Design activism: does it do enough?
By: Chaya Blumberg
Tags: Design Thinking, Activism, Design, Social Change, Graphic Design

Graphic designers create positive social change through their work

We spend so much time trying to change the world and make it a better place. Graphic designers have taken the responsibility themselves to create positive social change through their design work and the impact that they have on society.

This is a nice sentiment, but does design activism actually accomplish enough?

A research collation on Instagram, called Design Changing The World, shows how graphic design has an impact on every part of our society. Books, magazines, posters, billboards, packages, and even street signs have all been designed by graphic designers. Since graphic design is everywhere, designers need to make sure that they are using this power responsibly. Stereotypes, biases, and prejudice can all be perpetuated and normalized by graphic design. At the same time, positive messaging and factual information can also be spread by the power of graphic design. Designers have the choice- should they focus on creating socially responsible design or should they focus on their craft and leave the activism to others?

Stereotypes, biases, and prejudice can all be perpetuated and normalized by graphic design

The author of Design Changing The World uses the example of anti-Semitism to show how damaging design-perpetuated stereotypes can be. “Design either reinforces or debunks the cultural narrative” (4BCollective.com), and when negative or even benign stereotypes are reinforced by graphic design, it can lead to outright hatred and even terrorism, as is the case with anti-Semitism. The author argues that “design today needs to be infused with a sense of purpose… it is crucial for designers to recognize the power that they wield and use it to change the world for the better. (design_changing_the_world)” But is it really necessary for designers to spend their time doing the job of social activists? Does their work really make a difference?

On designactivism.net, Ann Thorpe argues that many design activists are not as effective as they could be, and are creating designs that are either ineffective or worse, damaging. Design activists could be answering the wrong questions and therefore missing the mark. Another common mistake is misjudging likely audience responses to their designs. Thorpe brings an example of this: To persuade residents of the Bay Area to prepare for earthquakes, the local Red Cross designed portable billboards to “create the illusion of well-known buildings destroyed by an earthquake (Thorpe 2008)”. The Red Cross designers did not anticipate the negative reaction that they got. Their viewers were turned off by the strong scare tactic, feeling that they were being emotionally manipulated.

Scare tactic used by Red Cross designers

Designers could also be thinking too small and not be effective enough, or they can lose sight of their priorities as designers and try to take on too many social issues at a time. Another major concern presented by Thorpe in a different article, in Current publication, is the inherently negative nature of activism. She argues that traditional activism is about protesting or preventing negative things. “It typically acts on behalf of a ‘deprived, excluded, or wronged population’ to which we might add ‘issue’ in the case of the environment (Thorpe)”, and fights against people who oppress these populations. Finally, the author raises the question of effectiveness. If the purpose of an activist project is just raising awareness, does it actually accomplish anything? Do people change their behavior?

These are all valid questions. However, design activism is very different from any other form of activism. All designers have a strong background in the design process, which teaches designers how to answer the right questions, and then iterate and come up with the best answers to these questions. The design process is made up of the following steps: define, research, ideate, build, and test. Since each design project goes through all of these steps, it is much less likely that design activists would miss the mark and misjudge their audience. The user testing involved in the process gives designers a good platform to assess responses and check audience reactions to their design.

On design_changing_the_world, the author shows how design activism is different than traditional activism in its generative rather than destructive nature. The author brings examples from design education, design against anti-Semitism, and many other places to show how design activism can be positive and promote good instead of protest bad things. Instead of preventing things from happening, designers ask questions to discover what can be done to fix the problem. “This diagnosing of the problem is as important as promoting solutions in which we are confident. Both of these steps contribute towards building power for making change. (Thorpe)” Designers are skilled at diagnosing and exploring problems, and they can use this power to change so much. They can also create visions of a better society and influence their viewers to work towards those goals.

Graphic designers have the power to change the world. When they keep the limitations of activism in mind, they can accomplish even more, knowing what not to do. However, designers need to be educated about this power to be able to use it most effectively! Universities and design schools should make design activism an important part of the curriculum to ensure that all designers design responsibly and make the most positive impact possible.