Swagtivism
Design and Social Environment, 2022
One of the many opportunities the University of Texas offered to me was the ability to work in the Design Laboratory where screenprinting and letterpress printing were available. When I was tasked to create an activism campaign that would include a design that people could wear and participate in, I was inspired by the students around me.
Our group combined our efforts to advocate against private jets, polluting factories, and inadequate working conditions under a statement of exposing the billionaires who supervise these environments. We wanted to represent the underdog, or in this case, undercat. The goal for this design was to create an easy an accessible symbol of resistance towards these ideals of hoarding through a simple message. We wanted this campaign to be comical yet threatening, many of what you would see in guerrilla advertising. Colors we chose included Blood Red Corporate Blue, and Black Tabby. The cat is a common symbol of anarchy:
“The black cat, in an alert, fighting stance was later adopted as an anarchist symbol. More specifically, the black cat—often called the "sab cat" or "sabo-tabby"—is associated with anarcho-syndicalism, a branch of anarchism that focuses on labor organizing, including the use of wildcat strikes.”
By using a universal symbol of labor union against the image of billionaires, our design can be used in Swagtivism which calls out directly to those who control unfair practices and postitions of power. Getting to screenprint and use the pre-press process for a movement shows how powerful design can be, especially in a place of learning and education.
One of the many opportunities the University of Texas offered to me was the ability to work in the Design Laboratory where screenprinting and letterpress printing were available. When I was tasked to create an activism campaign that would include a design that people could wear and participate in, I was inspired by the students around me.
“The black cat, in an alert, fighting stance was later adopted as an anarchist symbol. More specifically, the black cat—often called the "sab cat" or "sabo-tabby"—is associated with anarcho-syndicalism, a branch of anarchism that focuses on labor organizing, including the use of wildcat strikes.”
By using a universal symbol of labor union against the image of billionaires, our design can be used in Swagtivism which calls out directly to those who control unfair practices and postitions of power. Getting to screenprint and use the pre-press process for a movement shows how powerful design can be, especially in a place of learning and education.