protest objects
- Mar 27, 2023
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 30, 2023
Using objects as flags
Design has been key to demands for urgent action.
Intentionally or not design can use their strategies to transform in objects concepts and ideas that help the propuse. Strong graphic design impact and clear set of design principles have made some movements immediately recognisable.
In Hamburg’s so called “Danger Zone,” toilet brushes became an ironic symbol of unjustified police control. Hours after the screening of a short video on national television that showed a policeman confiscating a toilet brush from someone who had legally obtained it and was doing no harm with it, toilet brushes were instantly sold out and carried into the streets by demonstrators. This event evoked a creative wave of digital image alteration, graphics, and caricatures.
Another example is Laila Laurel designed a seat which is crafted so that men sit with their legs closed.
She said the "concept" chair was inspired by her experiences of men "infringing on my space in public".
We can find more often examples of protest in art and graphic design that on Industrial design. Our profession has been shaped to critical thinking, to transmit a message on many cases but the usability factor, the mass production factor, leave us with products that may not seem as first hand as a revolution, but they are really shaping the future we want to see, is making those changes already without complaining, is giving solutions, is a step forward.
Should we not be using more the tools we know as creators to serve the real changes we want on the world?
