Introduction
In the process of finding and choosing a topic for design research, I found myself most fond of the field of activism or feminism. I am trying to involve myself more within those groups by volunteering or engaging with political groups. Therefore, I am very interested in exploring this field, especially when connecting it to communication design and its impact.
Topic 1: Design Activism
Motivation
MotivationImpact is an important word regarding my motivation for this topic. Basically, for me, the definition of communication design is the creation of visual messages and media that effectively communicate ideas and information to a target audience – often used for marketing. And the last part is what I am struggling with, particularly from an ethical perspective. When I walk through the streets, overwhelmed by all the banners, posters, and advertisements urging passersby to buy things they probably don’t need. Many of these have strong communication and design strategies that make a powerful impact because they have the financial possibilities for it.
And that’s exactly what most feminist movements, climate activists, or any other social justice group that tries to change or have an impact on society don’t have. It requires volunteers and simple means of communication and history has proven how even the simplest banners and posters with a good message can start a worldwide movement (Anna‐Sara Fagerholm et al., 2023).
Examples of this could be the beginning of Fridays for Future which started with Greta Thunberg protesting on her own every Friday with the same simple poster with a bold message (Beckh & Limmer, 2022) as well as the #metoo movement which started as a hashtag and was spread in the media and on the streets with the same slogan and icon (Gieseler, 2019).
Ideas that I could further research on
- History of visual communication (posters, banners, slogans) in activist movements.
- What are the ethical challenges faced by communication designers when working for commercial purposes versus activism?
- How have digital technology and social media affected the design strategies used in activist movements?
Topic 2: Feminism in Design
Motivation
When talking about feminism these days, it often feels as if people are bored of it, as if it is a done deal and one hears quotes like “Feminism has done its job. Women have achieved equality. Feminism is dead” (Camille Paglia, n.d.). On the other hand, recent political changes, with the election of Donald Trump, a man convicted of felony crimes and proven sexual assault allegations (Kumar, 2024), as well as the situation in several countries such as Iran in which the most recent rules indicate that women should not talk publicly or to each other (Marsden, 2024), show that feminism is as relevant as ever, despite its long history.
“Feminist design is not just a thing you do; it’s how you do everything” (Alison Place, 2023).
The continued relevance of feminism in design and advertising becomes clear when examining some statistics. According to CreativeX (2024), Men are 23x more likely to appear in a professional role and women are often placed in a family setting (19%), older women only make up 2% of appearances in advertisements, and Black women only cast in 20% of ads featuring women. These are just a few examples indicating the inequality that is shown in design and therefore influences us through advertisement. Also, like many other creative fields, graphic design has traditionally been male-dominated, which makes it interesting to look at the history of female designers and how almost everything is designed for and by men, how basic things like the famous fonts we use in design are mainly created by male designers (Furter, 2018), or, when thinking of famous designers throughout history, it’s often challenging to come up with a woman’s name.
Ideas that I could further research on
- Comparison of the visual language of feminist and non-feminist campaigns on similar topics and what are the similarities and differences.
- How can we use design to deconstruct stereotypical gender roles?
- What impact does digital technology have on feminist design practice?
- Normalizing taboos that oppress various social groups (e.g. women) and therefore creating awareness in society
Combination of both ideas
Lastly, I could also combine both ideas and research about feminist movements. Feminist frameworks for design activism are now more relevant than ever, as they emphasize collaborative processes that aim to disrupt and dismantle power hierarchies while centering feminist ways of knowing and doing (Alison Place, 2023).
It could be interesting to analyze the communication design strategies and principles used over the years in different countries, particularly for the days of March 6th (Womens Day) and 25th of November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women).
References
Anna‐Sara Fagerholm, Göransson, K., Thompson, L., & Per‐Olof Hedvall. (2023). Activism online: Exploring how crises are communicated visually in activism campaigns. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5973.12472
Beckh, P., & Limmer, A. (2022). The Fridays for Future Phenomenon. 427–432. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74458-8_28
CreativeX. (2024). Gender in Advertising 2024 Report. CreativeX. https://learn.creativex.com/gender-in-advertising-2024
Furter, L. (2018, March 13). Design and Intersectional Feminism. Communication Arts. https://www.commarts.com/columns/furter
Gieseler, C. (2019). The Voices of #MeToo. Google Books. https://books.google.at/books?hl=de&lr=&id=XdKcDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=metoo+grassroots&ots=DSsg22IkdO&sig=Ki9fBCijfgj7hJK_PbMPLAH2x1g#v=onepage&q=metoo%20grassroots&f=false
Kumar, B. (2024, November 8). Trump first convicted felon to be US President. Can he pardon himself? @Bsindia; Business Standard. https://www.business-standard.com/external-affairs-defence-security/news/trump-first-convicted-felon-to-be-us-president-can-he-pardon-himself-124110800490_1.html
Marsden, H. (2024, October 30). Has the Taliban banned women from speaking? Theweek; The Week. https://theweek.com/world-news/has-the-taliban-banned-women-from-speaking
Place, A. (2023). Feminist Designer. Google Books. https://books.google.at/books?hl=de&lr=&id=QvCfEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=%22communication+design%22+in+feminist+activism&ots=p02VQUdYXz&sig=u4-aJSFiVZyiFOaFxbIdVt0wkvY#v=onepage&q=%22communication%20design%22%20in%20feminist%20activism&f=false
