- Political activism has been
a part of graphic design for centuries.
We use images or symbols and words
to convey our point of view.
This is a constant in our profession.
Benjamin Franklin did it with his printing press,
hippies did it in the 1960s, and we do it today.
In order to understand the 1960s,
we need to go back to World War II.
During the war, women and minorities
experienced new freedoms.
Women were told they were strong enough
to be in the workplace, building ships and airplanes,
and everyone was called on to do his or her part,
regardless of race, religion, or gender.
After the war, this changed.
Millions of troops were demobilized
and absorbed back into the economy.
This meant that everyone else was told
to go back to the old ways.
Women belonged in the home,
racial minorities were segregated,
and anyone thinking differently was disenfranchised.
But you can't put people back in a box.
By the mid 1960s, society exploded.
Graphic designers used their skills
to communicate issues around civil rights,
the antiwar movement, the environment, and women's issues.
The design of protest worked best
when it was direct and to the point,
with little chance of misinterpretation.
Makoto Wada's poster protesting
the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War
uses clear symbols of the American flag
and a dead Vietnamese man.
The rough illustration technique made the message
more visceral and emotional.
In France, a series of strike posters
by Atelier Populaire are roughly drawn
silkscreen silhouettes.
The handmade typography adds to the urgency,
and the red color connects to socialism.
Seymour Chwast's antiwar poster uses the recognizable symbol
of Uncle Sam from the James Montgomery Flag
World War I poster and recasts him as a villain.
Non-designers also created much of the protest work.
These fliers, posters, and publications
were printed on small presses
or mimeograph copiers in someone's garage.
The point was not high-end aesthetics and refinement
but the urgency of the message.
Slick graphics were identified as being mainstream
or Madison Avenue establishment.
A new raw aesthetic emerged that treated design
as an ephemeral messaging tool, rather than a piece of art.
In 1967, a satellite captured the first image
of the earth from space.
The writer, Stewart Brand, used this image
on the cover of the Whole Earth Catalog.
The catalog provided information on sustainable practices
and living communally.
The image and catalog sparked the environmental movement.
It's common practice today to recycle,
use natural resources judiciously,
and support environmental issues,
but it was a radical concept in 1968.
John Van Hamersveld addressed the issue
with a poster highlighting the air quality
in Southern California in 1970,
and other designers used the poster to forward
the anti-establishment idea of recycling.
Protest work depends on an emotional response.
Like propaganda, complex information cannot
convince the viewer of anything.
Work from the 1960s used a sense of community,
outrage, and us against them.
Even dating was used as a way to
convince young men to burn their draft cards.
The influence of this period permeates
every part of our life now, from zines
to protest stickers on Facebook.
The counterculture movement created an environment
where we freely use graphic design to clarify
our unique position on any subject.