Looking into Bruce Mau's Massive Change helped provide some context to our environmental impact. On the first few pages, the contrast between the use of powerful imagery and thought provoking captions highlight the urgent need for us to change our perceptions on climate change.
The simplicity of these first few pages got me thinking of Wolfgang Tillmans Brexit campaign which followed a similar style. Tillmans being an internationally renowned photographer who has been featured in art galleries such as the Tate Modern.
His style of photography provides a neutral and ambiguous background to help communicate the important message of staying in the EU. Through Tillmans photography, it encourages people to consider their wider place in the EU and not solely their own, which is specifically aimed at the younger voters who he felt were disconnected to the official Remain Campaign. The effectiveness of this style of campaign however is limited as Britain did inevitably vote itself out.
In curating content to show examples of environmentally good design, Bruce Mau adopted a different approach to his research.
"We abandoned the classical design disciplines in our research and, instead, began to explore systems of exchange, or design, we looked at the economies of movement. Instead of isolating graphic design, we considered the economies of information, and so on."
By doing so, the research then becomes appropriate to the subject they were investigating rather than what they were trying to find.
"Massive Change calls for greater public discourse and personal responsibility for designers and their projects; at the same time, it is thrilled by the open-source effect of the cultural project of design."
Mau also establishes the role of good design, that it should make an impact, solve a problem or bring awareness to a cause that needs urgency.
Looking at images of renewable energy sources, an idea could be to have a poster campaign showcasing man's achievements in the sector with information regarding its output and contribution to its country's energy usage. For example in the above image, the Three Gorges Dam is estimated to supply China with 11-15% of its energy requirements. The campaign is then aimed to highlight how impactful renewable sources are, which may help encourage people to be supportive of green energy.
Another idea would be to have the posters highlight the advancing technologies in the renewable energy sector. And it terms of distribution, these posters can be placed directly in areas where these technologies are making an impact, making the audience conscious of where their energy is coming from and the benefit of having renewable energy. The campaign could also have the slogan "change is possible" reassuring people that climate change isn't this big abstract problem, that there are solutions being made that need further support.
More importantly, the book identifies renewable energy as the most impactful change to global warming. With oil being the most pollutive industry to the environment, the switch to alternative forms of energy will have the largest impact on reducing global warming. Alternatives to oil - wind, solar, and hydrogen fuel.
The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer by phasing out the use of chemicals that are responsible for the ozone depletion. Having a heat map of the Earth could be a possible art direction for the campaign to highlight the reality of global warming and different impacts it has on the Earth. The effect of finding a hole in the ozone layer made global warming a hard hitting reality that persuaded the end of a environmentally destructive practice.
Alternatively, in relation to the art direction Wolfgang Tillmans Brexit campaign, famous photographers could be used in collaboration with quotes from famous designers of old. For example the rules of good design established by Dieter Rams. The above spreads feature landscapes taken by photographer Edward Burtynsky. By having these quotes laid over contrasting images of man's environmental impact, the role of a designer is then questioned and brought to public attention.
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