Thematic introductory text

DESIGN UNDER ATTACK:
POLITICS, VALUES AND RESPONSIBILITY PRINCIPLES

Over the past few decades, design – visual communication design in particular – has been recognized as a cultural and social agent capable of promoting values such as inclusiveness, sustainability, justice, participation, and democracy (Anceschi, 1984; Kotler, 2020; Manzini, 2015; Papanek, 1971). Thoughts and approaches on design activism have emphasized the need to respond to people’s real needs, promoting actions oriented toward the common good and social responsibility. More recently, scholars and designers have outlined a genealogy and phenomenology of design activism, identifying strategies, tools, and limits of design as a form of political intervention in a scenario troubled by authoritarian tendencies, ecological crises, ideological polarization, populism, and misinformation (Julier, 2013; Bieling, 2019; Fuad-Luke, 2009).

However, while the current landscape clearly demonstrates the potential of visual communication design to generate awareness, influence public opinion, and activate forms of participation (Baule, 2015; Bichler & Beier, 2016), these values are increasingly being challenged by political, economic, and media forces that pursue collective de-responsibilization and the regression of civil, environmental and social rights.

In this scenario of “permanent emergency” (Piscitelli, 2019) – environmental, social, informational, and democratic – questioning design as a critical tool and agent of transformation becomes more urgent than ever. Today we are witnessing actions that destabilize the potential of communication design and open the door to a “design under attack” perspective, troubling its role as a tool grounded in transformative actions, as a bearer of ideologies, and a catalyst for empowering awareness. Hence it is necessary to reconfigure and strengthen the epistemic, ethical, and operational status of communication design, attempting to ask how design can respond today to a context that is subverting its ethical and political premises, and, specifically, whether communication design can avoid taking a stand regard to a global landscape affected by growing inequality, migration crises, decline in civil rights, climate catastrophes, and information conflict.

Issue 42 of Progetto Grafico invites designers, theorists, researchers, and activists to enquiry visual communication design as a form of militancy, an act of resistance, a tool for critical information capable of constructing alternative imaginaries. The issue ask to analyze and hypothesize new or enhanced forms of expression that amplify the discipline’s ability to operate as a true agent of breaking down dominant codes, and a vehicle for new visions for the future, and it also asks to broaden our perspective on the possibilities and the systemic contexts in which a design project takes shape. The aim, therefore, is not only to analyze tools, languages, and messages, but also to interrogate the organizational forms, the institutional platforms, the structures of design work, and the participatory opportunities that either limit or enhance the designer’s role as a social agent. This involves asking which systems currently interfere and often deny the access to spaces for design action, dogmatically defining who is entitled to participate and who is excluded.

At the heart of the debate is the urgent need to (re)define a plural, systemic, and participatory design ethical responsibility, capable of adapting to specific contexts, abandoning universalistic claims, and addressing the real implications of design practices in their various forms. Design actions, by their very nature, have the potential to overcome self-referential tendencies and respond critically and pragmatically to the complexity of the contemporary world. From this perspective, design ethical principles become operational tools, instruments of interpretation and intervention, activated through collaboration between different fields, including – but not limited to – visual communication.

Authors are encouraged to consider the following references as starting points for their proposals:
Anceschi, G. (Ed.) (1984). Prima Biennale della Grafica. Propaganda e cultura: indagine sul manifesto di pubblica utilità dagli anni Settanta ad oggi. Arnaldo Mondadori Editore.
Baule, G. (2015). “C’è design e design. A proposito di design critico”, in V. Bucchetti (Ed.), Design e dimensione di genere. FrancoAngeli.
Bichler, K. & Beier, S. (2016). Graphic Design for the Real World? Visual Communication’s Potential in Design Activism and Design for Social Change. Artifact, 3(4), 11.1–11.10.
Bieling, T. (2019). Design (&) Activism. Perspectives on Design as Activism and Activism. Design Mimesis International.
Fabris, A. (2006). Etica della comunicazione. Carocci.
Fuad-Luke, A. (2009). Design Activism. Beautiful Strangeness for a Sustainable World. Earthscan.
Kotler, P. & Sarkar, C. (2018). Brand Activism: from Purpose to Action. Idea Bite Press.
Julier, G. (2013). From Design Culture to Design Activism. Design and Culture, 5(2), 215–236.
Manzini, E. (2015). Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation. MIT Press.
Papanek, V. (1971). Design for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change. Pantheon Books.
Piscitelli, D. (2019). First Things First. Comunicare le emergenze. ListLab.