Friday 2 November 2018

Essay - Eye on Design Article - Feminst Movements Using Graphic Design

How Feminist Movements Co-opt Graphic Design to Express Themselves

Essay Research and Image Analysis

Suffrage poster art of the 20th century = ' tended to be conservative in style, a tactic used to sway male voters.'

Women's movements of the 60s/70s among Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam protest, student upheavals, and sexual revolution = Designs therefore took liberty and risk, and looked to irony and subversion as tactics.

Current Feminism, focus on intersectionality, on queer, non-binary, and non-white experiences = 'Some posters of the movement take an approachable line, suggesting ways in which equality might be integrated into present society, and swaying public opinion through visuals with mass appeal' or some 'use the poster art form to reveal underlying structural problems, bemoan a feminism too wrapped up in individual successes.'

'“Call-out” and online feminism has also required its own design, typographies, and visual rhetoric.' - This could be something I discuss, how feminism in the digital ages has its own aesthetic and language and is almost about the 'trend' rather than the ideology.

Contemporary Image References:

“Dear Joy, I ____ You”, Joy Li, 2016

'Having migrated from China at the age of one to Sydney, Australia, 21-year-old Joy Li created this intensely personal yet unequivocally universal chart of everyday words uttered in her household to communicate her experiences as a female, first-generation migrant, and the gendered and racial structures that influence the way she perceives herself and is perceived by others.'

'With phrases arranged according to frequency, tone and emotional impact, Li’s poster exposes the force of words and how they shape individuality. Its contrast of languages signifies the pressure and tension of not only having to conform to the standards of one culture, but two.'

Bianco, designed by the Italian foundry AlphaType, is used for its feminine qualities—highlighting the gendered nature of the repetitive, impactful phrases. “I paired this with a Chinese typeface,” says Li, whose frustration is often heightened by the rift of not being fully versed in her mother tongue. “The choice of using a ‘heiti’ (sans serif), as a contemporary design, physically and metaphorically demonstrates the very current effects that the lingering words uttered in my household have on me.” After uploading the image and other similar pieces depicting her experience online, Li received a flood of solidarity messages from other Australian, American, Canadian, New Zealander, and Irish Asians with similar stories to tell.

This could be used as a contemporary example of how modern feminists communicate with their audience. This particularly touches on the non-white experience, which is incredibly important and a key attribute of modern feminist ideals.  



Sexed Realities, Anja Kaiser, 2016
 
This design is a beach towel, made to cover the body with words that speak of how a body is a site on which sexual, racial, economic, social and cultural classifications are enacted. It was made by German designer, Anja Kaiser, creating an engagement with the pharmaceutical and pornography industry and their social control through the regulation of bodies. And how hormone-based medication and human-made products rely on binary sexed realities.

'Its words—“corporate”, “stop being desperate”, “your body is a home office”—writ in Akzidenz Grotesk Extended, reveal the workings of a contemporary feminism, one that’s been twisted to promote the story of individual, not communal, success and gain.'

'The type is elongated and seemingly distorted, reflecting the distortion of the idea that the personal is political. Note the print’s evocative use of chains and a ladder, a symbolic critique of a feminism that prioritizes climbing up the ladder in free-market society.'


https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/how-feminist-movements-co-opt-graphic-design-to-express-themselves/

No comments:

Post a Comment