What Tyler points out is that unless other aspects of a sustained campaign move forward, the protest itself isn’t really effective. And I think the same root cause–a protest action without a campaign–leaves the design element of the protest action open for the kind of cooption Jody mentions.

It’s great to hear about other projects and how we are all struggling with these questions. It seems to me that we are getting somewhere!
-Ann

Design becomes powerful when it helps people who are working towards change. Yes, definitely designers need to understand how activism works if they want to have any real impact. Making aesthetically pleasing ‘protest’ posters and artifacts is not enough… Furthermore this kind of design is easily appropriated by the next marketing campaign (witness Shepard Fairey). Sometimes there is no way to avoid confronting a situation - if we are serious about change we need some backbone as well as some good ideas.

Jody

however, i have also come to think of design as not the end, but a means — to facilitate relationships. i think that can be said for design in general. i *want* design to be and do as much as it possibly can, but at this point i don’t think it should be responsible for the actual change, but should aid in that change.

many of the projects you cited do that, but need to be augmented by physical action — a multi-disciplinary engagement. everyone knows the simple axiom of “talk minus action equals zero” and in our case i see design as talk, a start to the conversation, and entry point. a student of mine did a project about literacy with the usual poster campaign and whatnot, but what set his project apart is that he went to an elementary classroom and read to the students. at a basic level, those complementary acts are what i think make for effective activism.

As I say in the post, I think it does matter but is typically less strategic and sustained than it should be to matter meaningfully. But it does seem that design, particularly architecture, is emerging from a long slumber during which social issues were excluded. It may be early days for the newest incarnation of design as activism so maybe it needs more time before we judge it harshly…(?)
-Ann Thorpe

i write from slovenia, just for a side info
anyway, i admire your thread about some kind of effect-less and selfcontained activism brought to us by designers from mainstream media, or media in general…
i also think this folks risk basicly nothing at all, and their work in majority of times brings nothing fresh and new either (if i dont take the talent for design into an account), but are usually just playing around with the stereotypes and the information we all are pretty much aware of. did design ever make change happen? its hard to tell, but my intuitive answer would be that it didnt… the change is being made by action, action drives motivation, and action finally makes a change for the better
i dont want to be too judgemental, i really enjoy looking at activists work in design and art… but these works leave me with the feeling mute-ness… in a way.
just one more thing i would like to mention… or expose… is there a correlation within a social conscience, a strive for justice an equality, building a better tomorrow/today and activism in design? or redifining a question, does anybody agree with me if i sharply state that this kind of activism is just washing your hands or in other words, a way to clear the conscience, and say i did my best, i did what i could… now its on the world what they will do with that… ?

pieace out