OUGD401 | Essay Draft

Discuss the role that Graphic Design has played in political and/or social change in a specific period in history.



Graphic design has played a huge part in many political campaigns and social movements throughout the past. Whether it be big or small, graphic design and strong branding has become a fundamental role in winning a campaign or even winning a war. From party logos to the typeface used on campaign banners and from propaganda posters to union jack badges, it is important to get these things right in order to help gain support. When it comes to 'social change', it's hard to pin down exactly what this means or what exactly would qualify for graphic design. Picket signs that were made by protestors to be marched through the centre of town - are these pieces of graphic design? Graffiti on the side of a fast food chain commentating on the divide between rich and poor - is this graphic design? It is thanks to these blurred [restrictions/definitions/outlines?] of what is and isn't graphic design that can make this discussion so much more interesting as so many further topics can be discussed. Due to this, I want to explore graphic design's role in political and social change in the 21st century. I feel that the digital capabilities that have become available have greatly improved how people are able view design and how easily it can be shared. In addition to this, I also think some of the topics that have hit the news in recent years and events that have occurred will cause for an interesting discussion as the design response for some of them were extremely important.

One example of an extremely strong piece of political campaign design is Shepard Fairey's 'Hope' poster, which went on to represent Obama's 2008 official presidential campaign and is widely called a 'cultural phenomenon'. What started off as a personal project of his, Fairey screen-printed and sold 350 posters with the image straight after designing. Rather than taking the money for profit and stopping there, he used the money to produce more posters; selling them, putting them up around the city and eventually distributing them at Obama rallies once it became so iconic to Obama's campaign.

The non-profit principal of designing and designing for a purpose is one of the most effective and pure ways to design, especially when it comes to social or political change. Fairey clearly supported Obama and his ideas but was "naïve" about "Obama's popularity" (Fairey, 2011) as he thought Obama would "get crushed by the Clinton juggernaut" and therefor decided to use his own popularity within pop culture to give Obama extra exposure, without damaging Obama's campaign due to "street artists and radical types" (Fairey, 2011) trying to help him out. Although Fairey is a street artist and a pop culture icon thanks to the huge success of his work and 'Obey', he believed in what Obama said and felt passionately about what he wanted to see happen; because of this he decided to help, to inform and ultimately to persuade the general public. Fairey succeeded with his goals as the image went viral extremely quickly soon after he made the image available on his already popular website. The use of digital media here perfectly demonstrates how modern technology can help get work seen by millions of people. Fairey explained in an interview with Ben Arnon from 'The Huffington Post' that he felt the image did so well because it was the perfect way for Obama's followers to express their support in modern and symbolic way. Due to it being accessible online, people were able to share the image extremely easily, such as sharing it with their hundreds of Facebook friends or share it on the then-popular site MySpace. The image was easily accessible for the younger generation to relate to due to Fairey's previous work and his links to the popular brand 'Obey', so this generation would have most likely already seen this image on the internet before it went viral world wide. A study called Generations Online from 2009 showed that thirty percent of 18-32 year olds were active online (it has probably increased over recent years). Not only was it good for people to see online, but if people could print out their own copy of the poster, it adds to the cause, people could stick it wherever they wanted and still get more people to see it. The idea behind all of this was to keep the image moving round and round and it worked very well.

The image itself is a portrait of Barack Obama in a vector-style illustration with a red, white and blue colour scheme, very fitting for an American presidential campaign. The photograph the Fairey used as a reference point shows Obama looking at a fixed point in the distance to the right. The illustration's se of colour shows that half of his face is clearly highlighted, portraying that he is someone of great importance and is extremely wise it is almost biblical representation of a messiah. The other side of his face is cast in a deep shadow, shown through the colour red. The background of the poster is split in the same manner; blue on the left and red on the right. Along with these being two of the American flag colours, blue and red often symbolise hot and cold, peace and anger. In spite of this, Obama does not come across as an angry person and Fairey did not/does not know him well enough to know what he is like out of the public eye. In this case the red represents Obama's passion and love for America and its wellbeing. Whereas the blue represents Obama's calm side, his vision, his thoughts and his caring nature. At the time of the election there was a lot of excitement surrounding Obama's campaign as he had the chance to become America's first black president. It is important to note that Fairey's work doesn’t not show the colour of Obama's skin because it does not to as this idea supports Obama's policies and beliefs that everyone is equal.

In the first original first 300 posters the text at the bottom read 'Progress', but that then got changed when the campaign's PR wanted to push the message of 'Hope' The typeface used for this and the rest of Obama's campaign was 'Gotham', a sans serif font with a geometric essence to it. This is a suitable font as it was created in 2000 by Tobias Frere-Jones and took direct inspiration from New York City's culture and surroundings. Aside from Washington, New York could be called America's most important city due to the organisations based there and along with other responsibilities it holds and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. So it makes sense that the typeface used should originate in such a patriotic and important city that has such strong links to design. Even after the campaign 'Gotham' got used for various federal government projects, the most notable being the identity of the 2010 United States Census. Another example is the cornerstone for the Freedom Tower at the World Trade Center site which was described as the then-Governor as the "bedrock" (Wikipedia, 2015) of New York. When used directly in the poster it works well as it doesn’t interfere with the portrait but is a clear part of the whole image and instantly recognisable; it's clear, bold and as Andrew Romano of Newsweek put it: "it's very American" (Wikipedia, 2015).

Overall the image was widely popular and extremely successful. Fairey was able to capture Barrack Obama perfectly in his illustration and it was done so well it made people want to show others and share it and the poster has now ben recognised as a cultural phenomenon. The online popularity of this poster caused many parodies and copies supporting or showing many different people or things to be made. In fact Shepard Fairey himself produced an adaption of the original poster in 2011 to support the 'occupy movement'.

For the poster 'Occupy Hope', Fairey replaced Barrack Obama with someone wearing a Guy Fawkes mask. The mask is a stylised portrayal of supposedly Guy Fawkes that has a wide smile, strong round cheeks with a moustache turned up at both ends accompanied by a thin vertical beard. The mask was designed by illustrator David Lloyd and was first seen on the front cover of the book 'V for Vendetta', which was adapted into a film in 2006. Since then the mask has become an international symbol for rebellion.

The Occupy Movement protests against social and economic inequalities around the world. All protests in the UK, America and many other countries have been peaceful, although some countries have had to use violence to be heard, so much so dictators have been overthrown. The Occupy Movement is getting more and more support everyday and the slogan 'We Are The 99%' is therefore getting heard more and more. This slogan is the focus point for all the movements campaign and all of its 'propaganda'. The 99% refers to the poor, against the top 1% of the rich. The slogan itself is very powerful. In five words it conveys power and togetherness for millions of people globally. What started as a 'Tumblr' post is now the slogan for an ever-growing international social movement.

Fairey's 'Occupy Hope' is the most notable piece of Graphic Design that supports the Occupy Movement. As mentioned earlier, the poster has an image of a person wearing a Guy Fawkes mask rather than Obama. The poster has the same vector-style illustration and the same colour scheme as the original. This is very effective due to the fact that the 'Hope' poster was/is so well recognised so anything designed in that is going to grab the viewer's attention. In addition to the mask, more text was added. At the bottom of the poster it reads 'Mister President, we hope you're on our side', using the original 'Hope' for extra impact. Although the added text is smaller, it does not go unnoticed as it is a red against a dark blue. Where as Gotham was used for the original text, the new text uses what looks to be a slab-serif typeface. This could be to draw more attention to it or because it comes across bolder than a plain serif. By using a slab-serif and talking directly to 'Mister President', it comes across very powerful and meaningful without sounding too threatening. As well as the text at the bottom, 'We are the 99%' was added to Obama's badge that sits above the 'E'. Although this works as a great way to be able to get the slogan in the poster without it looking out of place, it also implies that Obama is in fact on 'their side', which he is not.

Although this poster was liked among many and even those not interested or involved in the Occupy Movement, some of the people who are actually involved were not 100% happy with the design of it. A nameless organiser for The Occupy (Wall Street) Movement said that the organises "cannot in anyway be connected" (Organiser, 2011) to the adaptation. The reasoning behind this is that it would make them "hypocrites" (Organiser, 2011) as Obama has raised more money from Wall Street than any other candidate in history. To correct the situation the organiser mention earlier asked for Fairey to change a few aspects of the poster in order for it to fit the movement's goals and morals.

The altered version doesn’t have any major altercations. The only thing Fairey changed was the text that accompanied the iconic 'Hope' title. In the revisited version it says 'We are the Hope', this was a direct request from the organiser of the movement. They also requested for Fairey to add 'Expect us' underneath. This is a reference to Anonymous and their famous slogan; 'We are Anonymous. We are Legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.' This is understandable as a "core subgroup within Anonymous played a significant role" in the evolution of the movement. For some reason Fairey chose not to include this despite the request, possible because it sounded too menacing for a peaceful protest, or the poster has more impact without the unneeded text.

The process this poster went though in extraordinary and very unique to the time we live in. The fact that an artist can create a piece of design to help a social movement and then for the organisers to request changes and give reason to the artist in order for it to be as strong as possible, all online is incredible. This was so easy to do as the modern age allows for work to be seen all over the world just hours after it has been created and for feedback to be given just as quickly. In this case it worked extremely well because there was a mutual respect between the two parties involved; Fairey supports The Occupy Movement and the movement respects Fairey's work and what he is doing for them. With no money involved it goes back to designing for a purpose, designing for what you believe in.

The Guy Fawkes mask that featured in the two versions of 'Occupy Hope' was first really made popular by Anonymous. It started in 2008 when Anonymous protested against the Church of Scientology and needed a way to hide their faces. As Anonymous is an internet-based group, they were able to easily plan how to do so, then, as more and more people began to protest for different things the mask became the main way people hid their identities while also showing their support for the group. It has now become associated with Anonymous so heavily that they base all of their own propaganda around it. They often make videos explaining what they are trying to achieve next. These videos open up with their logo; a headless figure wearing a suit with a question mark where the head should be. This clearly illustrates they do not want to be identified but also implies that it could be anyone behind the mask. This is backed up by the origin of the name 'Anonymous'. The name comes from a joke made by the users of '4Chan' a popular image and forum website. On here, when someone makes a post but does not want their name to be shown, it displays it as 'anonymous'. The joke was that there was just one person with the username 'anonymous' and they were making all of these posts. This then evolved to be the name of the group as it conveys the message that Anonymous is anyone and everyone and you don’t need to be seen to be heard. So with the suited, headless figure standing in front of a globe surrounded by a laurel wreath, it's clear to see they believe they are protecting the world. During the videos the person never shows their face, it's always covered by a Guy Fawkes mask along with a voice changer so it is impossible to identify who it is. All of this could be seen as graphic design as it is all part of their 'brand'. It has helped make certain movements more popular due to Anonymous' involvement and through their supporters. One of their recent videos explains their next challenge; 'Op Charlie Hebdo'.

'Op Charlie Hebdo' is in relation to the attacks on January 7th 2015, where twelve members of staff at Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical magazine, were murdered in their workplace by Islamist gunmen because they spoke out against certain beliefs. Anonymous then "declared war" (Anonymous, 2015) on Jihadists around the world by targeting Muslim extremist websites and publically exposing terrorists. Anonymous felt they had an obligation to do this as "freedom of speech was bruised" (Anonymous, 2015) and they have "always fought for the freedom of speech and freedom of press" (Anonymous, 2015). Anonymous took down many sites such as halal websites and replaced them with nothing but text that read; "Je suis Charlie. et je suis immortel". By having nothing but this text in the middle of the screen makes it extremely clear as to why it is there. No colour, no text, no confusion. The text 'Je suis Charlie' is done it two different sans serif fonts, both of which are very bold and strong, but 'Charlie' is actually taken from the Charlie Hebdo logotype. Underneath, 'et je suius immortel' has been done using a comic style script typeface. This is due to Charlie Hebdo being recognised for its cartoons and sadly the it's also the reason for the attacks. Also, by using a script font it makes it seem as if it has just been written. For example, 'Je suis Charlie' is the main slogan, but adding the extra bit underneath using a script is like the person has just written it for added effect and it really works, it makes it more personal.




The term 'Je suis Charlie' became the slogan adopted by supporters after the shootings. The standard layout of this phrase has the 'Je suis' at the top in a modern sans-serif, then underneath it says 'Charlie' taken from the logotype. This layout and these words are now instantly recognisable and are very powerful due to the meaning behind them, thanks to the exposure they got at rallies and gatherings, where people were able to print out their own copy to show their support.




There were responses to the tragedy from artists and designers worldwide, they were able to pay their respects in a way that was mutually appreciated by both sides; art. Where as a lot of the responses could have just been incredibly sad and serious, most of them were able to inject some humour and life into them, while still being respectful to the dead. Often, the message that was being said the strongest, is how the attacks made everyone stronger. One cartoon that really captured the hearts of many was by illustrator Lucille Clerc. The image shows three pencils, the top one titled 'Yesterday' was a full unbroken pencil, the middle one titled 'Today' shows the pencil snapped in two halves and the final bottom one shows 'Tomorrow' and the two halves have been sharpened to create two pencils. This drawing is incredibly clever and promotes strength and support. People wanted to share this image on sites like Instagram and Twitter because it was done so well; it was easy for people to instantly grasp the message but meaningful enough for it to be suitable to the events that occurred.







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References:

BEN ARNON / HUFFINGTON POST 2011. - How the Obama "Hope" Poster Reached a Tipping Point and Became a Cultural Phenomenon: An Interview With the Artist Shepard Fairey - [Online] Available from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-arnon/how-the-obama-hope-poster_b_133874.html [Accessed: 25th January 2015]

WIKIPEDIA 2015 - Gotham (Typeface) - [Online] Available from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotham_%28typeface%29 [Accessed: 29th January 2015]

OBEY GIANT 2015 - Occupy Hope V2 - Revised [Online] Available from: http://www.obeygiant.com/headlines/occupy-hope-v2 [Accessed: 1st February 2015]



YOUTUBE 2015 - Anonymous - #OpCharlieHebdo [Online] Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqbwqmb8P00 [Accessed: 4th February 2015]