Protest in Jesusland: Design Interventions for Social Good in Rural America
Grace Kelley
This thesis proposes a new and enlarged definition of protest design as one that affects positive, measurable change in addition to raising social awareness. It includes analog and digital design solutions that are informed by a community-centric approach that takes into account the needs of marginalized populations in rural America.
The Pink See-saws
As an example of protest design, the bright pink see-saws built on the US/Mexico border by architects Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael in 2019 are an example of protest design. The protest was against the US-Mexico border wall, which many see as xenophobic and a waste of government resources. By showing American and Mexican children and families playing with the see-saws despite being separated by the border wall, San Fratello and Rael illustrated the similarity of these families despite divisive rhetoric.Sundown Towns
“Sundown” towns are all-white municipalities or neighborhoods that enforce racial discrimination by forbidding minorities after sundown. Though they fell out of fashion after the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, some sundown towns are still active today. To call attention to past and present sundown towns, I created this data visualization video in collaboration with Dr. James Loewen, the premiere scholar on sundown towns.
Scrap Masks
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the mask mandated by the government became a sort of protest, one that says, “I believe science and care for my fellow human beings.” Additionally, using fabric scraps is environmentalist, protesting a wasteful industry. And finally, who these masks go to is a protest. They were sent to Love Yourself No More Abuse, a domestic violence shelter in Georgia was an additional form of protest.Space Abrams
Space Abrams Voting Video Game turns voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams into a superhero fighting voter suppression in outer space (via a 1970s Asteroids Atari game engine written in JavaScript). As Stacy flies around space, if the user 'shoots' one of Georgia’s voter registration requirements with the spaceship's laser, the game redirects them to the Georgia voter registration page.
“All Y’all” Cards
Being transgender in the United States is difficult, but in rural areas where people don’t have as much exposure to positive representation of trans individuals, it can be a nightmare. These postcards have resources on the back for transgender people in rural areas, intended to be distributed discreetly for those in the closet to let them know that someone is willing to listen to them.
“I Can and I Will” Capstone Zine
This capstone is a zine illustrating the potential for protest design. It explains what protest design is, clarifying Thomas Markussen’s “designerly interventions” for protest design, and proposes real-world applications. The included applications were created by myself and other designer-activists to showcase both digital (video games, data visualization, etc.), and analog (cooking, sewing, etc.) protest methods. The final few pages of the 'zine are participatory, with perforated pages and space for the audience to write or draw their own thoughts.
Journeys
These posters are the culmination of a 'form study' using a sequined and velour fabric. Photographs of the fabric took on a topographical quality during the study which evoked small, rural American towns where historic social justice movements occurred. “Forest” is Selma, Alabama, the site of Bloody Sunday in 1965 as civil rights protesters marched over the Edmund Pettus Bridge and were met with brutal police violence. “Land” is Laramie, Wyoming, where young, gay college student Matthew Shepard was beaten to death on October 6, 1998. “Sea” a more recent example, represents Brunswick, Georgia, where on February 23, 2020, Gregory and Travis McMichael fatally shot 25- year-old Ahmaud Arbery while he was jogging.
Type Your Truth
“Type Your Truth” allows for users to type their own words directly onto the site, choose their background, then save their generated picture as a JPEG titled “mytruth.” The pictures are general protest-themed images for different social issues: Pride, Black Lives Matter, feminism, Anonymous and other Internet protests, pandemic-related protests, and environmental protests.The Revolution Will Not Be Instagrammed
“The Revolution Will Not Be Instagrammed” is a Pong-game commentary on #BlackoutTuesday, a Black Lives Matter-related protest that many criticized as slacktivism. It parodies Gil-Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” for the social media age. Playing the game reveals in-person Black Lives Matter protests to emphasize the need for action and participation over rhetoric and token gestures.