ISSUE 1
THE
ARTIVIST
WINTER 2017
“
The artivist (artist + activis fight and struggle against injus medium necessary. The artiv freedom and justice with the voice, the body, and the imagin to make an observation is to h
M. K. Asante, It’s B
Kamesh Vedula
st) uses her artistic talents to stice and oppression—by any vist merges commitment to pen, the lens, the brush, the nation. The artivist knows that have an obligation.
Bigger Than Hip Hop
�
Letter From the Editor
8 Living With:
13 14 20
CURRENT EVENT
DESIGN FOR GOOD
INTRODUCTION
7
26 Women’s March
Saltwater Brewery’s Edible Six-pack Rings
Planned Parenthood Installation
Dr. Bronner’s Redesign
DESIGN ACTIVISM
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
DESIGNER TIP
34 38 45 Code of Ethics
Brian Singer
CultureStrike
Women’s Rights Poster Timeline
The Poster
52 58
The Artivist
6
BUY (RED). GIVE LIFE. For 10 years, our partnership with (RED) has helped fight the spread of AIDS by providing counseling, testing, and most crucially, medicine that prevents the transmission of HIV from a mother to her unborn child. Every purchase brings us a step closer to an AIDS-free generation. Please help us make a difference.
LETTER FROM
Charmaine Martinez Editor, Instructor and Type Enthusiast
Letter From the Editor
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 Artivist 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.
7
THE EDITOR
@livingwithco
LI V
VING WITH:
IT’S JUST A T-SHIRT, BUT IT STANDS FOR SO MUCH MORE.
Design For Good
WHAT EXACTLY IS LIVING WITH:? Living With: is a project dedicated to empowering anyone dealing with mental health to be confident in themselves and their approach to handling daily obstacles. It started as a college thesis and it’s grown to become a nationwide social endeavor that sparks new conversations and new perceptions about mental health. Living With: is the degree-project-turned-real-project of Dani Balenson, a recent graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design and designer working in Brooklyn, New York. Each shirt in the initial Living With: collection has a design that was developed based on the common behavioral patterns of a specific mental disorder. While a single disorder can have a very broad range of characteristics and affects each person differently, there are core behavioral patterns that persons living with each disorder experience. The meaning behind each design in this series can be broken down to color, module, and pattern.
9
by Dani Balenson
The Artivist
10
PATTERN STUDIES
DEPRESSION The depression shirt’s color palette is made up of subdued monochromatic purples, with the deep violet being visually heavier than the red-violet. The module is designed to convey a sense of internal weight pulling down while remaining vertical as a whole shape, to signify a sense for longing for uplifting happiness. As a whole, the pattern also reinforces the feeling of being weighed down, while also portraying a layer between the inner self and the public self.
BIPOLAR DISORDER The color palette for this design is comprised of violet and bright blue, which represent the high and the low poles that a person living with Bipolar Disorder cycles between. The shapes within the module visualize the shift between high and low mood states, known as the drop. Individuals living with bipolar disorder often describe the drop as the hardest part and not being able to fully enjoy the high points because of the expected low on the horizon. The depression pattern is referenced by the shape of the low, to create a language for the designs as a series. As a whole, the pattern consists of multiple modules arranged to create tension between the up and the down, while ultimately remaining a single shape.
11
OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE DISORDER (OCD) The color combo for OCD is comprised of multiple yellow hues because of the color’s connotations of stress and alertness. The arrangement of shapes in the module represents the systematic anxiety that triggers compulsions and how it shadows an OCD individual at all times. As a whole, the pattern has a rigidity and exactness that reflects the intentionality of the ritualistic actions performed by an individual living with OCD.
Design For Good
ATTENTION DEFICIT HYPERACTIVITY DISORDER (ADHD) The color combo for ADHD is made up of green hues. As a symbolic color for creativity and growth, green correlates to the fact that ADHD is often (but not always) diagnosed at a younger age. Both hues are bright, as the disorder also results in an energetic and hyperactive persona. The module represents an ADHD person’s distracted train of thought and the tendency to bounce around from one thing to another. It is a visual deviation in thought and action: the color shifts, the size changes, and the bigger circle is left unfinished. The pattern is a slightly skewed repetition of the module, which creates the bigger picture of an energized, unfocused, and lively mass.
The Artivist
12
EVERY (RED) PURCHASE CONTRIBUTES DIRECTLY TO THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS.
SALTWATER BREWERY CREATES EDIBLE
SIX-PACK RINGS ribbons from the brewing process. This packaging can actually be safely eaten by animals that may come into contact with the refuse. Head of Brand at Saltwater Brewery Peter Agardy says, “It’s a big investment for a small brewery created by fisherman, surfers and people that love the sea.” Brewery President Chris Gove notes, “We hope to influence the big guys and hopefully inspire them to get on board.”
Design For Good
The devastating effects that plastic sixpack rings can have to both wildlife and the environment have been proven time and time again. While many iterations of the packaging have been seen over the years, here’s a look at a very creative and sustainable alternative to the standard six-pack ring. Saltwater Brewery in Delray Beach, Florida, recently released edible six-pack rings, a brand-new approach to sustainable beer packaging. These six-pack rings are 100 percent biodegradable and edible—constructed of barley and wheat
13
By Heather Galanty May 13, 2016
14 The Artivist
100 YEAR
A GRAPHIC INSTALLAT DYNAMIC HISTORY OF AM PROVIDER OF REPROD
by Pentagram For over 100 years, Planned Parenthood has fought for reproductive health and rights, championing the idea that women should have the information and care they need to live strong, healthy lives and to manage their own fertility. Pentagram’s Paula Scher and her team have designed a largescale installation that spotlights the dynamic history of this remarkable organization. The mural remixes graphics from a century of ephemera created by Planned Parenthood, capturing its dedication to care, education, and activism. The mural is installed at Planned Parenthood’s new national headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
TION HIGHLIGHTS THE MERICA’S MOST TRUSTED DUCTIVE HEALTHCARE
15 Design For Good
R FIGHT
16 The Artivist
“
The installation acknowledges the important role that activism and posters, placards, symbols, and other graphics have played in garnering support.
�
17
that the one factor running throughout the narrative was the extraordinary passion of the group’s supporters and activists, who have been truly heroic in their fight to make reproductive healthcare a reality for women. The mural is a colorful collage composed of ephemera from a century of various initiatives—a mix of newspaper ads, instructional posters from clinics, protest posters, pins, photos of protests, and other historical material from the Planned Parenthood archive. The installation acknowledges the important role that activism and posters, placards, symbols, and other graphics have played in garnering support. Many of the designs were originally created by grassroots activists, and the mural is a tribute to their impact in the movement for reproductive rights. To create the mural, Scher and her designers researched historic images, selecting approximately 30 for the final display. The original images were of varying age and quality, so the team digitized the pieces to
Design For Good
The nonprofit is America’s most trusted provider of reproductive healthcare, with a network of close to 60 affiliates that operate approximately 650 health centers across the country. An estimated one in five American women have chosen Planned Parenthood for healthcare at least once in her life, and the organization is currently powered by nine and a half million activists, supporters and donors nationwide. Scher and her team worked closely with leadership at Planned Parenthood to develop the installation. The main mural ascends through a three-story staircase at the center of the headquarters. The designers collaborated with the project architect, Juan Matiz of Matiz Architecture and Design, to integrate the graphics in a high-profile location in the offices. The mural was timed to coincide with Planned Parenthood’s centennial in October 2016, and the original project brief asked to highlight the organization’s history, which is necessarily complex. Scher and her team looked at the chronology and observed
The Artivist
18
assemble the collage. The mural is fabricated of vinyl wall-covering, built in layers for a dimensional effect, with acrylic forms cut out and mounted over the surface. Scher used a similar approach to create a celebrated mural at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. The archival images have been reinterpreted using Planned Parenthood’s own color palette, with the addition of a bright yellow, to help tie the environmental graphics into the organization’s existing brand identity. The graphics are incorporated throughout the headquarters: In addition to the central installation, which is about 30 feet high and rises over three stories, smaller murals have been placed on walls throughout large conference rooms and other meeting spaces. The mural has been welcomed as a colorful focal point and call to activism in the national headquarters. When leaders of Planned Parenthood’s affiliates saw the installation, they started requesting similar designs for their own health centers, and Scher and her team are currently developing a system of supergraphics that can be adapted for various locations.
PROJECT TEAM Partner-in-Charge, Designer: Paula Scher Associate, Designer: Courtney Gooch Project Manager: Sarah McKeen Photos: Peter Mauss/Esto
19 Design For Good
ONE DOLLAR CAN PROVIDE THREE DAYS OF LIVESAVING MEDICINE.
NEW LOGO AND PACKAGI
DR. BRONNE The Artivist
20
by Armin Vit June 17, 2015 Established in 1948, Dr. Bronner’s is a manufacturer of certified organic and fair trade soaps and personal care products that in 2014 had a total revenue of $80.3 million with their popular liquid soaps accounting for 67% of it. The company is well-known for treating their 130-plus employees exceptionally well and for their philanthropy, contributing up to $8 million worth in financial, in-kind, and direct action contributions. Their products and overall brand have a cult status and a lot of it has to do with the company’s unconventional origin story and text-filled packaging, which I will quote below from our book, Graphic Design, Referenced: The descendant of three generations of German soapmakers, Emmanuel Heilbronner immigrated to the United States in 1929 at the age of 21, working
with various soap companies in the East before establishing himself in the 1930s in Milwaukee and dropping the first syllable from his last name. In the 1940s, now a self-titled doctor, Bronner began to draft and persistently share a plan for world peace in “Spaceship Earth” through unity of religion. In 1945 Dr. Bronner was arrested for speaking without a permit at the University of Chicago and institutionalized in the Elgin State Insane asylum. He escaped six months later and fled to Los Angeles. There, in his small apartment, he began mixing soap with a broom handle, which he sold while expounding on his theories at the Pershing Square public park. When he noticed people bought his soap but did not bother to listen to him talk, he started writing his philosophy on the labels.
ING FOR
Design For Good
21
ER’S
OLD
NEW
The Artivist
22
In the late 1960s, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps gained popularity with the hippie culture because of its all-natural ingredients, durability, and its equal effectiveness in cleaning groovy locks of hair, bell-bottom jeans, and Volkswagen vans. Packaged extremely simply in brown plastic bottles with one-color
OLD
labels—the text on Dr. Bronner’s products became evolving soliloquies on its founder’s philosophy, referred to as “The Moral ABC.” The labels of the 32-ounce soap package each carry as many as 3,000 words expressing Dr. Bronner’s thinking, which references everything from Mao Tsetung to Albert Einstein, Joseph Stalin, and Halley’s Comet. Dr. Bronner passed away in 1997, but his sons maintain his legacy and are overseeing their increased popularity. The Bronners have declined purchase offers, and while sale may still be a possibility, the labels will be safe: A provision in the company’s charter states they must remain the same. This March, the company introduced a revised version of their packaging. No design credit given. In 2014, Dr. Bronner’s added 13 stars to our corporate logo in reference to the cosmos, which inspired Dr. Emanuel Bronner’s
NEW
“
”
23
ancient geometric figure which uses 13 circles to create all the platonic solids, and which represents completeness, perfection and wholeness. We will start with the logo, redesigned a few months before the packaging, it seems. A fairly simple evolution, the logo keeps Our new product labels honor the globe shaking hands but with a slightly better drawing of the legacies of our the elements. I never thought I grandfather, Dr. E.H. Bronner. would say this but the swooshes in the new logo are much better. Gone is the Medicine Man typogTogether the stars add up to 13, a number raphy and in its place is a comwith mystical meaning in Judaism as well as bination of Futura and… Trade other religious traditions. The placement of the Gothic Condensed (?) that looks stars uses a pattern from Metatron’s cube, an quite well with the bold amounts
Design For Good
ALL-ONE vision, and continues to inspire the company. The stars acknowledge that all our work happens within a larger cosmological context. The smaller stars can be seen as representing the 12 constellations of the zodiac or the 12 tribes. The brightest star represents our sun or the Eternal father.
24 The Artivist
of blue of the icon. The 13 added stars looked completely randomly placed but, like all things Dr. Bronner’s, the rationalization and grid blew my mind. It’s not a good logo by any means but at least now it’s a much tighter unit. Modeled after the aesthetic of the original labels on bottles of soap first created by Dr. E.H. Bronner in 1948, the “Old & Improved” labels preserve and affirm the authenticity and history of the brand, as well as reflect the modern ethos and style of the current generation of the Bronner family and the products’ contemporary customers and fans. “Our new product labels honor the legacies of our grandfather, Dr. E.H. Bronner,
my father Jim Bronner, and my Uncle Ralph who have each helped shape this company into what is today,” says David Bronner, President of Dr. Bronner’s. “Each label contains this special pledge that represents a distillation of my grandfather’s philosophy that adorns our labels, while summarizing our mission and purpose as a company: In all that we do, let us be generous, fair & loving to Spaceship Earth and all Its inhabitants. For we’re ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE!” Most people know Dr. Bronner’s from the serif packaging so, at first, seeing them go to an all sans approach would seem like sacrilege but the evolution image shows that the serif version is the
25 Design For Good
odd one out. What made the previous onslaught of text. Also, the revised visual labels so great was that they were utterly language extends perfectly to whatever un-designed. All the text was justified and product the Dr. Bronner’s team puts out. although there was some hierarchy it The text border on the sheets is so wasn’t as didactic as we’ve all been doing dorky and ill-advised that no other it through our careers. The new labels company could pull it off. I’ve always are definitely designed by someone confound Dr. Bronner’s fascinating and I cerned with spacing and legibility. You think this change makes their products could argue that some of its soul has been even better and more convincing while sucked out but in terms of doing a meanat the same time demonstrating a keen ingful evolution without sacrificing the sense of brand continuity and consisoriginal intent, this succeeds quite well. tency that few other consumer prodThese products are instantly recognizucts have. All-one! able on the shelves of the grocery store because of their typographic texture and this new version keeps that initial impact and then keeps you hooked with the
Left to right: Jonathan Wiggs; Elizabeth Nolan Brown, KATU, Jonathan Wiggs, Damon Dahlen, Dave Mosher, Alejandra Villa, Damon Dahlen
The Artivist
26
THE WOMEN’S MARC
CR EA RESIST
Current Event
ATIVE TANCE
27
CH AND THE ART OF
The Artivist
28
HOW ARTISTS IN A TRUMP AMERICA ARE EMBRACING LESSONS FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA AND MOMENTUM FROM THE WOMEN’S MARCHES. By Susan Karlin January 23, 2017 City streets around the world (and a ship entum galvanized individuals into devisdeck in Antarctica) flowed pink Saturday ing their own creative contributions—from as an estimated 5 million women and male whimsical signs, costumes, and T-shirts, to allies donned rosy pussyhats and marched unleashing satirical songs and drawings on in a show of solidarity against newly minted social media, to theaters, art shows, and President Donald Trump and an administra- apparel raising money for such advocates as tion bent on dialing the clock back on wom- Planned Parenthood, American Civil Liberties en’s rights. Union, and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The nonviolent but spirited display not only “Each successive leap in nonviolent progpicked up a gauntlet thrown down by a cam- ress has built upon the acts that happened paign that won on homophobic, misogynistic, before,” Andrew Aydin, who co-wrote the and racist rhetoric, but codified an integral bestselling March trilogy with congressman part of resistance: creativity. and civil rights icon John Lewis, told Co.Create It’s a strategy employed during 1960s civil last summer. (March sales skyrocketed after rights movement, whose architects coordi- Trump insulted Lewis.) “One of the key pronated novel clandestine tactics and revealed ponents in the national sit-ins was that there them at opportune times to throw opponents was also a boycott going on of stores that off guard. While the Women’s Marches orga- wouldn’t sell to African-Americans. So you nized and publicized in advance, their mom- took one tactic, you added another, and put
Shannon Stapleton
it all together to put pressure. So if young people today creatively used tactics from that movement, and added social media, that’s how they’ll make the next great leap.” The mounting artful protests since election day seemed to take their cue from this
“
Yet others were just artistic outbursts.
”
approach. For every celebrity statement, like Shia LeBouf’s He Will Not Divide Us livestream and Fiona Apple’s “Tiny Hands” are explosions of individual and grassroots efforts, like the Pussyhat Project, New York’s Nasty Women, and Uprise/Angry Women art show fundraisers, and the anti-Trump banners gracing New York bridges and skies.
Some were spontaneous. Within hours of alt-right leader Richard Spencer getting punched on camera, Microsoft engineer and technical evangelist Rachel White offered a T-shirt bearing a video screengrab of the event, with all proceeds going to the ACLU. Some were subtle. A film series on women directors at the University of Southern California used today’s political backdrop for a timely screening and panel on Triumph of the Will, a famous Hitler propaganda film. Yet others were just artistic outbursts. Disney Imagineer Nikkolas Smith, an NAACP Image Award nominee who received a signed thank-you letter from Barack Obama for an Incredibles-inspired drawing of the former First Family, honored fan requests to continue the theme with Trump, who he reimagined as Incredibles’ villain Syndrome.
30 The Artivist Amelia Holowaty Krales
The political turmoil has proven fertile ground for veteran comic writers and illustrators. Neil Gaiman, Amanda Palmer, David Mack, and Olga Nunes teamed for a video of Leonard Cohen’s Democracy to raise money for PEN America’s quest to defend freedom of expression. Mack also contributed writer portraits for PEN America’s Writers Resist protest. Meanwhile, Bill Sienkiewicz weighed in on social media with emotional farewell portraits of Obama, March illustrator Nate Powell created women’s empowerment signage art based on a concept by his wife and her friends marching in D.C., while political artist Mark Bryan offered a line of anti-Trump posters. Not to mention, an exploding anti-Trump craft industry.
ART TO MARCH WITH The expression crescendoed with the Women’s Marches. The Missile Dick Chicks, dormant since the George W. Bush administration, resurrected for the New York and Oakland marches. The antiwar protest group began in New York to protest the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, attended protests dressed as buffoonish war mongers with missile strapons and oversized stuffed bras (war chests). Madefire CEO and graphic designer Ben Wolstenholme, crafted a free-use anti-Trump campaign design for the San Francisco march that could be expanded into a line of petitions to run through Trump’s tenure. Artist Shepard Fairey, who gained notoriety for his 2008
31 Current Event
Obama “Hope” campaign poster, created the We The People poster series with The Amplifier Foundation, featuring pictures of diverse women. Fairey gave away posters at his Los Angeles studio, and made the images available as free downloads for use around the world. The images were also featured in full-page ads in The Washington Post, USA Today, and New York Times. Thanks to a lone sunny day between days of rain, Los Angeles drew the largest crowd, as a jovial swarm of 750,000 encircled downtown’s Pershing Square and City Hall. There were also offshoot marches in Beverly Hills and Pasadena. Costumed participants waving handmade signs posed for photographs, drummed, sang, and chanted,
32 The Artivist Top and bottom: Jonathan Ernst
“
A story of resilience, a story of resistance.
�
The reactions she got after posting it on Facebook “made me think that I do have a voice in this country,” Crocini added. “Now, I want to interview women and capture our different voices and make a short piece that can stir up more awareness and grow our sense of responsibility. I want the Women’s March to be the beginning of an important story. A story of resilience, a story of resistance.”
33
“This is such a historical moment,” she said. “This past election has been a very heavy cookie to digest and the mourning process is still hard. I wanted to feel like I belonged to this country, even if I am not a citizen, and make other people feel like we are all in this together. I wanted to capture history and I thought putting together the footage from the [PostElection] protest would have helped me to process my feelings, my rage, my despair, to rethink my American dream.”
Current Event
“We must fight, we must fight! This is what democracy looks like!” and “Love trumps hate!” At City Hall, celebrities, activists, and politicians spoke throughout the day, while entire blocks of protesters, tired of standing still, split off into impromptu marches around the area. Among the participants was Dani Paquin, a singer/songwriter and jewelry maker, who created the Safe Tee line of decorative safety pins—a symbol promoting a safe community regardless of gender, sexuality, race, disability, or religion—to wear at and beyond the marches, that donates half of its proceeds to Planned Parenthood, ACLU, or the SPLC. Another brought a sobering but hopeful message with her artform. L.A.-based Italian filmmaker Vanessa Crocini shot footage of its Post-Election (below) and Women’s marches as first steps in chronicling Trump’s impact on social issues from her viewpoint as an immigrant and woman.
By Carrie Cousins August 5, 2014
The Artivist
34
Many professions have codes of ethics, a common set of guiding principles that help you make fair decisions. Codes often protect both the worker and client from poor business practices. Designers working in a team or individual environment should be working with a code of ethics. Many designers might even follow multiple codes—one set by an employer, one set by professional organizations and one that is a more personal set of rules and guidelines. One thing is certain: Every designer needs a code of ethics.
DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO CLIENTS The principle defines the basic way in which you will interact with clients. Concepts include conflicts of interest, confidentiality and professional responsibility and behavior. How you decide to interact with clients is important and will set the tone for who hires you and the reputation you earn in the industry.
WHY EVERY DES
CODE OF
KEY PRINCIPLES Although there are various points in every code of ethics, most contain a key set of principles. Codes often outline the designer’s responsibility to clients, how designers should interact with each other, the designer’s responsibility to the public and environment, fees and compensation and basic conduct (including honesty and fair competition).
HOW DESIGNERS INTERACT WITH EACH OTHER How designers work with and interact with each other is just as valuable of a concept as working with clients. Items that are often covered by the principle include taking or working on projects started by other designers; fair and open competition in business; objectivity; honoring all others’ work including copyrights, trademarks and other design property; and working within other relevant and generally accepted codes of conduct.
SIGNER NEEDS A
F ETHICS FEES AND COMPENSATION One of the things that classifies a professional design as such is the collection of fees and payment for work. A good code also outlines fees and payments, what kinds charges are acceptable, when taking a fee could cause potential conflict, how contracts should be maintained and honored, and provisions for estimates (if applicable).
CONCLUSION The way you conduct yourself and business requires careful consideration. Aside from legal concerns, there are not a lot of specifically right or wrong answers when it comes to ethics. The key is creating working guidelines that mesh with your business and personality. What is acceptable for one company may not be for another.
35
BASIC CONDUCT Often ethical codes outline basic rules of professional conduct. This refers to understanding and obeying all applicable laws but also good and fair business practices. Some things to consider include the ability to accept gifts for work, refusing work that is unlawful or fraudulent and working (or refusing to work) on projects that are purposefully misleading or deceptive in a way that can cause harm.
Designer Tip
DESIGNER’S RESPONSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC Designers should also think about how the work they produce can impact the people who will see it. This audience includes the public at large, distinct customer groups and the community in which the designer works and lives. Things to consider include taking projects that could result in some degree of harm to the public, the communicated message and its truthfulness, mutual respect of the audience, discriminatory actions and obligation to serve the community.
The Artivist
36
YOUR SUPPORT CAN MEAN FEWER BABIES ARE BORN WITH HIV EVERY DAY.
37 Designer Tip
YOUR PURCHASE CAN HELP FUND HIV TESTING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.
BRIAN
The Artivist
38
NOT JUST ANY G
Top left: Skyler Vander Molen; Left to right: You are ____ for the Economy series
“
Reassess who your heroes are.
SINGER
”
October 4, 2016 Interview by Leif Steiner and Emily Potts VOCATION: Artist, Designer, Protaganist EXPERIENCE: 21 years LOCATION: San Francisco Brian Singer has been employed by some of the most progressive design thinking companies in modern times including Apple, Facebook, and Pinterest. Most designers would cut off their right arm to work for these companies, but Singer— although grateful for the experience— walked away from his most recent gig at Pinterest to pursue personal projects. Singer, aka someguy, has become widely lauded for his pet projects which have netted national publicity, not only in the design community, but among mainstream media outlets such as The New York Times, the
Today Show, CBS News, Huffington Post, and more. From inviting strangers to collaborate and share their sentiments in a blank journal and pass it on for the 1000 Journals Project, to exposing people who are driving and texting by placing their photos on billboards, to his #pileoftrump campaign, Singer has created controversy and discussion about what is and isn’t tolerable—or with the case of texting and driving—what is safe. His main goal with most of his projects is to connect with strangers and to have strangers connecting with each other. Here, we ask him about his experiences, his personal projects, and what’s next.
Artist Spotlight
39
UY, BUT SOME GUY
Every company (design driven or not) has real, challenging, business problems to solve. And no matter the company, I think it’s safe to say that design isn’t easy. Probably the biggest takeaway is that while design skill is important, it’s not the only thing needed to succeed and have an impact. You need strategic thinking skills, empathy, holistic problem-solving, leadership, great communication, the ability to hire and motivate talent, and of course, you can’t be an asshole. You know, all the things they don’t teach in design school. YOU RECENTLY LEFT Yes to the first question. As to the second…see the first. Pinterest PINTEREST TO PURSUE YOUR was probably the best job I’ve ever had, and I’m really lucky and SIDE PROJECTS FULL TIME. appreciative to have worked there. Over the last decade though, I’ve ARE YOU CRAZY? WHY? spent more and more time focused on art and side projects. About a year and a half ago, I got a studio to work in. I began spending my evenings and weekends there, and eventually realized that’s where I wanted to be all the time. It comes down to the choices we make with how we spend our time and money. I say this now, but check back in with me in a year because who knows, maybe I’ll be off on some other tangential pursuit. YOU DO A LOT OF POP-UP/ Uh, I don’t. The same way all the best tasting foods are bad for CONTROVERSIAL PROJECTS. you, there’s no money to be made with what I do. I have fantasies HOW DO YOU MAKE A LIVING of finding a patron, or financial support for my endeavors, but until DOING THIS? then, I’m just going to keep doing things I believe in. Everything is a trade-off, and most of my ideas don’t have commercial value. SO, IF YOU DON’T MAKE Seems like that would require a plan, which I don’t have. I’ve saved MONEY WITH THESE PROJup for long enough to give me some time to figure it out, but other ECTS, HOW ARE YOU GOING than that, who knows? I tend to be a planner, and very methodic in TO KEEP THE LIGHTS ON? my decision making. It feels good to jump without looking. Scary, but good. I know I can always get work to pay the bills, but for now, that’s not a priority.
The Artivist
40
YOU’VE WORKED FOR SOME HIGH PROFILE, DESIGNDRIVEN COMPANIES. WHAT’S THE BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THOSE EXPERIENCES?
HOW DO YOU GET THE FUNDING TO DO A PROJECT LIKE TWIT SPOTTING? DID YOU PAY FOR ALL THE BILLBOARD ADS YOURSELF? DID ANY OF THOSE PEOPLE COME AFTER YOU FOR EXPOSING THEM FOR TEXTING WHILE DRIVING?
WHAT IS THE MOST TROUBLE YOU’VE EVER GOTTEN INTO FOR ONE OF YOUR PROJECTS?
Left: The 1000 Journals Project; Right: TWIT spotting
41
This was the last question I chose to answer, which means it was the most difficult. Not because it’s too hard to pick, but I think it’s because I don’t necessarily associate personal joy/fulfillment with many of my projects. Not sure why, but that’s probably for a therapist to figure out. I’d say that the project that was the most fulfilling was the journal project with UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital. Seeing the journals have a real and positive impact on kids dealing with such difficult and scary situations melted my heart. It was an emotional roller coaster. At the same time, it’s one of those things where I feel a bit of guilt for not doing more. I tried to get more journals projects to happen at more hospitals. It worked for a few, but not many. The hill was too high to climb, and eventually I let it fall to the wayside. Going corporate opened my eyes to a few things. One of them was bonuses. When that time of year came around, I’d overhear people taking about what they were going to do with their bonus checks…a trip, buy themselves something nice, etc…. Me, I bought billboards. That’s the funding. I paid for everything myself because I couldn’t find anyone else to pay for it. I think the government spent $8 million on their distracted driving awareness campaign that year. In the end, my approach received more news coverage and caused more discussion on the issue. I was hoping for someone like a phone maker, or car company, or insurance company to help me blow the project out and really make a dent in the problem, but no such luck. Can you imagine what I could have done with that $8M? As for people coming after me, no. However, I did get plenty of angry comments/emails, and even a few death threats. I don’t think I’ve really gotten into trouble. I’ve had people get angry at me, lots of them, but no one’s ever come after me or anything. Maybe I’m not taking enough risks.
Artist Spotlight
WHAT PROJECT HAS BROUGHT YOU THE MOST JOY/FULFILLMENT AND WHY?
The Artivist
42
DO PEOPLES’ BEHAVIORS STILL SURPRISE YOU?
Home Street Home
That’s a pretty wide open question. A lot of people I know are looking around, bewildered at the fact that Trump is a viable presidential candidate, given everything he’s said and done. And it made me surprised that people are surprised (oh, I’m surprised too). But it sort of goes to show that we all surround ourselves with like-minded people, and live in our little bubbles, and are then surprised when millions of people think a different way. We’d probably all be a lot better off if everyone in the country was picked up, shuffled, and dropped randomly into a new community. It’d suck for a while, but in the long run, it might be the only way to save us. And…that didn’t really answer your question. Yes, people’s behaviors surprise me. All the time. It’s mind-boggling. But, it probably shouldn’t be. HAS THERE BEEN A PROJECT Well, I’ve had no problem cutting up the Bible, but have clearly YOU’VE WANTED TO DO, BUT stayed away from certain other religious texts. So there’s that. I’d THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE TOO like to do more public art, but have hesitated due to the legality of RISKY, OR DOES THAT NOT it (and none of my projects are going to get a grant or be approved EVEN ENTER YOUR MIND? by a committee somewhere). All in all though, most of my projects are limited by resources, not risk. WHAT IS THE ONE PIECE Reassess who your heroes are. OF ADVICE YOU’D GIVE TO A YOUNG DESIGNER?
43 Artist Spotlight
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
I’ve always got like eight projects in motion. I’m working on a series of pieces around assassinations (so, JFK, Malcolm X, John Lennon, etc.) and the guns used to kill them. These are all using books about said political figure, and a process which is kind of hard to explain, involves cutting up the books and assembling the image of the gun using the edges of the paper. I’ve also been cutting up books with red/green edges, and sorting that paper into gradations. They’re really quite beautiful. And, I’ve been dropping books around San Francisco, in the hopes people pick them up and read them (and contact me). It’s a novel way to connect people, I think.
The Artivist
44
YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS PROVIDE HIV COUNSELING, EDUCATION, AND CARE SERVICES.
WHY THE
ACTIVIST POSTER IS HERE TO STAY
Direct Action, Rich Black. 2011.
Design Activism
As a supposedly antiquated form of media, the poster is regularly pronounced to be on its last legs as a means of communication and of marginal relevance now. I have written pieces myself saying much the same thing. No one doubts that posters used to be highly effective as both advertising and propaganda, but from the moment people in wealthy economies started buying TVs and watching commercials, the role of the street poster began to decline (the billboards still flourishing like an infestation at the roadside are another matter). The arrival of digital communication and then social media appeared to leave the poster spluttering for life, and when it came to the protest poster, the prognosis looked just as gloomy. If ordinary posters aren’t much needed now, why should posters expressing dissenting views fare any better? Five or six years ago, I would have said the poster advocating a cause was barely viable. Now I’m not so sure. Digital networks are infusing posters produced to contest an outrage or support a cause with a new lease of life. This
45
By Rick Poynor September 15, 2012
LOKi Design
The Artivist 46
Dignidad Rebelde
Design Activism
kind of message has two places to attract attention now—out in the world and online—and the poster-making urge is benefiting from the same viral meme effect seen across our entire hyper-connected culture. Anything that happens is immediately captured on camera and uploaded, and the effect of showing these images so widely and easily is to inspire viewers who like what they see to do more of the same. Participation acts like an injectable hormone spurring yet more growth. Since the global Occupy protests, there seem to be more posters, or poster-like messages, used in demonstrations than ever. Protest posters have never been an exclusively or even primarily professional design activity. Anyone with an urgent point to make and a measure of artistic knowhow could get out the scissors and take up a brush. This is even more the case today with the graphic placards often described as “protest signs” rather than posters. After protests, it has become common to see online news media running visual stories with titles such as “The 50 most enjoyably effective protest signs at Occupy protests.” Websites offer school children advice on “How to make a protest sign for a school project” and
47
Eric Gulliver
48 The Artivist
Antonio Castro
put across their legitimate point of view. Radical poster-making almost seems to be becoming a badge of good citizenship. These DIY protest signs might be amateur (though that doesn’t stop them working as communication) but they remind us that posters remain a succinct, popular and powerfully immediate form of public speech. If someone feels strongly about an issue, it’s natural to try to express support or condemnation as persuasively as possible, and in public settings a well-crafted slogan or image is still hard to beat. The posters come from a seemingly irrepressible urge to broadcast a firmly held opinion using graphic resources, and they address a wide of array of issues, many of which have been, or remain, at the center of attention: global warming, Occupy, the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina,
Joe Wirtheim
49
display bright colors, serene flat surfaces, well-resolved forms, an ideal of graphic reduction, and a very contemporary polish, if not perfection, that tells of their origins on a computer screen rather than inky paper taped to a grimy drawing board. At its most considered, this fastidious graphic minimalism can be highly effective. The foetally clenched form of the dreaming child in Marlena Buczek Smith’s Haiti poster works by invoking distressing images of emaciated and
Design Activism
the Japanese earthquake tsunami and the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. In the past few years, passionately concerned poster-makers have given their support to innumerable urgent causes, from migrant workers, Guantanamo Bay, Palestine, women’s rights, child labor, and landmines to water wastage, nuclear power, the protection of wild life, urban farm gardens, and the plight of WikiLeaker Bradley Manning. As graphic communication, the most salient characteristic of these recent posters is often a surprising politeness and restraint. Twenty years ago, a volume of protest posters produced during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and the first George Bush earned the title Angry Graphics, and the graphic styles of the work—awkward, angular, discordant and ugly—smashed home the righteous fury. Contemporary posters might be fired by angry convictions that iniquity or injustice should not be allowed to continue, and that change must happen soon, yet the images are often decorously barbed rather than manifestly disturbed. They
The Artivist
50
Marlena Buczek
vulnerable children familiar from countless news photographs. In Antonio Castro’s equally honed and incisive migrant workers poster, the spade’s shaft becomes a painfully exposed spine distorted by the demands of crushing physical labor. The tasteful understatement of many recent posters, their reluctance to shout, perhaps reflects a deeply ingrained feeling that emphatic displays are no longer acceptable—that they run the risk of appearing shrill and dogmatic. This inhibition, born of years of affluence and complacency, when only a minority felt the urge to protest, has lessened since the global financial crisis began in 2007. The homemade protest signs show a new public willingness to speak out with vigor and wit. To find uses on the street, where the mood is increasingly frustrated, as governments seem either reluctant or powerless to act, professionally produced posters need to avoid any sense that they are aesthetic parlor games detached from the struggle. There are
some marked differences between work produced for private satisfaction or for sale as a screen print, which can sometimes be overworked and effete, and work produced with the crowd, the streets and the urgency of direct action in mind. It’s understandable that graphic artists want to devise the best possible image they can, but a persuasive, easily graspable representation of the cause often has more utility.
Michael Thompson
Design Activism
51
At the same time, we should be realistic about the part that posters might still have to play. There is a tendency sometimes to judge expressions of protest and advocacy, including posters, by ridiculously overblown yardsticks. “Has anything changed?” demand the skeptics. “Because if it hasn’t, then the gesture was a failure, and making posters was misdirected energy and a waste of time.” The claim that in an age of social media posters have become redundant simply doesn’t square with the continuing enthusiasm with which they are made and put to use. The poster is clearly just one of many creative, intellectual and organizational tools in the struggle to shape public opinion and exert pressure on policy-makers grasping the levers of power that might some day lead to change. Whether held aloft in the hand at demonstrations, pasted defiantly on a wall, or circulated online by true believers, the graphic message’s modest but necessary role is to attract attention, encapsulate a burning issue, exhort, inspire and reaffirm. Despite regular predictions of its imminent demise, the committed poster shows every indication of living to fight on. Noah Scalin
52 The Artivist
CULTURE
DESIGN ACTIVISM TO IMPA
“
The CultureStrike delegation wants to remind everyone that we are a nation of immigrants…
”
ACT IMMIGRATION REFORM By Colette Gaiter January 19, 2012 Starting in Tunisia, spreading to Egypt and eventually everywhere, resistance to dictators, government policies and economic inequalities had such a global impact that Time magazine declared “The Protester� person of the year for 2011. In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement, an idea conceived by the Canadian activists of Adbusters, mobilized on September 17, inspired by the Arab Spring protests. One week earlier, in Arizona, a group of more than 50 artists, designers, writers, musicians, and activists gathered in Tucson to initiate the CultureStrike Coalition National Campaign against harsh immigration policies. I was part of this delegation, organized
53 Design Activism
ESTRIKE
We Are Human Girl, Ernesto Yerena in collaboration with Shepard Fairey, Zack De La Rocha and Marco Amador. Â 2009.
The Artivist
54
massive deportations and economic inequality overlapped in their efforts to draw national attention to everyday practices that most affect the lower classes. One of the most resonant ideas in the Occupy Wall Street movement is the huge disparity in wealth controlled by one percent of the U.S. population compared to the amount held by the other 99 percent. The CultureStrike del-
by Bay Area activist Favianna Rodriguez, writer Jeff Chang and others. They chose Arizona because of recent protest activity against its SB (Senate Bill) 1070 that put into place some of the most brutal methods of enforcing immigration restrictions to date. Arizona was the site of massive protests against SB 1070 and advocating passage of the Dream Act, which would allow conditional permanent residency for people brought to the U.S. as minors after they lived here five years. By mid-October many members of the CultureStrike delegation were actively involved in Occupy Wall Street—protesting, making posters, writing, speaking, performing, and using social media. Protests against stricter immigration laws,
Knowledge is Power, Ernesto Yerena. 2012.
egation wants to remind everyone that we are a nation of immigrants, but current economic conditions promote scapegoating undocumented workers and escalating deportations. The catalyzing idea behind CultureStrike was that creative producers have power in disseminating information that might affect people’s attitudes on political and social issues, eventually
Time Magazine Front Cover, Shepard Fairey. 2011.
Design Activism
resulting in meaningful change. a run of posters for a rally or Immigration issues and the ecodemonstration. Using social nomic inequalities driving the media, they allow downloading OWS movement are on the front of their posters for quick disburner of American politics as tribution. Yerena’s “Decolonize the 2012 election approaches. Wall Street” poster went viral Several CultureStrike designers on the internet, then appeared have been using their images to in multiples at Occupy Wall raise awareness about these and Street protests. other issues for years. Dignidad Rebelde is a “collabEmory Douglas, former Minister of Culture orative graphic arts project that translates stories for the Black Panther Party and prolific designer of struggle and resistance into artwork that can be and activist for more than 40 years, was among put back into the hands of the communities who the group. His powerful posters have influenced many of the younger designers, including Ernesto Yerena, who recently moved to Arizona from California. Yerena created the campaign “Alto Arizona”—a call to action, asking artists and designers to create posters for a viral campaign, which were then published and sold to help fund the protests against SB1070. In addition to designing posters, Yerena creates multi-layered collages with silkscreens and/or stencils on top. His studio is called Hecho Con Ganas—“made with motivation, desire, passion.” The CultureStrike designers use technology strategically to get their messages out quickly and virally. They conduct silkscreening workshops to teach young people how to cheaply produce
55
We the Resilient, Ernesto Yerena. 2016.
Ernesto Yerena printing in his workshop.
The Artivist
56
Rodriguez and Josh McPhee, who runs the organization JustSeeds, created a book of reproducible and copyright-free images for use in activist work.
inspire it.” Recently the collaboration between Oakland-based designers/activists Jesus Barraza and Melanie Cervantes has turned its attention to the immigration and Occupy Wall Street initiatives. Barazza’s “99 Percent” poster is included in the Occupy Wall Street Journal folio along with one by Favianna Rodriguez, CultureStrike organizer and Bay Area activist. The newsprint folios are reminiscent of the Black Panther and other 1960s and ’70s radical tabloids that featured large images for posting. Produced in multiple languages, the posters are designed for specific communities. The Arizona-protest designers knew their works would have a visible street presence when they were carried in protests and would reach an even wider audience across the internet, on news sites and blogs. The speed of media creates almost-instant iconographic images, like the one by D.C. artist César Maxit of Troy Davis, who was executed in spite of late-breaking evidence in his case and widespread protests. These designers are masters at fast and efficient reproduction for getting graphics out in the streets quickly. Favianna
Digital access and tools afford graphic designers the means to distribute images and ideas with unprecedented speed and production quality. Graphic design has always been part of social protest. The Occupy Wall Street Journal folio, for example, is a nostalgic throwback to cheaply printed newsprint posters from the mid- to late 20th century. Clear ideas expressed in poster slogans, combined with good design and striking images allow grassroots designers to compete with powerful corporate interests in capturing the public imagination. Designers like those in CultureStrike hope to use their power to influence opinion, raise consciousness, and encourage people to act for change.
Protesters holding We Are Human posters by Ernesto Yerena.
THANKS TO YOU, WE’RE EVEN CLOSER TO AN AIDS-FREE GENERATION. Over the last 10 years, you’ve bought (RED), played (RED), and given (RED), and collectively we’ve raised
Design Activism
57
almost $120 million. But there’s still more to do.
1907
WOMEN’S
The Artivist
58
Convicts lunatics and women! Have no vote for parliament She: Is it time I got out of this place—Where shall I find the KEY?, Emily J. Harding for the Artists’ Suffrage League. c1908.
Coming in with the Tide, Emily J. Harding for the Artists’ Suffrage League. c1907.
Handicapped the Artists’ S
RIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE AGES
Design Activism
59
Posters have been used to advocate rights for many people over the years, women have used design to fight for their rights. Strong imagery and message are apparent in all these posters illustrating different topics and movements such as the woman’s suffrage to fighting stereotypes.
d!, Duncan Grant for Suffrage League. 1909.
The Awakening, Henry Mayer. 1915.
1915
Don’t Let Racism Divide Us, See Red Women’s Workshop. 1978.
The Artivist
60
We Can Do It!, J. Howard Miller. 1943.
Sist Asp Wo
1943
Design Activism
61
Angela Davis—You Are Welcome in This House (In Honor of Julian Madyun), Andrea Bowers. 2011.
ters! Question Every pect of Our Lives, See Red omen’s Workshop. 1975. Power and Equality, Shepard Fairey. 2007. 1975
2007
From a Social Poster Design workshop in Ecuador taught by Timo Berry. 2011.
The Artivist
62
2011
A Woman’s Worth, Theresa for Terre des Femmes. 2013. 2013
Wlokka .
63 Design Activism
The Autocomplete Truth, Memac Ogilvy & Mather Dubai for UN Women. 2013.
2017
WINTER 2017
Designed by Jackie Nguyen In collaboration with ART 330–01 Type II Front cover image by Alice Donovan Rouse Typefaces used are AW Conqueror, Museo Slab, and FreightSans Pro
ISSUE 1