You can download the 2012 “We are the 99%” calendar/poster here. If you would like to order a hard copy, email us and we’ll mail it you (limited printed pieces available).
2012 Calendar/Poster
January 23rd, 2012 by nadia2011 Year in Review
January 13th, 2012 by nadia
Happy New Year 2012 from Design Action! What a year we just came out of. We were charged and excited by the 99% Occupy movement. It all hit us right during fundraising season when we were busy designing invitation and event programs, rolling out new visual identities, and cranking out appeals.
This is the moment whose idea has come and Design Action plays a crucial role at times like these. Did you all see how many great Occupy designs were inspired by the movement? We also created an “identity” for the mass movement-building organizations (that do this work every day) for some strategic actions.
Check out some of the great work we were involved in 2011:
Design Action created a themed design for Right to the City Boston, Foreclose on Wall Street West actions, and the Oakland General Strike. You probably saw all the placards on the streets as well as the website with live iphone video streaming, press updates and photo galleries. (http://www.foreclosewallst.org/en/) These actions were incredibly successful in achieving some great media coverage, and strategically targeting Wells Fargo and Chase banks, which have foreclosed on millions of homes across the US and putting them on the defensive.
Design Action also provided design services to other winning and crucial campaigns for worker justice and environmental and climate justice.
The Chinese Progressive Association and the San Francisco Progressive Workers Allianc e achieved a huge win in San Francisco when the city passed the Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance. Read about the case study of their communications plan here .
The Tar Sands Action at the White House put sustained pressure 0n the administration to stop the expansion of the Keystone Pipeline. We worked with the communications team to create a logo for the campaign and the designs for the outreach efforts - which were then transferred to the RV wrap for the caravan. We also designed the Washington Post ad and placards to remind President Obama to stick to his pledge to end the “tyranny of oil.” The campaigns are winning by getting the Obama administration to delay making the decision to approve the pipeline. And they are still putting pressure on the White House to keep to the promise.
Greenpeace’s Facebook Unfriend Coal campaign. Greenpeace was successful in getting thousands of people to tell Facebook to Unfriend Coal and to use renewable energy sources for the data centers. Design Action created the icons and the outreach poster.
A new identity for Asian Pacific Environmental Network : APEN was definitely ready for a change. We went through a process to update and renew their logo and it was rolled out in time for the 18th Anniversary event!
And if you are ready for upgrading your visual identity, check out the new logo book , "Know Logo," we wrote and produced in 2011.
Web Services
Functionality on the internet keeps expanding and Design Action’s Web Team continues to design and build beautiful and robust websites. We use WordPress and Joomla, both open-source systems, that give your organization control over the content you publish. And we implement web-based tools that increase your ability to keep members, supporters and donors engaged in their online and on-the-ground work.
Here’s a small sampling of the work that the Web Team — Poonam, William, Josh, Sarah and Daniel — has designed and developed.
- National Domestic Workers Alliance
- Virginia New Majority
- Pacific Environment
- Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign
Serve the People Poster Project… and more!
We worked with two organizational partners last year to produce posters. We worked with Boycott, Divest and Sanctions Movement to design their outreach poster with the Serve the People Poster Project.
On the 10 year anniversary of 9/11, we were compelled to create a poster for communities fighting Islamophobia . This poster process also got coverage on Turnstyle News .
Presentations
We also presented about graphic communications at the Making Cents Conference about the California Budget cuts at UC Berkeley, the Western Workers Conference in Oregon. We also do presentations for high school and college-level classrooms to inspire budding graphic designers into working for the Left.
Creative Communications
With the upcoming elections and the implementation of the racist immigration laws across the U.S., we have a lot of work to do in 2012. Design Action has also begun to deepen our skills in effective messaging and creative communications. We have always played a role in helping groups communicate through creative visuals and messaging. By working with you from the early stages of a campaign, image, text and tools can come together in the most effective ways. In 2012, we are committed to furthering the application of our creative messaging skills to your campaigns.
We are poised at the brink of change brought on by the important work of all of you — social change makers — and with the momentum from the 99% movement. 2012 can be the year when it is the end of business as usual, and the hopeful beginnings of alternative and sustainable economies, justice and power in the hands of the people.
We are entering our 10th year as a strategic communications service for the Left. Design Action will continued to support the movement for social change. We are the 99%. We are unstoppable. Another US is necessary. Another World is Possible.
Download the Design Action 2012 Calendar!
Know Logo book
December 30th, 2011 by nadia
Are you part of a social change organization that needs to update your logo that a friend put together 10 years ago in Microsoft Word? Are you confused by all the terminology, or where to begin when designing or redesigning your logo and identity materials? Would you like to read a book more relevant to the world of social change than to the corporate business world?
Know Logo, a manual by Design Action and printed at Inkworks Press, talks about the What, Why and How of logo design for organizations which work for social change.
From the book:
The term “logo” is often defined differently and used to describe different things, even within the field of graphic design. Design Action works primarily with social change organizations (grassroots groups, nonprofits, unions and sustainable businesses) so we use the term to describe:
A signature image and text combination that identifies an organization, campaign or project.
The manual includes a breakdown of the jargon, the basics of what makes up a logo, and some reasons why having a logo is a good idea. There are also eight Case Studies which discuss the process, the challenges and the arrival at the solutions.
A limited amount of books are available for purchase at $15. You can also download the PDF here. Know Logo book by Design Action.
Banks cost Oakland more than protesters
November 15th, 2011 by nadia
Last week, Design Action sent out a letter to the Oakland City Council, some local businesses, and to local newspapers, in support of Occupy Oakland.
The Oakland Tribune published the Op-Ed today (11.15.11) with the headline:
“Banks cost Oakland more than protesters”
We are a downtown local, cooperatively-owned and managed small business, and residents of Oakland. We are in support of the movement of the 99% and of Occupy Oakland. We believe the Occupy movement is democracy in its highest form.
We believe that Oakland should lead the way in supporting a local, economically-sustainable business community, one that challenges the power of large multinational corporations who strip money out of our local communities for their own coffers.
The city of Oakland should offer services to the Occupiers to keep it clean and safe for all people - which in turn will prevent violence - instead of just spending all the money on the police.
We love Oakland! Oakland can lead the way in this country by setting an example that this wonderful city is progressive and believes in supporting local business entrepreneurship, cooperative and collective managements, community banks, and small businesses which keep the money reinvested back into our community.
Last year the Oakland deficit was $58 million. Oakland exempts banks from paying a real estate transfer tax for foreclosures – any time any of the rest of us buy a home or transfer it in anyway, we have to pay this tax. But the banks don’t for foreclosures. Last year, this exemption alone cost the city $51 million. That’s all but $7 million of the deficit!
The banks have other exemptions to account for that last $7million. Like not paying their vacant property fees, the $5million interest rate swap the city of Oakland is still paying each year, not to mention their property taxes that haven’t been reassessed.
In the end who costs more? Occupy Oakland or the banks?
By halting such exemptions and proactively investing in public safety through education, after-school programs, healthcare, community safety services, the arts, and other services, Oakland will chart a course of economic resilience that other cities will surely follow.
Sincerely,
Design Action Collective
Further Information on what are the true costs: www.makebankspaycalifornia.com
and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment reports on foreclosures: http://www.calorganize.org/wreckingball
Support the General Strike on November 2
November 1st, 2011 by danielDesign Action has voted to be closed for business on Wednesday, November 2nd, in recognition of the General Strike and Day of Action call approved by Occupy Oakland. We realize worker coops are in a unique position, where withholding our labor to show the bosses who really has the power is not necessary. However, we believe it is important to honor this historical moment and join with everyone else, in the streets, turning the tide.
Worker coops represent the high ideal of worker control over our labor and the means of production. We are the antithesis of the 1% that makes money off of everyone else’s work. This is our chance to stand up and say, this is the solution for the 99%! Join us!
Victory for the Campaign to End Wage Theft!
September 13th, 2011 by nadiaThe Progressive Workers Alliance of San Francisco won a huge victory in August 2011 when the Board of Supervisors passed the Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance. This is a great success for raising awareness around wage theft of undocumented and low-wage workers, and for the City to hold employers accountable.
This victory was achieved through the power of grassroots organizing and workers’ speaking out against injustices.
The Chinese Progressive Association had worked with Design Action to produce two important communications pieces in order to work towards this legislation: the Check, Please report on the poor conditions of restaurant workers in SF’s Chinatown, and the End Wage Theft brochure for the Campaign to End Wage Theft.
CPA had developed a communications strategy for the distribution of these materials and to get media attention for their work, all of which contributed to their success. It was important for them to professionally lay out the content taken from an extensive research project, so that the publications could command attention and be taken seriously. They distributed the report to key decision-makers and media, as well as to low-wage Chinese workers and allied grassroots organizations.
CPA held a press conference for the release of the Check, Please report, which received media attention from over a dozen media outlets, including local TV, radio and newspaper stories. Here is just one piece of coverage (out of the many they received): ABC News.
The End Wage Theft brochure was used as an organizing tool for outreach to members of the Progressive Workers Alliance, low-wage workers and the general public. It included a list of demands and a pledge form to support the campaign.
Says Shaw San Liu, organizer at CPA:
“Having powerful, professional design that could visually carry our message, attract attention and keep people reading, has been absolutely a critical component of CPA’s recent media success and has reached a new level of visibility as part of Progressive Workers Alliance. We owe it to our base and leaders who work so hard to organize around these issues, to figure out the strongest vehicles to carry their message and make impact and not just slap together materials that won’t get read. Thank u Design Action!”
Read about the Wage Theft Prevention Ordinance success here: http://www.sfbg.com/2011/08/09/shelter-storm?page=0,0
and http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/08/new_legislation_cracks_down_on.php
9/11 Anniversary Poster
August 31st, 2011 by sabiha
After the events of September 11, 2001, Arab, African, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian (AAMEMSA) immigrant communities have been scapegoated and surrounded by suspicion as a heightened climate of Islamophobia grew. These communities are ethnically and culturally diverse but have all been similarly targeted — experiencing severe racial profiling, government surveillance, and hate crimes.
Ten years later, this oppression and violence against AAMEMSA people in America has continued at an alarming rate. The national discourse is plagued by racist, Islamophobic rhetoric that perpetuates a culture of fear in which public opinion is manipulated for political gain. With our civil liberties constantly under threat, AAMEMSA immigrant communities have been amongst the most vulnerable and marginalized.
Deportation threats, government monitoring, workplace discrimination, and other forms of institutional oppression have kept AAMEMSA communities isolated and divided. But there is a growing movement amongst Arab, African, Middle Eastern, Muslim and South Asian people to stand together and unite in the face of these racist attacks.
Design Action Collective created this poster to celebrate the solidarity of AAMEMSA communities. As a design shop dedicated to social justice work, we see our struggles as intrinsically linked and we recognize our collective power to dismantle these oppressive systems. The ten year anniversary of 9/11 is upon us — this unique political moment is an opportunity to bring our strong, united voices to the national immigrant rights movement.
Download a print-ready PDF of the poster
To learn more:
Unheard Voices of 911
Fear Inc.
Turnstyle news interviewed use for their radio show and created a photo montage video to accompany the interview. Watch it here.
Stop the Keystone XL Pipeline!
August 29th, 2011 by nadia
Activists continue sustained sit-ins at the White House to tell President Obama, “NO to the Keystone XL Pipeline!” The Tar Sands Action is two solid weeks of civil disobedience, bringing together protestors from the midwest of the United States and the Indigenous lands of Canada, along with prominent environmentalists. The proposed Keystone XL pipeline will bring dirty oil from the Canadian Tar Sands through the US to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. The Tar Sands are the world’s dirtiest and environmentally destructive form of oil development and one of the biggest climate change offenders. Already known for leaks and disaster, the proposed pipeline will go through the heart of US agricultural and native lands. The pipeline is the “fuse to the world’s largest carbon bomb.” President Obama has the power to stop the permit to the Canadian company, TransCanada, to begin construction of the Keystone XL. www.tarsandsaction.org
Design Action designed the outreach materials for this action, as well as the RV wrap for the Stop Tar Sands Tour. The poster design (which determined the design for the web banner and RV wrap) needed to convey a sense of urgency for the action. But we also wanted to evoke the feeling of peaceful demonstration of protest.
Check out this video talking about the tour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFXei1ol-hA&feature=player_embedded.
The Indigenous Day of Action against the Tar Sands will be on September 2 in front of the White House.
BeyondCoal.org launched for the Sierra Club
July 6th, 2011 by josh
The Sierra Club contracted Design Action to design and develop a new website for their flagship national campaign, Beyond Coal. The grassroots campaign which demands the country move beyond coal has seen an outpouring of support and victories that no one thought possible just a few years ago.
Check it out at BeyondCoal.org!
Hundreds of thousands of people around the country, talking to their neighbors, community leaders, media outlets, and most importantly, decision-makers, have successfully stopped over 150 coal plants to date! But with 500 coal-fired power plants still operating, spewing out deadly pollution, we have our work cut out for us as we create the citizen movement that will shutdown coal and create a clean energy future.
Serving the Movement
May 23rd, 2011 by joshThe Creosote Journal, a new west coast literary magazine, recently published an article about Design Action Collective. Check it out here!