Lesson 4: The Activist Designer

So you've created a company, you've defined your brand, you've got a logo that represents your brand and all is well with the world, right?

Wrong.

Sometimes, just when a company seems to be rolling along nicely disaster strikes. Think of the Enron collapse, or Tiger Woods' sex scandal, or the BP oil spill. A single misstep by someone asleep at the switch in your company can jeopardize the integrity of your brand and have catastrophic results. If the public turns against you, watch out - your logo may fall victim to the activist designer.

That's exactly what happened to BP after last summer's horrific oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. As public anger over the company's ineptitude grew, activist designers began corrupting BP's logo as an expression of their outrage at the corporation.

Why be an activist designer?  As someone who helps companies brand and market their goods and services through your creative efforts, you understand better than most people the power of the graphic symbol.  Designers have a long tradition of using their creativity to affect change in society and there is a longstanding tradition in the design community to 'flex our muscles' now and then by poking fun at the brand identities of corporations.

Besides, even though we depend on corporate clients to put bread on the table, every once in a while its kind of fun to "stick it to the man."

Which brings us to your next assignment!

At the beginning of class, get together with the other members of your group.  Place each designer's work - thumbnails, finished b/w art, colour roughs and finished colour art into the client binder. (Designers, make sure your name and student number are printed neatly in the bottom right hand corner of everything you include in the binder).

Pass the binder back to the clients.  But wait, clients - DON'T even bother opening that binder!  Pass it along in the other direction to the next group.

Once you have the new binder of designs, remove only the finished colour art pages.  Each member of the group will choose one colour logo design from the ones included in the binder.  Remember, this is someone else's work that's been placed in your care.  Make sure not to lose or damage it in any way!

Turn to the front of the binder and review the client's brand description.  As a group you'll now decide what heinous crime the company has committed.  Did they scam their shareholders out of millions of dollars?  Did they use child slave labour in some third world sweatshop to manufacture their products?  Perhaps their manufacturing process caused a toxic waste spill in some small manufacturing community that resulted in hundreds ( or thousands ) of innocent people and animals dying.  YOU decide.

Once the group has determined what the company in question has done wrong, write it down in the binder on a new page.  Write as much detail as possible, because these details will help you as you decide how to corrupt the logo - and will help the rest of us determine whether you did an effective 'redesign' when we see your corrupted design next week!

Digital students:  you will be working in Illustrator.

Creative Studio students:  you'll be working on a new piece of provided bristol board.

Use the rest of class time to begin coming up with corrupted designs.  Do at least three thumbnails, then choose your best design and go immediately to the full colour final (in gouache or watercolour) and be ready to show the class your corrupted design in class next week.