Jasmine Lee BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design In my own practice, as a Graphic and Media Designer, I find myself gravitating towards projects that have themes of social, economic, or political issues. I am of a firm belief that although not all design is overtly political, designers of marginalised groups should be conscious of politics in their work. Simply existing as a designer of any marginalised group is inherently political- by entering an industry that is predominantly made up of straight, white men as the opposite. This year, I completed a course alongside a campaign brief, called Women+ of Colour in Leadership. By participating in this course, I am subliminally political in my design stance, as the program centred around the ways in which we can move towards positions of power and leadership, in an industry that is systemically built against us. However, by then acting on this- for example, applying for jobs that I wouldn’t normally go for out of fear of not being worthy, using these newfound skills, I became actively political in the risks I was taking. To make waves and be truly “social responsive, [design] must be revolutionary and radical in the truest sense” (Papanek, V. J., 1985). It is not enough to call your design political if you follow the status quo, but also neither if you just follow the majority of the movement, without making any significant changes yourself.
True design lies in authenticity- every design practice should have elements of each designers’ personality woven through it. As a person of colour, it is important to me to not necessarily centre my work around my identity, but to at least feature it heavily. An example of this in my recent practice is a self-initiated personal project I am collaborating with a friend on. It centres around the loneliness people of colour feel in different aspects of their life- at home, at work, amongst friends. Touching on lived experiences we’ve both had, we have purposefully invoked a socio-political discussion for people of colour to contribute to. Identity is political. When discussing aspects of it, it is vital to realise not everyone shares the same level of cultural capital. Although we may not have conventional privilege, systemically, we own privileges of cultural capital, comprising of social assets that provide social mobility. Ruben Pater (2016) writes that “a design cannot be disconnected from the values and assumptions in which it was created, from the ideologies behind it”. By utilising the cultural capital you have gained and earned being a part of a marginalised group, it derives politics from your work. It can be argued that all design is subliminally political. By tying the visuals with a company’s brand or name, it reinforces in the consumer’s mind to recognise the connection between the two. This builds a bias in the both the designer and consumers’ minds. This begins to become inherent when seeing these colours, shapes, or phrases: like associating a tick symbol with Nike or associating red with the Labour Party and blue with the Democratic Party. Therefore, simply designing is a political act, as you must take all of this into account, ensuring you are sending the correct message, with the correct connotations you intended. It is irrefutable that all design carries a bias- it is inevitable to the nature of the designer- designers work on the foundation of their identity and personal knowledge, wherein all aspects of identity can be argued as political. Therefore, all design may have politic rhetoric or spark political debate, however there is an astute difference in being overtly political and being subliminally political. As a designer, which are you? References: Papanek V. J. (1985) ‘Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change’, pp.346–347 Pater, R. (2016) ‘The Politics of Design’, pp.2 Unknown (2018) ‘Design is Political’. Available at: https://ia.net/topics/design-is-political. [Accessed 22 Apr. 2023] Bourton, L. (2020) ‘Graphic design is political: Jonathan Barnbrook on how we can build a better industry’. Available at: https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/jonathan-barnbrook-in-conversation-graphic-design-100920. [Accessed 20 Apr. 2023]
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
|