My name is Sarah Almoosa and I study Graphic and Media Design. As a designer myself I often think about my work and how it may affect others. I tend to consider people’s feelings instead of being ignorant while also acknowledging our privilege as designers to communicate certain messages. As designers we have the role to learn the subjectivity of our profession and how it may cater to some groups and disregard others. Designers are ethically responsible to communicate a message through collaborations with fellow designers that may be more educated in the idea. I personally have gone through trial and error to educate myself on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable through mistakes which has helped me expand the space for growth emphasizing the quote “Design is never neutral”(Fry, 2009). Graphic design has been used to emphasis racism in this world while also communicating and raising awareness on the harmfulness of this issue. During my DPS year, I have undergone a project which communicates a brief by D&AD to use Google Fonts to express a problem that affects you while determining change. My project uses tools of graphic design such typography and illustration to highlight the growing problem about the Arabic language disappearing from the UAE. Our beautiful language is being replaced by the English language in our beloved country for the foreigners convenience. The locals have become the minority struggling to go about their daily life without a form of translator. English is becoming the dominant language among locals which makes it difficult to communicate with the older generation leading it to distant relationships between families. I created two posters that express “ Do Not Erase our Language” in the Arabic language. It demonstrates an illustration of certain objects you find in the supermarket and converting it back into its original Arabic font. The use of the Arabic language instead of the English language is to emphasize the problem and to not give into and participate in the issue. A reflective source from the Homeland series displays graffiti expressing the racism encountered by sneaking it onto the set. The artists were asked to work on the set design for a Syrian refugee camp creating a horror fantasy with Arabic letters revealing their depiction of the Muslim world and they did so by adding humorous quotes onto the walls of the set. The quotes read “Homeland is a joke” making clear of the state of stereotypical racism that occurred on the set. This example shows how important it is to be a designer that is ethically responsible and educated to avoid disregarding certain groups. "Homeland is Racist" by Heba Amin. However, a reflective source that emphasis the racism within the marketing world is the existence of the Golliwog character which made it’s first appearance in the 1910’s deriving from Black Face Minstrel Shows in the US. The shows consisted of white people drawing on exaggerated black features while degrading them. The character was later used for advertisements and packaging by Robertson’s jam which then became the mascot of the brand appearing on many items. They received a lot of criticism behind the character however they used it to their advantage since it increased their advertisement and sales while refusing to disassociate it with the brand until 2001. The name “Gollywog” links to the racial slur “wog” which dehumanizes black people and treats them in an inhumane way. Black members of a certain anti racist group have come forward and shared their traumatic childhood experiences being called “jam jar kids” which emphasizes the racist nature of the character design and branding while labelling it as ignorant. In conclusion, design is being used in many different ways whether it is in a negative of positive way. However with the help of social media, designers like myself are being educated more everyday to raise our awareness to certain topics and to hold ourselves responsible to respond and expand the message. As designers we have to hold each other accountable to avoid the mistakes past designers have made. It is important for us to learn about how graphic design has contributed in emphasizing racism in order to learn from it and better ourselves for the future. source: unkown
Bibliography: Campaign (2015) History of advertising: No 131: Robertson's controversial brand mascot. Available at: https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/history-advertising-no-131-robertsons-controversial-brand-mascot/1345786 (Accessed: 10 April 2023) Politics of Design (2018) The Politics of Design. Available at: http://thepoliticsofdesign.com/ (Accessed: 8 April 2023) Anti-Racist Cumbria (2021) Are Gollywogs really so racist? Available at: https://antiracistcumbria.org/are-gollywogs-really-so-racist/ (Accessed: 10 April 2023) The Guardian (2015) 'Homeland is racist': artists sneak subversive graffiti on to TV show. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/oct/15/homeland-is-racist-artists-subversive-graffiti-tv-show (Accessed 13 April 2023)
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