Designers and Social issues

Tibor Kalman 

He is a graphic designer based in America. Most of his famous pieces were designed around the 1990's for 'Colors magazine' and they sparked conversation about social issues. A lot of his work was considered controversial. This is because he designed pieces for magazines about racism, AIDS, refugees, violence and he would include nudity sometimes. Nudity, especially of male genitalia was seen as extremely controversial, as people were not used to it, and I believe still aren't completely content with it.

An example of one of his designs is the one below.

   

This design speaks volume. It is about racism and it suggests that everyone is the same at heart. We bleed the same blood and we have the same hearts. Our skin colour shouldn't affect how we treat each other.

Adbusters 

Adbusters is an ongoing organisation that creates interesting and eye-catching designs that focus on social issues like materialism, consumption of unhealthy foods, like McDonald's, and drinks like Vodka. The aim for their designs is to make people think. They're an activist movement, and there isn't just one artist that makes the designs, rather, a lot of designers and even students.

For example, this design is a part of their 'Absolut' project as they do a lot of these ads with the word 'absolute' misspelt which makes it recognisable. This design portrays the vodka bottle in a plastic bottle, all slouchy which could represent how a person becomes when they drink.

Brandalism 

This is an organisation that takes action mostly in the UK and Paris. The street art challenges consumerism and capitalist ideology. The organisation has many artists. They remove real advertisements in public places, like on bus stop shelters and billboards and replace them with a Brandalism ad that makes people think and has a powerful message behind it. It's illegal, but I like it and think that it is the right thing to do, because nowadays it's almost as if we have to feed people with the truth, because most won't bother to search for it. The messages behind the designs are usually about fighting consumerism, pollution and injustice. 

This design speaks measures.