INDEPENDENT PRACTICE 3B

FINAL MAJOR PROJECT EGRD3015

PROJECT SUMMARY

The investigation of misuse of the law by the UK’s police force in the modern day society, tactically research and develop a productive argument that can evolve into a well-structured awareness campaign. With finished pieces presented using photography, illustration and typography with finished pieces in the format of posters, billboards, stickers and a short documentary. I intend to use my experience and skills learned from previ-ous project to develop my knowledge and understanding of the British police force and our governments influence to a ‘big brother nation’.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The campaign that will be produced will be designed to show my research and personal experiences with the police. Making the general public aware of there rights as a British citizen as well rather than just there wrongs. This audience can range from students studying at university level, right up to people in their desired career.

FIELDS OF STUDY

The areas I intend to look further into are the police force and how they conduct them self’s as a unit as well as how they conduct them self’s as individuals. Looking further into how they use the hierarchy pyramid to there advantage. I want to also discover the reasons behind there hatred towards photographers/journalists.

METHODS PRIMARILY.

Assuming the way I am going to structure my campaign will be poster based I shall experiment with scale, typography, copy write, photography and illustrations. This will all be mapped out to create a strong body of work. I would like to also include a short doc if possibly experimenting with filming techniques, sound and animation. This has proved very difficult in the past as the British police force fringe upon any filming of any sort even though my research has shown this is not illegal.

PROJECTION OF THE FUTURE

I have always enjoyed working closely to real life subject matter ‘design that make a difference’ I enjoy solving problems and creating awareness in my designs. This has always offered me creative freedom but at the same time a solid focus for my passion.

PREDICTION OVERALL

Originally I began looking specifically at this project as more of an investigation, which has enabled my research to blossom into a passion for my subject matter. The exploration of the wide subject ‘conforming’ has also helped me not limit what I am capable of. I intend to set my self-dead-lines so I do not become to focus on a particular task. For example setting me self an allowed time for research, development and production will help me build a strong body of work.

PROJECT P

ROPOSAL

PRIMARY RESEARCH

LONDON V

IA M

OPED

During the lead up to the FMP I experienced a lot of un-wanted attention from the police. I have decided to proceed with this topic but with more of a direct focus towards what and why the law is being used in such a manor.

Upon being stopped during my ride to London, I discov-ered that the police were more interested in the camera than me, and when asked why I was being stopped so often the reasons I was given began to form a pattern. The first stop and search happened in Brixton south London as shown in the sly picture I managed to capture whilst being detained. At this point I am not aware of my human rights and I allow the police officers to look at the pictures on my camera.

I received a ‘reason for being stopped slip’ that should be issued each time you get stopped. I was stopped 7 times through out the day this was the only slip that was offered. By the 5th time I began to ask for the slips. Un-fortunately I kept receiving the same answer, which was; that they had run out and that I could go to Kensington police station were one will be issued. This just seemed like a convenient excuse.

In my project I want to create a campaign that will make photographer/students more aware of there rights and also make victims of misuse of section 43/44 that they are not alone.

P.C BEN WHITBY-CRUBBME; Hi I am Ross a graphic design student. Could you please just confirm your name and occupation please?PCSO WHITBY; Ben Whitby, PCSO for the Metropolitan police, positioned at west Kensington Police station.

ME; There are a few questions I want to ask in particular, the first being, have you ever used the section 44 anti terrorism act?PCSO WHITBY; yes, on many occasions probably the most used today, but it has been frowned upon in the past year. So we don’t

use it as much.ME; why is it frowned upon?

PCSO WHITBY; in a few cases people felt they were being harassed, we are on trying to keep London safe.ME; how would you use this act and when would you use it?

PCSO WHITBY; for a PCSO its difficult to hold people with out a valid reason, even if we do think they are acting suspicious. I have on one occasion witnessed an office stop and search a member of the public for taking his shoes off. This may seem a bit drastic but for

example imagine he did have a bomb and was beginning to ignite it.ME; so you would admit that you have used it just because you felt they didn’t look right?

PCSO WHITBY; what else is a PCSO supposed to do? I have only the right to stop someone if they have done something wrong. This is a way us as a community can keep London safe.

ME; surely that is what your paid for to make good judgment and keep people safe? Did you know 101,248 people were stopped and searched under the anti-terrorism act last year not one single person was arrested?

PCSO WHITBY; that statistic must be wrong I know for a fact that at least ten people were arrested at my station a few months ago that had been stopped for anti terrorism I have seen the paper work.

ME; but have they been arrested for being a terrorist? Or a separate offence that only came to light through the anti terrorism act?PCSO WHITBY; none were arrested for being terrorist but this shows that good comes from stopping suspicious looking people.

ME; but both yours and my perception of a suspicious looking person is different. Would you stop a man in a suit tying his shoe lace? PCSO WHITBY: no.

ME; well it no different to what your collegue had done then .ME; also during my research you stop people under the section 43 for taking pictures of iconic locations is that correct?

PCSO WHITBY; yes, we believe it could lead to terrorism.ME; surely you cant go around stopping every tourist as they take a photo of Big Ben?

PCSO WHITBY; no, if we saw someone on their own taking pictures then yes. ME; how would you approach them?

PCSO WHITBY; first of all I would ask what its for and why they are alone. If no answer is given id ask to see some identification. If they still don’t provide me with any details id call for a response team to come and assist with finding out who this person is.

ME; I personally don’t agree with this, but I can see this is how you have been trained. It seems to me that you are harassing the wrong people but I understand you may have your reasons to.

PCSO WHITBY; the honest truth is Ross, anyone can be a terrorist.ME; thank you for your timePCSO WHITBY; thank you.

INTERVIE

W T

HE P

OLIC

E

LEWIS EDWARD JEEME; could we please begin the interview by stating your name.

LEWIS; Hi, I am Lewis Jee, aged 20, occupation carpenter.ME; Lewis during my project I asked you to assist me in a journey to London that we recorded using a go pro camera. We were stopped at Brixton hill, you were surrounded by 4 officers that interrogated you on the

roadside, why was this?LEWIS; the reasoning they gave was that there had been a number of crimes committed on scooters and we

looked suspicious even though all we were doing was riding as the high way code tells us to.ME; when we were stopped how were you made to feel?

LEWIS; from the moment I got off my bike I was made to feel like a criminal, they removed my keys from the scooter which I asked for and they refused to give too me until they had run a few checks. They also told me

to remove my hands from my jacket pocket and held me against a brick wall.ME; would you say that they had already built a judgment on yourself before they found out any facts?

LEWIS; Yes, from the beginning I was not allowed to speak unless spoken to, I felt like a child. It was ok though because I knew what we were doing was not illegal. I think they just saw an opportunity.

ME; how do u mean?LEWIS; well I have been stopped by the police before and it seems that they drive around in there van with the word police on the side, when it should say POWER! As all they do all day is use this power to make people feel below them. As soon as they saw us I think they just wanted to push out there chests and be

nosey.ME; good point, POWER is all they have at the end of the day.

LEWIS; I was stopped once for accidently dropping a cigarette box that still had cigarettes in and was ac-cused for littering by a PCSO who clearly didn’t have anything better to do. When a real PC arrived he saw that they were still in use and told PSCO to discard of the pre written fine that he had already noted down.

ME; what happened did they apologies?LEWIS; no, they walked, off didn’t even say good-bye!

ME; so would you agree that police are using section 60 and section 43 as a power trip?LEWIS; exactly that, they aren’t using there responsibility in the correct manor. I have been a carpenter for 4 years now I earn an honest living and pay my taxes. But I feel I am still being treated like a 16 year old with

an attitude. Id appreciate it if they went after the real criminals.ME; that seems response. I have been getting the same answer from a lot of people.

INTERVIE

W T

HE V

ICTIM

LEWIS EDWARD JEEstop +

search

slip

This is the advice slip provided to me on my journey to London whilst taking pictures the first time. The slip does not state that I got searched whilst being stop. Search grounds read; -

‘‘Stop + account. Subject seen taking photos in iconic site. Subject stopped and spoken to. No further action.’’

The officer; Martin forgot to mention this. The reasons for the stop and search are on the rear of the slip. This seems to be an exercise that the police are carrying out to cover their back just so they can prove that I was lawfully stopped. But when I have asked for a slip in more recent times I have been denied the privilege, which leads me to think the police are not meant to be stopping me.

This is evidence that can support my argument and increases my understanding of correct police procedure.

VEH

ICLE C

HECK

The letter to the right was issued to me when I was on my home from the gym, however my car was seen pass-ing through an illegal car cruise that happened to be on my route home. I was stopped and asked a series of questions regarding my car. After the checks were done I explained myself to the officers telling them I wasn’t tak-ing part in the cruise and was just on my way home. The officer apologised before handing me back my keys.

I received this letter in the post approximately 1 week after. I called to complain and asked why I was being accused of something I had no participation in. The re-sponse I got was not very helpful I was asked to com-plain in writing.

The letter I received in reply to my own was confirmed that I will not be stopped again in this area and the ve-hicle has been cleared from their system. This proved to be a lot of aggravation for one officer’s mistake.

This is another experience that has broadened my knowl-edge and understanding of mistakes made in the police force and how they deal with complaints.

DAY IN A

POLIC

E C

ELL

During my time thinking about things that I could explore, I decided to take a trip to Epsom police station. I had visited Mitcham police station two days prior to this visit only to be disappointed to hear that the cells at this station were no longer in use for holding prisoners and that they were being used to store mountains of paper work.

Upon arrival at Epsom I was greeted by a police officer that immediately asked me to put my camera away. I explained to him that the reason for the camera was for a university course and that I would like to speak to someone, to see if I could take pictures of the police cells. I eventually was able to speak to P.C Hill who was very helpful. He showed me around the cells that were soon to be out of service due to police cuts. These are the last pictures of the cells. Mr Hill also ex-plained that recently there had been a series of suicides in the cells. I didn’t men-tion what the project was about incase he did not agree with my argument but he did confirm that the deaths were due to lack of staff.

As I was leaving I noticed that there was some un used police tape, evidence bags and swabs on the checking in desk. P.C Hill noticed me looking and handed them to me. All in all this was a very productive trip. The knowledge I gained will help me understand how the police operate after being arrested and booked in.

HERO C

AM

ERA L

ONDON

During my last project I experimented with a hero cam. Unfortunately down to human error I forgot to include this in the previous portfolio. This was the second of two trips to London on scooters and both times were cut short by the police. This was the moment I realised that this was not a coincidence. This I believe was my inspiration for my brief. When I saw the footage for the first time and saw the way I was treated by the police it angered me got the creative juices flowing. I then began to play around with the film comically resulting in me mocking the officer’s abilities to police. Funny as this was this was not the path I wanted my project to take as the subject I have chosen needs to be handled delicately and not to be turned into a witch-hunt.

LINK FOR VIDEO;- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QQU3D65WM

MOCK

CRIM

E S

CENE

Using the materials that I was given in Epsom police station, I decided to make a mock crime scene down an alley near my house. The night was very wet and miserable which made it very difficult to attach the tape to anything. The main reason I decided to do this was just to experiment with authority, the police tape resembling that something sinister had happened. When you view the images for the first time your intrigued to know what has happened. A good example of this is traffic jams on the motorway, caused by people slowing down to get a closer look at an accident. This experiment has taught me to discover a new way of capturing a moment through photography. Just by adding a simple prop can make the viewer ask them self questions or even create there own answers. I may not use these in my FMP but it’s a good ex-ample of the result you get from just experimenting with something.

MOCK

EVID

ENCE B

AG

Once again I decided to experiment with the items given to me by Epsom police station, but this time I decided to use them in a scenario that best suited my brief. Using a simple digital camera and an evidence bag I have tried to create an image that tells a story that was never written. I believe these images could be made into good posters for my campaign. However I don’t believe that they are as strong as the police tape images. I want my campaign to have a propaganda feel to it as the message I am trying to portray is that us as people should know our rights and I believe that by having to much direct rela-tion to the police could turn my campaign into a witch hunt.

resis

tin

g t

o c

om

ply 1am this morning I was driving home from a friend’s house in Twick-

enham, accompanied by a good friend of mine. It was quite late and very cold, -1 to be exact, as I checked when we got in my car. As we got closer to home I began to realise I was being followed by a police car. It was late and I was tired I had been consciously watching my speed as to stay at the speed limit and I knew that I hadn’t once gone over. We approached a cross junction, and as I indicated right so did the police car, continuing to follow my vehicle.As I have been stopped in the past I knew that they were definitely following me. We drove passed my local new agents and the police turned on their flashing blue lights, I continued about 100 yards before stopping as there was parked cars either side of me. Before I had the chance to stop my friend Lewis turned to me and sighed, as this was not the first time we had been stopped that night. Two police officers exited their vehicle and approached either side of my hatch back, shin-ing torches into our eyes and into the back of the car. I wound down the window to officer a asking me to take the keys out of the ignition and to step out of the car. I did this without hesitation. I asked officer A why I was being pulled over, to which he replied that his colleague (of-ficer B) saw something being thrown out of the window, I told officer A that my window was closed so how could that have been possible. This did not go down very well; with in seconds I was accused of having an attitude! He then asked to search the car, which I agreed to knowing my boot was locked as it had my SLR camera in. As officer B searched the car the other was firing questions at me and Lewis telling us if we had anything to hide to admit it now and save him wasting our time. At this point I knew this was not going to be a simple stop and search, I re-plied ‘‘ I have nothing to hide and that you are wasting your own time’’. Finding nothing in my car he then decided to look in the road behind the police car. Both me and Lewis said to the officer that was dealing with us ‘‘what did he see?” the officer replied‘‘What ever it is he will find it boys!’’ in a very rude abrupt tone.10 minutes had now past and the officer B had found something, he called his colleague over, they then they both returned telling us we were going to be searched. Once he found nothing on our person the officer that had been dealing with us previously asked me to open my boot. I refused. During my research I had found that unless the police have a warrant they do not have the right to look in the boot of your car if it is locked. This was not a smart move. I was immediately placed under arrest and taken into the back of the police car frustrating as this may seem I felt empowered knowing I was in the right.30 minutes of arguing back and forth with the police officers a large police van arrived with 4 more officers inside. They briefed the new of-ficers what was going on before asking me to step out of the police car. This is very difficult to do being handcuffed. As I lent on the police car I reluctantly handed the keys to the officer and said that he could look in the boot. Whilst one two officers searched the content of the boot one officer explained that the police dogs were on their way and that I should get comfortable. At this point both Lewis and me have been handcuffed. Whilst Lewis was being questioned the main officer approached me holding my camera, asking who’s it was. When I replied ‘‘whose car is it in?’’ he decided he needed me to prove it. Knowing 100% that in the section 44-43 laws clearly states that at no point can an officer look at any im-ages on your camera I stood my ground and quoted this to him he then returned my belongings to the boot of my car.An hour passed before the dogs arrived. They found nothing. As we were being de arrested I ask for an apology to which the officer said ‘‘you should count your self lucky.’’ This is not policing, this is my human rights being tested, I saw this as a great opportunity to us my knowledge discovered and put it to the test.

Whilst this was a time consuming and very annoying event it enabled my knowledge of my human rights to be put to test. When I got home I realised that the police had turned their flashing lights on 100yards before stopping me, this indicates that this was when they “saw something’’ being thrown out of the window, yet when I was questioned they looked no further than the back of their car. This alone leads me to think the reasons for the stop and search were more based on suspicion than fact.

A lesson learned from this was that if I conformed to their methods of policing. I could have been on my way in about 15 minutes and if I had not of allowed the officers to look in the boot I would of been there even longer.

In my project I will explain that there is always a right way to approach a situation, sometimes that way can result in a lot of time wasted but at least you leave feeling satisfied that you have not been bullied by the system.

SECONDARY RESEARCH

All SEEING EYE

The Panopticon is a type of prison building designed by English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in 1785. The concept of the design is to allow an observer to observe (-opticon) all (pan-) prisoners without the incarcerated being able to tell whether they are being watched, thereby conveying what one architect has called the “sentiment of an invisible omniscience. There are still prisons to that are based on the Panopticon; the structure worked so well the all Seeing Eye. The power to control and never miss a thing is something the justice system has always kept close to it hearts when locking up inmates.

The reason why I am including this in my portfolio is because the police have control over London surveil-lance. London is the most watched CCTV operated city in the world. The Panopticon has direct relation to the message I want to portray in that the police/government are allowed to keep a close eye on how the nation is operating, but as soon as you are seen to capture an image through the eyes of the people you are being penalized.

It’s slightly ironic that since the Panopticon the police are no longer the ‘all Seeing Eye’ everyone with a camera is. Recently the police have been penalised for not doing their job correctly due to evidence be-ing caught on camera. This could be a reason why officers feel a need to stop us taking photographs.

PANOPTIC

ON

SHEPARD F

AIR

EY

Supply and Demand, Shepard Fairey (non-commercial) all seeing eye.

Supply and Demand, Shepard Fairey (non-commercial) Posse Obey.(andre the giant)

Since reading ‘Supply and Demand’ I have been a strong Shepard Fairey fan. I enjoy the loose concepts behind his ‘non-commercial’ designs. I also like the Rus-sian propaganda inspired style.

Unfortunately I do not like how commercial his work is becoming. I believe that it is good to make a profit off of design, but the designer should never be more powerful than the message that the image is portraying.

I want to use Fairey’s work as a style of working, as it is a modern day propaganda style. Even though I am go-ing to use the style of another designer I do not want to imitate him. I will use his work as inspiration to create my own designs.

Supply and Demand, Shepard Fairey (non-commercial) all seeing eye.

BANK

SY

The reason I have included Banksy in my portfolio is because I want to take the concept of; taking on the law view design. What I have learnt by researching into Banksy’s work is that he lets his art speak for himself. If he has a point to make he will use comedy to say things that others might be afraid to.

In my project I have been generating inspiration from Banksy’s guerilla techniques to get my point across. I also admire Banksy’s courage to attack issues that us as a society are afraid to say or act upon.

I believe the knowledge gained from comparing and analyzing these two artists will give me the confidence to create a strong powerful campaign.

The last thing id like to say about Banksy in comparison to Fairey is being an unknown artist allows his work to stand-alone. Even Banksy’s work is recognizable; not being able to put a face to the work enables the message to be remembered rather than the person who created it.

RUSSIA

N C

ONSTRUCTIV

ISM

Soviet propaganda poster painted in the 1920s by Russian Constructivist art-ist Alexander Rodchenko

Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Rus-sia at the beginning of 1919. It was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art be-ing in favour of art as a practice for social purposes.

Looking at a particular art movement has broadened my knowledge and under-standing of how to structure my poster. I feel that Russian constructivism is the right move to look at. I particularly want to take the loose concept of a grid and also the bold colours. Constructivism was also a way of artist rebelling from the world; they saw how art should be preserved. This is a direct relation to a way of reforming.

PROPANDA

I am going to use influences from old war propa-ganda posters. I have been looking at Abram games posters, and also the Uncle Sam campaign. I want to use the scene of authority, but instead of the message to help our country, I want to let the public know their rights and unit as one. Most propaganda posters promote the public to conform to the mes-sage that there trying to get across. The difference my campaign has is it will promote realisation not mind manipulation. I believe propaganda is ideal for my campaign because it allows me to get my mes-sage across in a strong powerful way and I can also show uprising within the nation.

G20 P

ROTEST

More than 5,000 complaints have been made about the Metropolitan Police’s territorial support group, including the alleged brutality against Ian Tomlinson, 47, during April’s G20 protests

They include 376 allegations of discrimination and 977 complaints of ‘incivility’. More than 1,100 of the allegations con-cerned were what members of the public believed were ‘failures in duty’. The largest number of complaints - 2,280 - were categorised as ‘oppressive behaviour’.

Figures obtained by the Guardian showed that more than 2,000 of the complaints were ‘unsubstantiated’ by the force’s department for professional standards, while the rest were resolved at the police station, dismissed, discontinued or dealt with in other ways. It has led to criticism that TSG officers, who respond to outbreaks of disorder in London, were ‘practi-cally immune’ from complaints.

Ian Tomlinson later died of a heart attack related to years of drinking. Ian didn’t antagonise the TSG team this is simply how they are programmed to operate. I have included this in my research because it’s a perfect example of bad policing and the police taking advantage of our human rights.

t.s

.gTerritorial Support Group

The Territorial Support Group (TSG or CO20) is a Central Operations unit of Lon-don’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) consisting of 720 officers, which specialises in public order containment among other specialist policing. The TSG is a uniformed unit of the MPS that replaced the controversial Special Patrol Group in 1987. TSG units patrol the streets of the capital in marked police vans; officers can be identified as TSG from the distinctive ‘U’ in their shoulder numbers.

RoleToday the TSG has three main tasks in the policing of the Metropolitan Police District

-Securing the capital against terrorism.-Responding to disorder anywhere within London.-Reducing priority crime through borough support.

This information has been extracted from the MPS (metropolitan police service) website. It clearly shows that the TSG are hired to protect the city. In many cases TSG officers can be seen to be aggravating the public until they get the reaction they want. I have been stopped by TSG and their method of policing are very different to a normal officer, they accuse you of doing things rather than asking. Their ap-pearance also has an apparent sense of authority. When I was stopped, the officer decided to keep one hand clutching his batten and one holding his stab proof vest. I was stopped because I was photographing out side the South Bank. Experiencing the TSG first hand is very intimidating and they make you feel like a criminal. Under-standing how the police operate has made me realise how powerful my designs need to be to make my target audience realise their rights.

G20 Protest April 2009

OLD s

ectio

n 4

4 l

aw

Freedom to photograph/filmMembers of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them filming or photographing inci-dents or police personnel.

Terrorism Act 2000Photography and Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000The use of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 has been suspended in the MPS.

The Metropolitan Police Service did not seek to renew its authorisation to use the power when the previous one expired at 23.59 hours on Thursday 8 July. This fol-lowed a statement by the Home Secretary in relation to new guidelines around use of stop and search powers under section 44.

Police officers continue to have the power to stop and search anyone who they rea-sonably suspect to be a terrorist under Section 43 of the Terrorism Act.

This information has been extracted from the Metropolitan Police website. The Law has been removed and officers cannot use this in a stop and search. A new law has been put into place unfortunately I can’t find a copy of section 44.

NEW

SECTIO

N 4

3 L

AW

Photography and Section 43 of the Terrorism Act 2000Officers have the power to stop and search a person who they reasonably suspect to be a terrorist. The purpose of the stop and search is to discover whether that person has in their possession anything which may constitute evidence that they are a terror-ist.

Officers have the power to view digital images contained in mobile telephones or cam-eras carried by a person searched under S43 of the Terrorism Act 2000 to discover whether the images constitute evidence that the person is involved in terrorism. Offi-cers also have the power to seize and retain any article found during the search which the officer reasonably suspects may constitute evidence that the person is a terrorist. This includes any mobile telephone or camera containing such evidence.

Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search. Deletion or destruction may only take place following seizure if there is a lawful power (such as a court order) that permits such deletion or destruction

All the information that I have gathered has been taken from the London met web site. Using facts mean I can skillfully create an argument that I can put across in my designs. Using the same guidelines as what the police use means I can understand how the job should be done correctly. As long as there is reasonable cause for be-ing stopped then the police are doing their jobs correctly. The point I want to make is when does the line get drawn when there is no reasonable cause?

hie

rarch

y

POLICE

POLICEPUBLIC

PUBLIC

Here I have designed two hierarchy pyramids. The first is the more socially recognizable, with the Police in power at the top of the pyramid. The second I have simply turned upside-down to create the theory of the public be-ing in power and the police serving the public to protect, rather than intimidate. Us as the public should feel safe because of police presents.

PAST P

ROTESTS

I wanted to find out if a campaign the same or similar to mine had been done before. Whilst researching for this I came across this Facebook group. It was a mass photography gathering held in London at Trafalgar square. The Idea of power in numbers was what at-tracted me the most to this campaign and that using a social network could bring together so many people.

The gathering had a similar message to what my cam-paign holds. The way that they decided to get their voices heard was through protest. I want to use this research as inspiration for my project. For example I like the thought of the people out numbering the law enforcers. Also the idea of protest boards being used as props for an interesting shot. In particular I like the concept of communicating and sharing experiences.

The problem that I have found with protest today is that the violence and vandalism blur the message be-hind the protests. There is nothing like the atmosphere of a protest. But what id like to capture in my campaign is the passion of a protest, a large number of people all believing in the same thing. This protest saw the section 44 law abolished but there still remains a twin law section 43.

In this image you see a protester using a mini protest board enabling him/her to create a powerful image. I want to use this idea and take It a step further.

DESIGNING THE CAMPAIGN

DESIGNING THE CAMPAIGN

conform

log

o

My initial idea for a campaign was to stick to the Russian propaganda feel but add my own unique style to this. The design above was inspired by Obeys propaganda star but keeping a protest board look.

I would like to use this design as a sticker that would be handed out for free at the protest. This will be a large sticker that would go in the centre of a shirt. This will bring unity to the crowd rather than looking like a large gathering of people.

From my research of protest there is power in numbers but the best result came from well-structured protest.

protest b

oard ideas

Here are 4 designs that I have created for my initial set of ideas. The main inspiration at this point would be protest boards as well as Rus-sian constructivism. Even though I have cho-sen a particular movement I still want to add my unique way of creating an image.

The Boards have been arranged in size order. The larger the board is, the stronger the mes-sage. I am also thinking of creating postcard size protest boards.

INIT

IAL P

OSTCARD D

ESIG

NS

Here are my first attempts to add colour to the designs. I have also decided that the designs need to work well as a four not just individually.

I have been experimenting with shapes used in many of Shepard Fairey’s designs. I don’t think these colours have a good relation-ship with the font so I am going to scrap this colour scheme at this point, as I believe it doesn’t work.

The pyramid I have been experimenting with represent the hierarchy pyramid, it is just something subtle that I want to add to the design.

POST C

ard d

evelopm

ent

While developing my designs I decided to create the background of my images before laying down type. Trying to keep the protest board look, I know that the type needs to be in the center on the image and the message needs to be powerful, so I confirmed the four pieces of copy before adding them to my de-signs.

Looking at this as development and not a final four I can still see things that need to be changed. The main things I feel I need to focus on are the way the designs work as a family and different backgrounds do not help this. Having the layout not to complicated also needs to be taken into consideration. Even though I want to keep the protest board look I also want to execute the design with a Rus-sian propaganda feel.

poster illustratio

n

The reason that the police officers jumper has been taken to a point is because I wanted to include the hierarchy pyramid, when the pyramid is turned upside down it resemble the people are more powerful than the po-lice. This is my way of hiding messages in my poster.

The reason I decided to put bird droppings on the police officers hat is not just to add humour but also to hide a subliminal message in the poster. It is said that if a pigeon in London decides to land their ex-crement on you it is considered as good luck. The message is: if you want to stop and search us photog-raphers then good luck because we now know our rights.

This is going to be the main illustration of the poster. The officer’s face has been traced from a picture of a police action figure reflecting the fact that the police are toys of our government.

NAM

E C

HANG

E! The reason I decided to change the name of my

campaign mid point was due to the message not being read correctly. I am trying to create a campaign to make people aware of their rights and that they should not be intimidated to con-form. My research has shown that police use bullying techniques to make us feel like we are in the wrong and that complying to the methods of policing is the correct way to handle a situa-tion.

What I want people to do when approached by the police is to reform to their way of policing and realise that their human rights is being test-ed. Everybody is entitled to freedom of speech and by simply knowing that your right will give photographers the power to get a point across. This hopefully will result in the police not abus-ing their powers to create fear when needing to execute a stop and search.

REFORM

POSTER

From my knowledge and understanding of my chosensubject I wanted to show my poster in its environment. Seeing as most photographers use public transport such as buses, the underground and taxi stands this would be the perfect location for my target audience.

I used illustrator as my main tool for creating all the im-ages.

REFORM

MANIF

ESTO

Innocent until proven guilty is what

our countries policing is based on. As a

photographer we should be able to take

photographs spontaneously without being

penalized for doing so. This postcard has

been created to make you aware of your

rights as a photographer, weather you’

are professional or just enjoy being able

to capture an interesting image. For more

information join our Facebook group.

Officers do not have the power to

delete digital images or destroy film at

any point during a search. Deletion or

destruction may only take place following

seizure if there is a lawful power such as

a court order that permits such

deletion or destruction.

Your human rights should always be taken

into consideration when being dealt with

by the police, remember they are only

doing there job. Just ensure its being done

correctly.

This manifesto has been created to give a detailed description of what reform is about. The Facebook group is real and is up and running. All information that has been included has been extracted from the London metropolitan police website. It will be located on the rear of the postcards/mini protest boards. I want to make this manifesto easy to carry but also serve a purpose.

facebook

group

group f

eed b

ack

I decided to create a social portal so that photographers and students could share information as well as offer ad-vice for victims of the misuse of the anti terrorism law.So far the group has been a great success, many people have shared their different views on the subject and are communicating with each other.

As this group has enabled me to go live it has also made me understand how other people view my chosen topic, this has increased my knowledge of how the target audi-ence feel.

This will be an on going part of my case study and I will continue to blog the group adding more people. What I can see from the group and how well people are communicat-ing, I hope to take this to another level progressing into an actual protest.

fin

al p

ostcards

As my development progressed I used the poster as a starting point to create the post cards, this promoted continuity in my designs which enabled me to create a set of designs that work well as a family. The mistakes made previously helped me realise how to structure my designs correctly.

min

i protest b

oard

The postcards will double up as miniature pro-test boards. This will allow the photographer to picture police with out seeing the concept behind the image. This is also key, as police have no right to ask to delete an image. Pho-tographers can use this part of the campaign to tell their own stories and create their own images of the police.

evaluation

evaluation

Starting my project I had little knowledge of my chosen subject. My project developed through personal experiences that then lead me to re-search further into why the police are treating my target audience and I in the manor that they are.

Experiencing the misuse of section 60 and 43 first hand, enabled me to understand the feelings and emotions that my target audience would go through. Once I had ascertained the direction I wanted to take my project, the passion for my chosen subject grew. Knowing that taking on one of the largest gangs in the world (the police) I decided I needed to create a campaign based on strong facts and personal experiences, otherwise it could face looking like a witch-hunt. So I decided to tactically investigate into how the police operate, looking at in particular the officer’s knowledge of how to use the law correctly. Researching deeper into other people experiences made me realise how strong my cam-paign could be.

Unfortunately the police aren’t as cooperative as I hoped, a lot of the footage I wanted to capture I wasn’t allowed. If I had the chance to do this project again I would use the knowledge I know now to do the tasks I wanted to at the beginning; like interview a police officer in a public place or voice record an interview, these were all tasks I was not allowed to carry out.

Knowing that I wanted my campaign to be powerful but at the same time serve a purpose I started looking at Russian constructivism, appre-ciating the simplicity and effectiveness of the designs during this period I wanted to include some of the methods in my work. I have always admired Shepard Fairey’s work and his particular style ties in perfectly with Russian propaganda, so I decided to use his modern twist of Rus-sian propaganda but also adding my own design style. By using my illustrator skills I was able to create a well thought out, strong powerful campaign. I decided that I didn’t want this to just be a university project and that I wanted to go live so I decided to create a Facebook group inviting all my friends. In the group you are able to share stories and interact with people that share the same beliefs. This great feedback has also broadened my knowledge of how other people are being treated. I will continue to use this group after my project has been handed in using it as a centre point to organise a protest.

Propaganda has always had a unique way of making us, the general public think and act in a certain way. Advertisement is a powerful tool and I feel that using the posters/ postcards I have created will make my target audience aware of their rights and make them realise their not alone and that something can be done. Rather than using propaganda in a governmental way I wanted to use this common method of au-thority and give it to the people in this case my target audience. I feel I have executed this skilfully and given more time I will be able to cre-ate a live campaign that will have a productive outcome. I have passion for my subject and I believe this has been the creative drive for the executions of my posters and postcards. I would have liked to explore different ways to get my message across if I had the chance to do this project again.