tranzit.sk/

◆︎Visual Communication, Graphic Design, Art, Marketing or Activism?◆︎
”World War III is a guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation.” –
Marshall McLuhan (1970)


◆︎Talks by: Braňo Matis, Aleš Vojtášek◆︎

/ 22. 05. 2025 / 18:00 / @tranzitsk / Beskydská 12, Bratislava /

If design performs “traditional” tasks, then protests and civic campaigns, like other clients, have similar “needs,” such as graphic identity design and purposefully designed communication media from online slides to protest banners.

What other options does activist design have to help a “good cause,” without always waiting for direction from above or below?

From OK! and the Cultural Strike visuality to everyday interventions in public space, data visualization as a tool for organizing protest movements, up to visions waiting to be fulfilled. A call for discussion on how to try to save society from a threatening design dystopia in the reality of communication media.

What is the role of citizens who participate in public protests not only through their physical presence, but through creative expression? The banner, as a form of visual messaging, as a carrier of thought, emotion and attitude, becomes a medium with its own language. The creativity of an ordinary protest participant has the ability to create visual microworlds which, in a collective image, form a strong message for the public and politicians.

The discussion also leads to the possibilities of connecting design and protest on a practical level. How can creative and visual thinking about cultural resistance be transferred to the streets, squares, public debate spaces, theaters, and exhibitions? Can design and art provide new engaged formats of civic participation and aesthetic intervention in the public space? Can a banner become part of a longer-term line of communication? And what about visual campaigns that arise spontaneously and spread through social networks as shareable memes, graphics or video formats?

At the same time, there is a need to involve designers, artists, and cultural figures in visual protest expression. Their presence and cooperation can help not only shape the means of expression, but deepen the content. How to do this? The cultural community has a strong impact on the general public, and it is their voice, aesthetic approach, and understandable communication that can help convey complex social topics to a wider audience.

The question is: how can design and art support the emergence of a sustainable movement that will not only be a reaction to a crisis, but also a creative vision of the future? The discussion is open — as is the call to find new, visually strong, and meaningful forms of civic engagement.