI V
RR B EN JA M IN S TA V IS U A L N EW S
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DESIGN AND POLITICS