acrStudio - Design 4 - Week 11 Persuasion and Design

As you look at communication and information design consider each organizations motives, and look at how they use design to convey their ideas. Is the design direct or subtle, and why do you think these designers chose to be subtle or direct? Are these designs being honest or are they misleading? When is a design truthful and being of service to society and when is it deceiving people and causing harm?

Think about this as your work on your projects this week. Learning how to identify techniques such as: prejudice, casual oversimplification, faulty analogy, tabloid and wishful thinking, hasty generalization, attacking a straw man, appeals to ignorance, emotion, flattery, pity, prestige, folksiness, joining the bandwagon and many, many more you as a designer can arm yourself against the pitfalls of disinformation and use the tools of design in pursuit of truth and clarity to help people make sound decisions.

Examples of protest, truth and disinformation through the use of communication and information design.

Propaganda and disinformation is often thought of as being heavy handed and overt like the example in the photograph taken by Reagan Louie in San Francisco of an activist protesting China's human rights abuses. But not all issue-oriented design is so blunt. When design is used in a systematic manner, it can be used to clearly communicate an idea, OR it can be used to deceive an audience.

Here are just a few examples of issue oriented designs. Look at each one and ask yourself. Is the message and motive of the design clear or deceptive and hidden?

Artist Lawrence Beall Smith designed this poster "Don't let that shadow touch them" for the United States Government in 1942 to motivate citizens to buy war bonds.

Below is a Camel advertisement with two testimonials, the first is Joan Crawford and the second is the medical claim at the bottom of the advertisement.

Amnesty International and designer Woody Pirtle of Pentagram developed this poster using the format of a road sign. The use of universally understandable pictograms and high contrast color and type gets the point across in a powerful and simple way.

Below is a sample of the "Genocide" typeface designed by Lars Harmsen. The designer created this typeface based on over 5,000 images of Khmer Rouge victims from the Tuol Sleng Prison in Phnom Penh, the notorious extermination center during the Cambodian genocide where over 1.5 million human beings were exterminated. The use of the anonymous images and numbers conveys an idea about the awful numbers of people who died. This tactic is a bit more subtle, but still gets to the heart of the message about genocide and war.

Below are two page spreads from "It's About Time", a brochure designed by David Schimmel and Susan Brzozowski for the National Council of Jewish Women. This booklet informs readers of the threats facing Roe vs. Wade and urges them to protect their right to safe and legal abortion by contacting their elected representatives. The use of type and photography is direct and overt in the delivery of the pro-choice message.

Below is an example of a billboard from an organization called Pro Knowledge and Life Ed, which advocate a pro-life message to women and teens.

Visit the website for Pregnancy Centers an organization which provides pro-life counseling to pregnant women. Visit the website and look at the design. What do you think this organization is promoting? Do you think they are being direct about their agenda? Is it clear?

Note: A 2006 congressional report found that 87% of the centers studied "provided false or misleading information about the health effects of abortion." All of the centers in the study receive federal funding. Further, women who have mistakenly visited CPCs report being harassed and intimidated about their reproductive health choices. - Source National Council of Jewish Women

Project - Disinformation part two

Design an communication and information graphic which is critical of your issue.

Last week you began your initial research for the development of a propaganda design which is critical of or simply counter to your issue in some way.

Format

This week choose the format for your disinformation project. The format is open, it may be a brochure, poster, billboard design, magazine advertisement, promotional "kit", door-hanger, a typeface, a series of stickers, webpage, etc.

Content

Be sure to use any of the seven propaganda techniques in the strategy and development of your disinformation design.

Use information design tactics and gestalt principles to decieve your audience.

Due next week

Disinformation design, printed in color.

Also come to class with ideas for your final project, which we will begin working on in class next week.

Teaching home

Design 4: Visual Organization and Information Design

Week 11: Persuasion and Design