Dissent by Design

Dissent is an essential part of keeping democratic societies healthy, and our ability as citizens to voice our opinions is not only our privilege, it is our responsibility. Without this dialogue, the back-bone of what we have fought for so desperately could easily collapse.

Designers have used their skills to communicate their dissent throughout history and are doing so even more now since the birth of the social media ecosystem, and the ease these platforms allow sharing images and ideas. It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words, and throughout history, designers have used this adage to their advantage by creating simple yet powerful designs that quickly convey poignant messages to the audience.

DISSENT BY DESIGN is a retrospective that explores designs and artwork that overwhelmed and overcame the largest, most expansive, and well coordinated psychological operation in recorded history; these designs managed to subvert and undermine the most sophisticated and pervasive censorship regime ever implemented and imposed, during the Covid crisis.

Embracing internet culture, this work is presented as a derivative, variant, slight parody, but moreso a tribute, homage, and continuation of the work Milton Glaser and Mirko Ilic started in 2005 with “The Design of Dissent.”