Peace is not weakness. To dream of peace is not naïve. It is the most radical and urgent struggle of our time. Working for peace means standing against those in power who drive us toward extinction with bombs, greed and war.
When we call out for peace, it is not a call for surrender. It is a demand that leaders end their march toward war. The true terrorist is not the one resisting oppression, but the one who wields the bigger weapons against the powerless.
“Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Peace cannot be achieved by wishful thinking. Peace requires justice, and until the Palestinians are given their rights, there can be no real peace.”
(The Question of Palestine, 1979)
The Power of Design is a hands-on training programme that gives activists, students and community members the tools to tell their stories visually. Its starting point is simple: you don’t have to be a designer to design. Participants move from the basics of design thinking and graphic design to the history of protest art
1
INTRO TO design
studio method
in which participants sketch, share, give feedback and refine ideas together.
2
Creative and critical
thinking:
Participants practise generating lots of ideas, then sorting, ranking and merging the strongest into a shared vision
3
Framing the problem:
Participants define the question, the outcome they want and the context before designing anything.
4
Principles of graphic
design:
Balance, contrast, emphasis, unity, alignment, repetition, proximity, white space, hierarchy, typography and colour, with practical tips for each.
5
Design as a
universal language:
How symbols, colour, type and imagery carry meaning across language and culture.
6
Designed for dissent:
Protest design through history, from Shepard Fairey to OSPAAAL and the anti-apartheid movement, and the role of storytelling in a crisis.
