It's Not Very Nice That is an incomplete inventory – a slice through contemporary politically engaged graphic design which aims to chart some of the modes of practise currently used by designers to explore, document and respond to political affairs.
It would be easy to connect much of this practise with the meta-narrative of recent political upheavals, from Occupy Wall Street to Tahrir Square. While there may be strong connections to these 'recent events' in many of the projects featured here, this project looks at the different ways in which graphic design engages with these situations and does so through the social, economic, cultural and technological contexts within which designers work. It questions the contemporary relevance in the polite pragmatism of a 'First Things First' approach to design, politics and ethics, and surveys contemporary topics that have emerged as sites of contestation, including network culture and design education.
This talk looks in more detail at the projects in this exhibition, which range from direct protest and advocacy, to visual journalism – from experiments with tools and production, to critical speculative projects asking the viewer to imagine other possible futures.