The resistance will be branded in sans serif, apparently
I didn’t realize why I was so equal parts intrigued, yet irked by all those beautifully designed racial justice posts popping up on everyone’s IG stories until I read Terry Nguyen’s piece on How social justice slideshows took over Instagram, published last week.
What’s most fascinating is how there are two ways to interpret this trend: On one hand, you can absolutely chalk it up to how deeply primed our brains are to respond to that bright, flat corporate brand aesthetic — like, yay structural change but make it cute? — and Nguyen’s point that “the most striking graphics stood out in my feeds, almost like an advertisement” is so well-observed.
On the other hand, you could argue that it’s actually quite subversive, and maybe even rather postmodern, for these artists and activists to be gaming the IG algorithm’s preferences and essentially co-opting our current visual culture to get their messages across. Either way, you can’t argue that it hasn’t been effective messaging, I suppose, ‘cause if you’re reading this and know exactly what we’re talking about, then it worked!
(anyway, h/t Tony!)