Why you should wave at the tube driver
We had to create a manifesto on a topic or a stance of our choice. It’s the end of the module, and because of how turbulent things were for me, I’m fresh out of creative steam.
RESEARCH
This is quite inspired by the source Jazmin gave us, Red Alan’s manifesto. I liked the black and white graphic style and the silly, lighthearted nature of it. I also liked the slightly subliminal question prodding hidden within it – and I latched onto the idea of a manifesto written with mutiple messages in mind. I sought out to do something like this, rather than follow the traditional, real world political sense of what a manifesto should be.
Recently, I’ve started to wave at tube drivers when they pull into the tube station. More often than not, they wave back. Sometimes I’ve stayed in a tube station after my own train has left just to do this. I think it’s silly, and it makes me laugh. Sometimes, i’ll wave at someone on the opposite side of the escalator if i see them looking at me. They’ll usually purse their lips and look away in embarrassment. In any case, I decided to base my manifesto off this premise. My chosen argument point was ‘Why you should wave at the tube driver when they pull in.’
PROCESS
Initially, I wanted to make a print, but I didn’t have time and also I’ve never actually made a print in my life – I’ve only ever seen a demonstration. Despite this, I wanted my manifesto to have a creepy black and white printed style. I toyed a lot with the creepy-cute aesthetic within my concept.
Instead, I made a few paper sketches of my text and concepts for graphics I could make.
As for the smiley face, I decided I specifically wanted to use the unicode default smiley face, ☺. I think it’s creepy and cute and goes along the lines of the aesthetic I am looking for from a graphic design point of view.
I completed the work in Adobe Illustrator, which I had experience in. I also decided this should be a business card in terms of document setup.
OUTCOME
The meaning of this card is up to interpretation.
I’m no CSM graphic communication design student however, and have no actual experience in graphic design at all, simply vector artwork. Through my use of pictograms I attempted to recreate and was heavily inspired by was the slightly futuristic style of graphic design that I have seen floating around for the past few years – an example I can think of off the top of my head is Impact’s infographics. I’m not sure I achieved this look 100% but i’m not upset about it.
Contextually, I like the idea of this work being an actual business card that could somehow make its way into the pockets of an average tube-goer, but that’s creepy.