The project took inspiration from the Wikileaks Silk Scarf created by Metahaven as a starting point, while also making a creative leap to explore a wider contexts and positions such as – design as a tool for critical expression, the different kinds of ‘value’ that can be created by graphic design practice (in and out of commerce) and the relationship this has to identity, activism, resource, skill, labour and environment in a post-growth context.
We created an Instagram account to house all of the experiments from the two weeks, including face filters and prompts for discussion. It allows for these various themes and positions to be explored through a cohesive channel.
We also measured the labor, resource and energy it takes to produce this filter. What value does this create? Digital space might mean less physical waste, but is digital really more sustainable?
We were also interested in the idea of critical value of Graphic Design. What value could designers produce outside of commerce? Value that isn’t monetarily quantifiable? Could we prompt a discussion about this? And could this discussion have value in the sharing of multiple perspectives and ideas?
We created a face filter to prompt this discussion, hoping to be able to document and archive the responses, which may have some critical value (or not, this is open to critique too).
Similar to Metahaven’s work with Wikileaks – this project attempts to merge ‘critical graphic design’ with somewhat more conventional practices of graphic design such as branding and image making as well as incorporating popular current digital aesthetics of NFT’s and Instagram filters.
Feedback: How can this be developed further?
It would have been nice to see the filters and the instagram account in full use. If the platform had already been in use / began to be circulated to an audience that would be able to open the project up for feedback and critique itself.
The project does explore such a broad line of inquiry, while it does work in the context of the Instagram account to explore a multiplicity of ideas, how can its articulation be made clearer? Can there be more context added to the actual platform itself for it to be fully understood without our presentation voice over?
These experiments are a beginning in the process of inquiry into these very big themes. It would be interesting to see what results the project could yield and benefit from with more feedback from those that interact with the social media platform and the effectiveness of such platforms as a tool for critical communication. How might we change how it is used, the questions that are asked based on the way people interact with it? How might people outside of the discipline of graphic design respond? And how would the response from those that interact with the project change, progress and push the project forward?