Propaganda Power

I was surprised to find how much some people's ideas had changed for their propaganda posters. I greatly enjoyed a lot of the designs we saw two weeks ago, and was saddened to see that many had been edited down so heavily. Admittedly, my early concepts were hastily assembled, but the idea was there. I had my direction and any changes were to clarify the message and make the picture more visually interesting. After seeing how dramatically some ideas had changed, I felt like many messages became shy or feared standing out as dramatically as before.

Propaganda is supposed to be daring and push the envelope. If it comes off as extreme, that can be a strength when handled correctly. I proposed a tagging stencil for graffiti-based propaganda. That's an art form that is illegal! It's effective because it deals directly with the notion of controlling how art should be distributed and viewed. Graffiti images are largely designed to gain perceived power through mass distribution. The image by itself isn't a masterpiece, but it gains value by dominating a space and immersing the audience in a simple message.