The Socio-Political Poster in the Digital Age

IntroductionThe socio-political poster has always been at the core of the society, defining its culture, its economy or worldview. Used to convey messages or announce upcoming major events, posters have experienced a spectacular development throughout the 20th Century: as an art form, an advertising tool or a pure reflection of the society. In the contemporary digital age, the socio-political poster has been seriously transformed according to the demands of activist communities and the feedback of the general public. The present article is a continuation of a PhD research entitled Practices to Produce and Use the Poster in the Contemporary Social-Political Activism that we held in 2012 at the University of Art and Design in Cluj-Napoca and intends to address a series of key problems related to this transformation of the socio-political poster in the digital age, focusing on the perspective of the creator of the poster. This article will elaborate more on three important issues. First of all, we will point out the characteristics of the activist movements, the online or cyberactivism and the culture jamming phenomenon to state the socio-cultural background that influences the creator of the poster. Next, we will designate three major conditions that lead to the creation of a particular graphic style, recurrent and recognisable for the socio-political poster: the recomposing graphic elements, the return to traditional graphic techniques and the reconsideration of the authorship through the copyleft exercise.Graphic design and socio-political activismThe socio-political art is a form of conceptual art in which the idea expressed, regardless of its form, has a social and political foundation. Any style of art may be socio-political, which makes it closer to a philosophy rather than an artistic style per se. Often, the artist may feel the need to express an opinion and try to produce a change in society. In order to convey the idea, the artist mostly uses the analogy for transmitting the message and for presenting the arguments. Therefore, the reaction of the viewer is crucial in this artistic process. The effort to interpret falls upon the viewer. The socio-political art wants the viewer to understand the relationship between art itself and the concept that the artist wants to convey, to also reflect "what I have to say" and not just "what I see" (Aristizabal & Lefer, 2010, p.246). Shocking words or powerful images literally create an interactive work of art which shows beauty or the problems of human existence. Parody and satire are the tools used to imprint a concept in the collective imaginary through biting humor, while the socio-political artist is involved in a cultural rebellion, a revolution that is transmitted from one person to another.Graphic design is the largest artistic form comprising socio-political messages, in itself describing a broad-based field of activity, encompassing design for print, advertising, moving graphics and animation for TV, and all manner of visual communication and design and includes projects from both professional artists (graphic artists, designers) and amateurs. An important contribution to the study of the socio-political graphic design is brought by Liz McQuinston (McQuinston, 1993) (McQuinston, 2004) who depicts the struggles of the contemporary society and focuses on the part that graphic arts can play in expressing these struggles. The visual language inherent in any graphic production refers to various elements such as style, symbolism, typography, tone, historical or artistic references which communicate a message with a particular force or emotion. Media and technology are fundamental for the resonance and the reception of the message, as different methods of image-making and duplicating (like handwriting, stenciling, photocopying, hand-stampling, silkscreen, offset litho, linocut) can provide immediacy and emotional impact (McQuinston, 1993). Since the '60's, as McQuinston states, posters are the most utilized forms of graphic design for rendering a socio-political message, functioning at their best when communicating a direct, simple idea in a visual arresting manner, with an instant impact towards literate or illiterate audiences. …