Tag: design activism

Last, but not least I am going to focus on some more material of activist poster design. Then I will add my next steps for my thesis, so you know what I will be doing in the future and how I will add to my collection of materials and research.

The topic I already focused on in part 6 of my blog posts was global warming and the environment. Therefore, I want to add some more posters here that focus on this exact topic.

“Unexpected Hues – Human Impact on Ocean Colors” is an interesting poster series by Franziska Stetter. It wants to raise awareness on certain oceanic problems the environment is facing. There are six posters on the topics: “[…] Phytoplankton Growth, Algal Blooms, Plastic Pollution, Oil Spills, Ocean Acidification, and Melting Ice […]” (Stetter, 2026) Each of the posters

“[…] using a vivid gradient of five RGB color values to represent changes in ocean color caused by environmental disruptions. These colors are placed based on real-world coordinates where these issues are prevalent, translated into their position on each poster. Accompanying each visual are detailed descriptions that explain the context, data, and meaning behind the chosen hues, creating a blend of scientific data and visual storytelling.” (Stetter, 2026)

In this poster Brynn Seitzman has focused on one of the effects of global warming. The typography is a call to action and makes us aware that our forests need saving. Through this quote the picture becomes alive, we do not only see burnt out matchsticks anymore, but trees, a whole forest that was burnt down by wildfire, caused by global warming and climate change.

This next poster was created by Jack parker, Evan Hamilton and Gabe Salas, students from the Texas State University. It focuses on showing what can be done against climate change within the field of agriculture through new technology. Since the greenhouse effect is a phenomenon tied to climate change, it is interesting to use this quote to advertise for new agricultural greenhouse solutions that help us live in an environment that is constantly getting hotter.

To summarize, these were some examples of advocating for change in caring more for the environment. The next steps of my thesis will be to synthesize my findings and tie them together more closely, as well as, to find even more examples that help me make choices to create my own design activist works. In the end, I want to apply the results of my research to my own practice as a designer. This will make it easier for me to create alongside my personal values and connect them to my future brand. It will add more value to my work and hopefully steer my portfolio and my future work life into directions I am interested in that make people think twice about their actions.

Thank you all for your interest in my research journey. I have still got quite a way to travel with this, but I’m more sure than ever to start creating on my own, seeing what I can do with all the insights I have gained into this broad and extremely important issue.

Sources:

Parker, Jack; Hamilton, Evan and Salas, Gabe: Dispel the Myth. In: Graphis Online, 2020. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/9165a4b3-1837-4ce2-8927-bc7a7d8f8245. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Seitzman, Brynn: “Save Our Forest”. In: Graphis Online, 2015. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/acc0d43f-f96c-417b-bc4e-0fefbb27435d. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Stetter, Franziska: Unexpected Hues – Human Impact on Ocean Colors. In: Graphis Online, 2026. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/80052a8b-1c57-4772-bc12-69183332c9fc. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.

The focus of my previous post was on the Black Lives Matter Movement and racism. And in Part 6 of my series, I analyzed a poster on US politics, as well as, one on global warming. Therefore, I will add to both of these to have more examples of similar topics.

Jean Quarcoopome created this poster to connect US politics and the danger they pose towards Black lives. The background colour is black to show that it is about Black people and death. In the background a transparent typography shows ‘UNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA’. Within these words some letters are emphasized in white colour, that makes one read the word unsafe. This shows that america is an unsafe place for Black people. The intention behind using the font Martin by VOCAL Type Co, was to hint towards “lettering used on placards and posters during a Memphis sanitation strike, organized by Black people protesting against unsafe working conditions in the 1960s.” (Quarcoopome, 2021)

Coco Cerrella focused on a more graphical approach to depict one big problem going on around the world, which is also strongly emphasized in the US. Namely, immigrant’s rights. The passports of different nations are cemented into a wall. They look like bricks holding society together, but walls can eventually crumble. Cerrella states that “[t]he passport that serves as the entry key for many people is at the same time a wall for migrant minorities, in a world increasingly closed.” (Cerrella, 2021) This poster is also a nod to building walls between nations, which again is a link to Trump building a wall towards Mexico, for instance.

This poster by Karen Crawford also merges topics. It combines the famous last words by George Floyd that fuelled the Black Lives Matter Movement with a face mask, marking the COVID19-pandemic. The words form a mask and are also situated exactly on mouth and nose, where the breath of the Black person shown as a silhouette should be, but is not anymore. It also shows the struggles of the pandemic that many people said they cannot breathe under their masks. But using a mask and struggling to breathe because one is being killed are two entirely different things. This shows that many struggles of mainly white people do not translate similarly to the struggles of Black people. Surely, the Black people that have died would have preffered to wear a mask instead.

To summarize, these examples combine different topics that I have already focused on in previous posts. In my next and last post I am going to show some final examples of design activist posters and then elaborate my next steps for my thesis. Thank you to everyone that has read until here.

Sources:

Cerrella, Coco: Immigrant Wall. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/5eb64068-528e-47d5-a430-495ec7f8a52a. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Crawford, Karen: I CAN’T BREATHE. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/65a5d705-6cd2-4f26-8b42-47644cbfb1e4. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Quarcoopome, Jean: UNSAFE/United States of America. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/4438657f-06dc-44e1-a6a4-363d559384ef. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.

In my last post I have analyzed some mainly typographic posters about war. In this post I will be focusing on racism and the black lives matter movement, since there are still so many different topics out there that add to the variety and diversity of activist topics.

This poster by Arnaud Ghelfi was created for the Black Lives Matter Movement. The structure of the letters BLM is especially round, which creates the illusion that the ‘L’ is a heart. The colours help this notion, because the ‘L’ is mostly red and pink, the typical colours associated with graphics of hearts. The black background adds to the fact that this is about Black people. To add to that the shapes of the three letters seem to be built out of the same two components. The colour gradients within the type show that Black people are diverse as well and this diversity adds flavour to society, which is why they are as important as everyone else. (cf. Ghelfi, 2021)

In this second poster about the Black Lives Matter Movement Anna Sera Garcia shows how white space can be used to show reactions of people. The typography is cut out by empty space to show that when white people (that are the majority group) do not speak up about injustice, their silence makes them complicit in the killing of Black people, since they have the power, but do not do anything about these injustices. Other than the whole sentence the word ‘black’ gets not only erased, but torn apart as well, this shows the brutality Black people have to face, by being killed without doing anything wrong. To add to that the sentence ends with a single point, this shows that it is a fact and also emphasizes the finality of the statement. At the bottom of the page the names of Black people that have been killed during this time are listed to not let them be forgotten and show that it is not just an individual case, but a pattern.

This poster by Underline Studio shows the same problem that the previous one did. The two words ‘silence’ and ‘violence’ are merged, by showing their similarities. The whole construct shows the visual of an hourglass, making evident that each second of silence adds to the violence that is happening.

Last but not least, Selcuk Ozis has created a typographic poster showing again that racism kills. The letter ‘i’ stands for black people as can easily be seen. This shows that racism as a construct is fueled by white people, one white person seems to be killing the Black person as is depicted by the ‘s’ that seems to be kneeling on top. The other white people ‘r’, ‘a’, ‘c’, ‘m’ just seem to be watching or are probably silent as they see the scenario unfold. The three colours used remind us of the Nazi flag and show that racism is timeless and, therefore, has to be fought by the roots.

In this blog post I have analyzed some posters about racism, focusing especially on the Black Lives Matter Movement. This shows again how much is possible using just typography.

Sources:

Ghelfi, Arnaud: Black Lives Matter. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/7815cc37-e773-4e6b-937a-52ac9de4d663. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Ozis, Selcuk: Racism. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/a9aa38c8-850b-45b6-a1d3-3252fee54a43. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Sera Garcia, Anna: Our Silence Kills Black Lives. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/caa83c12-41bb-4709-91b4-c99515a11718. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Underline Studio: Silence is Violence. In: Graphis Online, 2021. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/a5b2b40c-9f0d-484a-8cf8-162682ffffbc. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.

Adding onto my previous post, I will continue to analyze some design activist posters to show that there are different topics out there and what the consensus is about interesting and impactful activist posters.

This poster shows a clever usage of typography. Barbara Galinska wants to inspire action against war. The message is clear: Stop war! The continuos outlines fusing the message together shows that one of the words cannot be without the other. The red and black colours make an aggressive combination to show the importance of the message and refer to the topic of war the explosions, burning, blood as well as, death and darkness that comes with war. The sharp edges of the outlines leave no room for doubt, this is a serious matter. The end of the ‘S’ and the space between the ‘P’ and the exclamation mark seem to have extremely sharp ends, similar to scalpels. This design has not only been used as a poster, but also as a base for murals and demonstration signs.

This poster shows a similar approach, also just through typography, but focuses on the war between Israel and Palestine. It shows that both names together create the word please and very small in the right hand corner the small print states “NO MORE WAR”. This already clearly transports the plea of designer Hoon-Dong Chung. To be able to read both the names Palestine and Israel, as well as, the word ‘please’ the transparency effect has been used. While the first two are transported into a second layer by being barely visible, the word please is highlighted by having more opacity. Therefore, the first thing one reads is ‘please’. Afterwards the words Palestine and Israel come into focus and if the message is not clear enough already, then only when analyzing the poster closely the rest of the message becomes visible.

In this poster the main message also comes from typography. This time the text can be interpreted in several ways. The message is: “war does not determine who is right only who is left”. In this case one can either interpret it in the way that during war it can be seen, which people advocate for right parties and which for left ones. Or you can see that, even though someone might be ‘right’ in war (meaning to have the correct opinion), the only thing that matters in the end is who is left after the war (so who is still here in the end). Interestingly, the background shows clouds and a sunny day and the last row of text becomes slightly transparent, showing that not much is left after the war. This poster was designed by Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios.

These three posters summarize well that there does not have to be a lot going on in a design to get a message across. Usually typography is enough if it is applied in a creative way, by combining different words and meanings to get the point across.

Sources:

Chung, Hoon-Dong: Please. In: Graphis Online, 2018. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/90a92688-82b0-4373-81c3-ddd335508222. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios: War. In: Graphis Online, 2025. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/d0422e34-4b2e-11e2-a2c9-f23c91dffdec. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.
Galinska, Barbara: Stop War! In: Graphis Online, 2025. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/6f14135a-c44a-4c46-bfc3-0af957710a61. Accessed 2026, Jan. 26.

In the previous post, the focus was on ways to design (design, co-design, collaborative design), as well as, language. How do we interpret words such as activism and activist? What feelings can they evoke when used in a design context? How do we want to design?

Now, I want to focus on the more practical side a bit and see what activist design projects are out there (focusing more on the field of communication design). What topics are designers especially fond of using to inspire action? And how do they integrate design elements?

One poster I found that won gold at the UNMUTED poster award, is by Jan Šabach. It shows a raven with a blonde wig and scrawled on top and on the bottom of the page is the word “nevermore”. It is a political poster that refers to a famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe called “The Raven”, which is a gloomy poem where the narrator is slowly drifting into madness. Therefore, it makes sense that the raven on the poster looks like it has come straight out of a nightmare. The word “nevermore” is used quite a few times to depict the finality and hopelessness of the loss the narrator is facing (namely the death of his beloved Lenore). Jan uses this already famous depiction to mention Donald Trump’s politics. He manages to give the raven Trump’s personality with just one yellow brushstroke to create a wig that looks like his hair. This time the word “nevermore” has a slightly different meaning and refers to somehow ending Trump’s career as a politician at least. With this gothic poem reference, the whole poster becomes a gloomy and dark background. Also the seemingly imperfect brushstrokes add to this feeling. The colour red in the background functions as a signal of warning, showing that there is some kind of danger, but with the red the whole raven image also seems show more anger.

The next poster I am going to analyze is on a different topic, namely, climate change and global warming. This shows how diverse the field of design activism can be, designers can inspire action for topics that are important to themselves and should be to society, from their point of view at least.

In this case the poster uses Hemingway’s iceberg theory as a reference. This theory was originally created for the new prose, showing that on the surface everything seems to be really simple, while there are hidden depths to the story. This theory was later applied to many different ideas as well. (cf. Johnston, 1984) The poster was created by Leo Lin and as one can see on the bottom it is on the topic of global warming. Even the typography looks as though it is melting. Instead of an iceberg it shows a white human body close to drowning. Similar to the iceberg theory, as well as, the accident of the Titanic, we know that icebergs are usually much bigger underwater than they are on top of the water surface. This is exactly what happens in the image on one hand the iceberg seems to be melting, as can be seen by the rounded edges and only a very small amount of the face being above water. On the other hand the depths of the iceberg still seem to be unknown and unclear since no end can be seen. Therefore, it relates to global warming. The poster was already created in 2009 and is still true today with the global warming, the ice is melting and someday the humans will probably be drowning because of it.

To conclude, these posters have several implied meanings and are extremely interesting to analyze, in my next posts I will focus on searching a few more examples, since it is important to find some common ground within ideas for design activist work.

Sources:

Johnston, Kenneth G.: Hemingway and Freud: The Tip of the Iceberg. In: The Journal of Narrative Technique, vol. 14, no. 1, 1984, pp. 68-73. URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30225083. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
Lin, Leo: Global Warming. In: Graphis Online, 2009. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/05855441-8b20-4131-bb6a-a4e0cefc1832. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.
Šabach, Jan: Never More. In: Graphis Online, 2019. URL: https://graphis.com/entry/8795f518-2b51-4ca5-b9aa-3c769d34bcb6. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.

Welcome back to my blog, in my last post I focused on the importance to know that everything designed is in some way political and it is the job of the designer to think about this before publishing your own work. Besides, it is crucial to give people the opportunity to share their voices through your work. Do not speak for them, because you might not be able to express things in the same way as affected people.

Nick Adam, Associate Partner and Director of Span, shares:

Working across networks is powerful, and bringing people into the design process can help level the playing field. When done well, this work engages people who may not have had access to designers and are understandably unsure of what they need or how to participate. While this can extend a project’s timeline, a slower, more generous process often yields richer outcomes. A collaborative designer’s role must include guiding people to engage and participate meaningfully. (Meharry 2024, p. 21)

With this citation the persona of the collaborative designer is added to the mix. This shows that designers can use different methods to go about their work. They can either work on their own, just finishing projects for their customers, share their knowledge and skills through co-design or work collaboratively, which might add new dimensions to the design if done in a meaningful way.

This idea of collaborative design is a form of activism, as well. It gives a voice to people and involves them in the design process to which they usually do not have any access. Dave Pabellon, Associate Professor at the Columbia College in Chicage, argues that the word activism often has certain connotations and is viewed as something extreme, when sometimes it is just about connecting with affected communities. (cf. ibid. p. 22)

Language is important in every aspect of our lives, therefore, we have to think about how certain words make us feel, which connotations they might have. This can give us access to different groups of people. Similar to activism is “[…] the word activist, because in many ways, everyone is an activist – it just depends on what they’re activating and working toward.” (ibid. p. 22) He mentions that it does not make him more of an activist than another designer just because he is working with communities and they are working with big corporations, they just promote different things through their work. (cf. ibid. p. 22f)

It is interesting how easy it is to initiate a shift in mindset. Language is power, is a crucial statement to remember in communication design or all types of design really. And therefore, any designer should think about what kind of activist do they want to be? Do they want to influence a societal change or do they want to make the powerful people and corporations even more powerful?

To conclude, try to think about which kinds of products or services you want to advocate for. What kind of activist designer do you want to be and how will you be able to do that? Try to think about different ways of designing, do you want to work for certain companies, with certain people (co-design) or with communities (collaborative design)?

Source:

Meharry, Jessica (ed.): Design as Acitivsm. September 13-14, 2024. Symposium Proceedings. Institute of Design at Illinois Tech. California: ORO Editions 2024.

In my last post, I started talking about which questions you need to ask yourself as a designer in order to become a design activist and which questions you need to ask about your target group. This is a good starting point to make design that matters and promotes a greater cause.

Anne H. Berry states why it is important to be a design activist:

There are many ways in which design has been a contributor to racism and bigotry and negatively affected people’s lives. So part of our work is to recognize the ways in which these problematic histories and relationships exist, whether or not we’re choosing to identify or acknowledge them. You can stand at a distance, say that you aren’t political, and remain reticent about engaging with politics, but that’s just [not] how our society works. I don’t think it’s a reflection of reality.
Designers need to be ready to push back, stand our ground, and say, “No, we’re not going to do that.” We just can’t afford to be silent. There’s nothing neutral about design. Ever. (Meharry 2024, p. 12)

Even though, you might think your designs are not political and do not influence anyone in this direction, by not acknowledging problems you might just play right into the plans of some politicians or parties you might not want to help. And if you are doing this on purpose then be aware of the ideals you are conveying to others.

To be able to change society you have to be aware of where the power lies and what power is. Sara Cantor from the Greater Good Studio thinks power has “the ability to change someone else’s reality, or maybe even your own.” (ibid. p. 13) She talks about power being inherently neutral, only society interprets it as being either good or bad, but it is necessary if you want to bring about equitable social change. (cf. ibid. p. 13)

Furthermore, she talks about designers being involved in decision-making processes. This means, they are able to influence clients and stakeholders to a certain degree and, therefore, able to redistribute power. (cf. ibid. p. 14) For instance, powerful people usually want to stay powerful on their own, but if you tell them that their power will increase, if they share with others, because they have people behind them they can trust and work together with it could help shift their mindset slightly. (cf. ibid. p. 16)

Ahmad Jitan, Director of Organizing and Advocacy in the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, adds that it is important to remember: “[…] that I don’t need to be the voice for the voiceless. You just pass the mic. That’s where, at its base, it becomes a values conversation.” (ibid. p. 16) Do not try to speak for the people, but be their amplifier and give them the stage they need to be heard.

To conclude, be aware that each work you put out is somehow political and think about how you can strengthen the causes you want to support. Additionally, do not try to speak for others, give them the room they need and let their voices be heard.

Source:

Meharry, Jessica (ed.): Design as Acitivsm. September 13-14, 2024. Symposium Proceedings. Institute of Design at Illinois Tech. California: ORO Editions 2024.

One of the reasons, why I am only now writing my second blog entry is, because I did not have a lot of time lately and another one is the difficulty to find scientific and other usable sources for a master’s thesis from a design topic. Since the design world does not seem to focus as much on science as other fields it proves to be extremely difficult to do good research on specific design-based topics. Maybe this is just my own feeling, but has anyone else experienced this? Or am I just going about it in the wrong way? Anyways, here are some sources I have recently found and want to check out (if I am in any way able to get my hands on any of these):

Bieling, Tom (ed.): Design (&) Activism: Perspectives on design as activism and activism as design. Hythe: Mimesis International 2019.
Coker, Coleman and Gamble, Sarah: Environmental Activism by Design. California: ar+d publishing 2023.
Erlhoff, Michael and Rezai, Maziar (eds.): Design & Democracy: Activist Thoughts and Examples for Political Empowerment. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH 2021.
Fuad-Luke, Alistair: design activism: beautiful strangeness for a sustainable world. London: Earthscan 2009.
Meharry, Jessica (ed.): Design as Acitivsm. September 13-14, 2024. Symposium Proceedings. Institute of
Design at Illinois Tech. California: ORO Editions 2024.
Place, Alison: Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design. Massachusetts: MIT Press 2023.
Shea, Andrew: Designing for social change: Strategies for community-based graphic design. New York City: Princeton Architectural Press 2012.

In my last post, I have compared design activism to socially responsible design and I have tried to find clear definitions for each of the topics, which proved to be extremely difficult. This is why I came to the conclusion that depending on the context both areas differ slightly. Where design activism focuses on longer lasting change, socially responsible design usually refers to more current topics and usually shows immediate change that does not last as long.

I have the feeling that there are either several more similar approaches going around or different names are used for socially responsible design, which makes it more difficult for me to really understand what is included in this field of design. To completely discern the differences between these two approaches I will try to find more resources on socially responsible design, if possible. I hope that I will be able to get more access on important resources on my topic and I’m looking forward to share more findings in my next blog posts with you.