Blog Archives

Illustration in response to an idea.

4/14/2021

CREATING A PROTEST PACK.

THE BRIEF: identify a problem that, to your mind, needs to be fought against, needs to be given attention and that would benefit from a wider awareness.

This could be a global issue or it could be a small and more local concern. You are going to create the materials which will be used to protest against your chosen injustice and inform those less familiar with it - importantly, the materials you create should available to be used by anyone, anywhere, to join the fight.

My interests.

I have really struggled to choose something to 'protest' about since I have many things that I feel strongly about. After a lot of thought I was between exploring the idea of Woke culture and the 'decline' of the Welsh language in certain areas of Wales.

The whole idea of Woke culture really gets on my tits. It seems that more and more people are becoming increasingly sensitive to harmless things in today's society. I understand that some things are triggers for some when they aren't for others, however I think that this idea of not being able to speak freely about your beliefs/opinions for fear of the woke cult hounding you with abuse because your opinions are different to theirs, its utterly ridiculous!!

I feel as if shielding yourself or simply hiding away from the things that make you uncomfortable or things that you disagree with is so unhealthy and I think all around makes you ignorant of the issues that arise in today's society. Through exposing ourselves to other's/different opinions, we educate ourselves in order to form informed and rational opinions on issues etc. I think that it makes you an overall well rounded person. It's OK to disagree with others and have different opinions!

However... In the end I decided to go with the Welsh language option since I thought that'd be something less 'risky' and also something that's different since I am a Welsh speaker in an English University and perhaps many of my peers will not have been 'exposed' to these issues.

(HOWEVER for your viewing pleasure*, I find these videos very good when it comes to explaining the problems with woke culture that is prevalent in today's society.) Jonathan Pie is great and is spot on with most things, he says things that most are scared to say for fear of being labeled something they aren't.

*VERY STRONG LANGUAGE!

RESEARCH & IDEAS.

So I've decided to protest against people's reluctance to learn and embrace Welsh culture when they move to live here in Wales. I'm not a 'militant Welshie' (as some like to say), I don't turn my nose at those who can't speak Welsh...However, it does sadden me when people move to live here from outside Wales and don't attempt to learn basic phrases because they, "don't see the point in it."

The argument I've heard many times over the years is that, 'no one speaks Welsh anyway', and 'you understand and speak English, so what's the big deal?!' Welsh is still very much alive and for many of us in Wales is our first language. Those who move here and refuse to learn our language massively change the dynamic of our communities and therefore the future of the language and our culture could be at peril. An argument some make is that those who move to live abroad, will learn phrases if not more, so why can't this be something that people make an effort with here in Wales?

ARTICLES

Brittonic languages -Wikipedia article
Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: July 2019 to June 2020
Welsh language- fast facts

VIDEOS

PINTEREST (duh)

As always I find that Pinterest is a great source of inspiration. I've made a board in which I have inspiration for badges, posters and stickers. They don't all necessarily fit my chosen topic, they do however have an aesthetic I would like to take inspiration from.

@mythsntits -Instagram

I really like this artists work. I find her work very eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing. She is an artist who is seemingly inspired by her Welsh and Queer identity. I particularly like her welsh ladies deigns as they stand out from a lot of the other stuff that's out there when it comes to Welsh artists.

Brainstorming

When thinking of a protest pack, I think that having things like badges, stickers, bookmarks, pamphlets and posters are a very fun and informative way to get points across. I also think that I would like to have all the physical contents of my protest pack presented in a tote bag.

Another idea was to replace English food labels with Welsh ones. So essentially designing the labels exactly the same apart from the language that's on them.

Celtic font. I can use this in some of my designs perhaps?

Badges & Stickers

My first badge design idea was to make a Welsh lady, as I feel that a lot of people are aware of and can identify the traditional Welsh dress. I also want to incorporate Welsh text into the bade, I find that putting it on the front of the dress works well. I have used the words, "Siarad Cymraeg? Ol ddy we" (speak Welsh? All the way) which is the 'slogan' if you will for my protest pack.

I want to keep the colour pallete for my badges simple. I also think that when it comes to producing pins you can only have a specific amount of colours, and I think that too many colours looks bad.

I quite like the pattern on the back-card.

STICKER IDEAS

I made sticker mockups on Stickerapp.co.uk , you can print stickers in bulk here and they also offer a range of different materials and sizes for your custom stickers.