The Design of Dissent: Socially and Politically Driven Graphics

Chosen by the Editors at Amazon.com as one of the top 50 Best Books of 2005 - Now in paperback!

With the world's economy in a slump, the Middle East's never ending conflict, and the on-going war on terrorism, there is a heightened awareness in the world community of the many sides of the numerous issues that both directly and indirectly affect our lives. Increasingly, people are feeling powerless and underrepresented because they have no voice.

Designers, however, have a voice. They are among the most influential bystanders because their skills enable them to communicate a message easily through the Web or through posters and printed pieces. A picture is worth a thousand words and designers have used this adage to their advantage for years by creating simple yet powerful designs that immediately convey the message to the viewer. The Design of Dissent focuses on graphic work that designers have made as a result of social and political concerns. The time is certainly ripe as the U.S., and world, flares in opposition on so many important issues.

To many, Milton Glaser is the embodiment of American graphic design. He cofounded the revolutionary Push Pin Studios, founded New York magazine with Clay Felker, established Milton Glaser, Inc., and teamed with Walter Bernard to form the publication design firm WBMG. He also designed the famous I♥NY campaign. Glaser’s artwork has been featured in exhibits worldwide, including one-man shows at both the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and The Museum of Modern Art in New York. His work is also a part of several permanent collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York. He was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Obama in 2009. He lives in New York City.

Tony Kushner was born in Mahattan in 1956, and grew up in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is best known for his two-part epic, Angels In America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. His other plays include A Bright Room Called Day, Slavs!, HydrotaphiaHomebody/Kabul, and Caroline, or Change, the musical for which he wrote book and lyrics, with music by composer Jeanine Tesori. Kushner has translated and adapted Pierre Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Sezuan and Mother Courage and Her Children, and the English-language libretto for the children’s opera Brundibárby Hans Krasa. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols’ film of Angels In America, and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.  In 2012 he wrote the screenplay for Spielberg's movie Lincoln. His screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award, and won the New York Film Critics Circle Award, Boston Society of Film Critics Award, Chicago Film Critics Award, and several others. His books include But the Giraffe: A Curtain Raising and Brundibar: the Libretto, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak: 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling with Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon. Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, an Emmy Award, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a PEN/Laura Pels Award, a Spirit of Justice Award from the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, a Cultural Achievement Award from The National Foundation for Jewish Culture, a Chicago Tribune Literary Prize for lifetime achievement, the 2012 National Medal of Arts, and the 2015 Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater Award, among many others.