ÜNDT

Jeremy Deller

A really interesting example of how an artist can deal with politics, whilst avoiding any patronising bludgeoning.

There is an exhibition of his latest work, including a performance by The Fairey Band who will play Acid Brass on Saturday 26 August, at the De La Warr Pavillion in Bexhill, South East England.

Context

Both coca-cola and mars have recently reworded their identities to read as Love and Believe respectively. Produced in a style that follows the rational of the logos helps to reinforce a self-policing strategy surrounding notions of intellectual property (trademarks and the like). Indeed, we find ourselves in a situation where the futility of appropriating corporate design in attempts to make political statements is bought full circle. That is, our belief in the association of these designs (i.e. we recognise them from their branding style rather than by a specific logo) is so entrenched that it is now possible for brands to appropriate themselves. This pursuit of saying nothing while branding everything erodes our very notions of truth and meaning. It no longer matters what is being said (Love what? Believe what?) as long as it fosters positive associations with the brand. This working methodology furthers our acceptance of their rights to own these designs and/or meanings and the cycle deepens. Now, not only can corporations control their identity, they can begin to own the context too.

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I can truly become myself by destroying the mythology of the self...

Graphic Design Icon: Swastika 2

MicroSwastika: Authority Power and Control

Graphic Design Icon: Swastika 1.0

The following is an interview with Steven Heller (The Swastika - Symbol Beyond Redemption? (Allworth Press)) after he was introduced to a typeface i designed based on the swastika which i called "pukka".

PUKKA at FontWorks UK

1. What was your motivation in designing this face in the first place?

The National Front was one of the largest racist movements in England when I grew up in London during the 1970's and 1980's. Their ligatured NF symbol was often drawn on walls and buses. I remember seeing it once, daubed with "Nigga Force" – a popular pro-black term of the time. I was impressed and inspired by how adding this text it had transformed and undermined the intended meaning. By this act of subversion, the intimidation and aggression of the National Front was negated.

2. What does Pukka mean?

I grew up in Hackney, a poor, multicultural borough in London. The word ‘pucca’ is a common term widely used to denote something good. Although widely thought to be English, it originally came from India where pucca is understood to mean genuine, authentic or superior and the word Swastika itself, was a Sanskrit term meaning 'well-being'.

For me, naming a type is an important aspect in its design. I feel that this allows me to attach further significance to the font. In this instance I wanted the name to be positive but remain ambiguous to the reader.

3. If you are attempting to remove the onus from the symbol why is it rooted in the Nazi application as opposed to other less volatile iterations?

There are various artists and groups that are trying to challenge the modern associations with the swastika. They have attempted to change our perceptions by using light colours and curved strokes in their designs. Even without any historical knowledge of the swastika, it is obvious that no malice or ill thought is meant by their work. Although I admire what they're trying to do, I don’t think that pacifying the symbol in this way is the best approach.

I used a similar methodology in my initial poster designs for Pukka, by rendering it in hues of yellow and pink. However, I felt that this design merely avoided dealing with both the symbol and the colours that have become associated with it. I became increasingly interested in taking the colours and the iconography of the Nazis as a way of attacking and undermining their authority over the symbol.

Often companies use graphic design to achieve just the opposite by revising their jaded corporate symbols and attempting to change our perceptions of what they are and what they represent. For instance BP, a British oil company, changed their shield symbol to a green and yellow flower motif in an attempt to distance themselves from the environmental harm their business is involved in.

4. Who do you think will use this typeface?

I never set out to design any of my typefaces with the end user in mind. I think that worrying about the validity of an idea can often stop exploration. I'm much more interested in the whole process of developing an idea and seeing where it takes me.

5. Are you worried that it will be adopted by those who continue to espouse Nazi beliefs -- especially on the hate websites that have populated the internet?

This font is intended to undermine the very meaning that these neo-Nazis and hate sites are trying to lay claim to. I believe that through publicizing my intentions in the design of the font it will discourage people from attempting to use it in this way, which is why interviews like this one are important.

However, on the Internet it is difficult to prevent meaning being appropriated by others. All signs, particularly on the web, are contestable and meaning is constantly shifting. That should alert us to the importance of preventing certain groups from monopolizing and mandating the meaning of the swastika.

What would happen if everyone were to use it.

6. Assuming this is a political/social statement, is there also a formal rationale for designing this face?

Naturally it is difficult to distance the social and political meanings from the design, and I believe it is important to remember its historical and cultural significance. However there were aspects of the geometric makeup that were striking. The starkness and strength of the design appealed to me and it offered a challenge in creating the character set.

Pukka was designed back in 1994, and was one of the first fonts I designed specifically to be drawn in fontographer. As I had a lack of relative training and knowledge of typeface design, I began by drawing geometric fonts based on squares. However, due to the modular nature of working within these confines it soon became creatively limiting.

During early work on the font there was a need to differentiate the ‘X’ character from the ‘H’ character. The swastika offered an interesting design that helped me solve this problem. This led to a redesign of all the glyphs – taking the swastika as the guiding form. I was interested in discovering how the rest of the alphabet would look if it had to fulfil this criteria. After the design was complete the font offered the chance for me to reinterpret the symbol.

Usually when drawing a font the weight of the horizontal strokes is slightly lighter than the vertical to give the appearance of a balanced character. For Pukka I wanted them to be the same weight giving it an unrefined, hard and austere look that also allows the characters to be rotated and flipped. This extends the flexibility for the end user to explore and manipulate the font in different and interesting ways.

6a. And can that formal concern be divorced from the inherent symbolism of the swastika?

Other symbols – such as the christian cross, hammer and sickle or the dollar sign – have different meanings to different cultures and different beliefs. In the East various cultures and beliefs still use the swastika as a symbol of good fortune, while in the West it is now understood to represent hatred and ignorance. The symbol has no definitive meaning, and has an extensive diversity of connotations and relationships – it is polysemic. This is vitally important as the world is becoming increasingly networked and there is a real danger of cross-cultural misunderstandings.

7. How do you feel about the Swastika as a symbol?

I admire its simplicity and clarity of form. The swastika is a powerful symbol but not an inherently negative one. Symbols only have as much power as they are given and we always have the means of transforming them.

8. Do you feel that the phrase "What Are YOU Afraid of?" is enough of an intellectual rationale for this, or should there be more explanation?

In this poster my intention was to play with the meaning of this phrase in a similar manner to that of the swastika. The words are directed at the viewer, who may have a pre-conceived idea of the meaning behind the swastika and associated imagery. These prejudices can define how you interpret the message of the poster. The response will be different for different people.

9. How would you feel if your face was used on a Neo-Nazi publication or website?

You cannot control how any font is used. What is important is that with knowledge and understanding, we can destroy ignorance and hatred. I hope that this design is a step towards liberating the swastika design.

10. What do you say to people who are offended by this typeface?

When people are aware of the motivations behind the design I think they will have a better understanding of what my typography is about. All art has the potential to offend and being creative involves taking risks.

Graphic Design Icon: Copyleft Logo

A lot has been written about letterforms, their history and proposed origins but little about their political implications. The vast majority of alphabetical symbols are intended to operate as devices in aiding the readers understanding. They are a set of tools used to express the authors voice, inflection and tonality, facilitate ideas and give them a means of expression. Despite some interesting and original thinking there have been very few recent additions to the general lexicon.

However there are some relatively contemporary typographical designs that have blended in so well, we are now unaware of them or their reason for existence. One such design is the Copyright symbol - represented by a ‘C’ in circle. With an unimposing and simple design we take for granted its place in society. No longer is the primary function of this modern glyph concerned with expanding thought, language, grammar or contextualisation. Indeed the only meaning this character can convey is that a particular idea it is associated with is owned. What is interesting is in order for this system to work the symbol itself has to be free from these very constraints.

Copyright laws primary concern lies in restricting the right to make copies of a particular work. But ideas are not objects that can be wholly owned - they can be infinitely copied and re-used due to their immaterial form. That is the essential thought behind the concept of Copyleft (all rights reversed). The icon itself is a clever appropriation of the © symbol. By reversing the design we have to stop and think what the original represents, and what this new form communicates. Wikipedia explain that “A Copyleft license uses copyright law in order to ensure that every person who possess a work, can also use, modify, and redistribute both the work, and derivative versions of the work. In that sense Copyleft is a simple but powerful method for exploiting the established structure of Intellectual Property Rights. By subverting the restrictions of Copyright it imposes on the dissemination and development of humankind's knowledge.” - The idea is in itself is very simple, but it’s implications are quite dramatic.

Wikipedia
Libre Society
Creative Commons

(cc) 2004 Marcus McCallion. This text is licensed under a
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/ Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike License.

With thanks to David M. Berry (Libre Society)