Re-packaging oppression: What do you think?

Image via Wikipedia

The Portland Police Bureau just unveiled the redesign of its squad cars, with a nod to Portland's love for social media, featuring its Twitter handle where it would have conventionally had something like "Call 911." (This probably does not, however, mean that the dispatchers will respond to DMs.)

Sometimes rebranding and repackaging are done to present a "new image" after a series of scandals or publicity nightmares.  The Portland Police has suffered from a series of PR problems for years, from the allegations of sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and string of murders of the mentally ill people and those without housing.

It is quite telling that the PPB decided to put the slogan, "sworn to protect, dedicated to serve" back on the cars.  What is not explicit is that the police is there to protect and serve the interests of those who help elect the mayor into office, not the interests of those whom the same special interest groups marginalize.  The sight of a police squad car slowly cruising through downtown streets and parks causes discomfort and fear among the homeless population, while the presence of this same car makes the upper-middle-class business executives walking through downtown to a power lunch meeting and tourists who are about to dump hundreds of dollars into Portland's economy "feel safe."

Portland Pioneer Courthouse Square: On invasion of Taiwan and Sakhalin by Japan!

Image via WikipediaThis post has been merged with http://iriscatartanddesigns.blogspot.com/2011/06/diplomatic-nightmare-at-pioneer.html as of Sunday, June 5.

Re-branding poverty: distraction, sugar-coating, or...?

Image by violet sugar via FlickrYesterday, Portland opened the gates of the brand-new Bud Clark Commons, a multipurpose building that occupies a half-block area between the main post office and the Greyhound station that now houses a 150-unit apartment complex, "Doreen's Place" men's shelter, and the new Transition Projects (TPI) day resource access and homeless control facility.  The idea came during the Tom Potter era when the Multnomah County circuit court ruled that the sit-lie ordinance would be unconstitutional, and simultaneously the city was under fire from the local business community for its seeming molly-coddling of the vagrants who were taking up too much sidewalk spaces and bothering shoppers, convention delegates, and tourists.  For the past several years, the Julia West House, a small building owned by First Presbyterian Church in West End district, served as an interim day access center until the completion of the Bud Clark Commons.

Along with the opening of the Bud Clark Commons, inevitably quite a bit of graphic design and branding work (and most likely more than a few focus group sessions) into branding both Bud Clark and the Housing Authority of Portland, the manager of the apartments section.

The Bud Clark Commons logo is essentially a sampling of the eight shades of green used throughout the building.  As you see, the scheme of the building, both exterior and interior, features wood panels accented with green window panes, green furniture, and green fixtures.  The visual effect is to evoke the imagery of a tree, with its diverse shades of green, true to Portland's proximity to forests and the city's commitment and reputation as a "green city." (The building, needless to say, is LEED Platinum certified!)

Using this as an opportunity, the Housing Authority of Portland also unveiled its new corporate identity.  Now HAP is known as Home Forward.  The press release proclaims: "the vivid blue, green and featuring a 'flourishing home' symbol that combines the two colors, the new identity tells the current and future residents... that Home Forward is a progressive, positive enterprise committed to a better tomorrow."  The design was made by Bill Chiaravalle's (author of Branding for Dummies) Brand Navigation (an Oregon company based in Bend).

These are great designs, and as a graphic designer, I commend their efforts.  I hope the new branding would not only better communicate its missions and visions, but also make the services more accessible and approachable.  I believe also that these new, sleek designs will help destigmatize the services and their clients alike.

However, as a social justice advocate, I also find at another level these rebranding campaigns somewhat troubling.  The less desirable side-effect of this is that it will sugar-coat poverty and the systemic injustice that dehumanize the poor.  Just like silly euphemisms often used in relation to the same population (for instance, many shelters call their clients "guests" instead of just bums, as though they are a five-star hotel; yet it is the underlying attitudes, reinforcement of social boundaries, paternalism and radical separations, and dehumanization of the poor by the privileged population that are left unchallenged), it plays down the severity of the life under poverty and helps those with privilege to not feel too guilty for perpetuating the evil.  In this sense, the nice and pretty buildings distract the wider community from the fundamental problems and sterilizes the reality of poverty behind the architectural and branding aesthetics.

Diplomatic nightmare at the Pioneer Courthouse Square

Image via WikipediaAlmost every world-class city has its city square, and Portland is no exception.  Presently, the Portland Rose Festival -- the "official festival of Portland, Oregon" is under way and is drawing tourists from everywhere.  So is the Pioneer Courthouse Square, "Portland's living room."

The local artist Bill Will has designed an impressive display of flowers in a world map formation, for the Portland Rose Festival's "Festival of Flowers" at the Pioneer Courthouse Square.

But the unintentional error on the artist might provoke some unpleasant diplomatic snafu as the Pioneer Courthouse Square, "Portland's living room," continues to draw Chinese and Russian tourists.

This year, the annual Pioneer Courthouse Square display of flowers features a large map of the world, with each country represented by a flower.  For instance, purple flowers for the United States of America, red for Mexico, and yellow for Canada.

Perhaps the designers of this display, not surprising given the low geographical literacy of Americans, did not intend to make a series of errors that might earn the wraths of some diplomatic officials abroad.

Take a stroll down to the Pioneer Courthouse Square and look closely to the eastern end of the display.  Japan is represented by green, bamboo-like plants -- with a rather amazing accuracy of shape (sans Shikoku).  Look towards the south.  Here is Taiwan in green -- with the same type of plants, while the People's Republic of China is red.  Look north of Hokkaido: the island of Sakhalin, now an oblast of Russia, is also green!  What is up with this picture?  Apparently, the creator of this display is stuck in the pre-1945 world geography class, when Japan did indeed own both Sakhalin (Karafuto) and Taiwan.  (Well, Japan did occupy Korea, too -- but the floral map accurately paints Korea with two different colours, purple for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and orange for south Korea).

As an official Rose Festival sanctioned event, this is a possible diplomatic irritant.  The Chinese diplomat would be non-plussed by the apparent occupation of Taiwan, which China claims to be part of its inalienable territory, by Japan.  The Russians would not be happy to see one of its major islands being mistaken for a Japanese territory (in fact, in prior to 1945, only the southern half of Sakhalin was Japan). And most Taiwanese residents want Taiwan to be either Chinese or independent (with small fringe exceptions).

Fail!

UPDATES! (June 11): I note that the Sakhalin island has morphed into Hokkaido, while the previous Hokkaido has been absorbed into Honshu, making the Tohoku region somewhat elongated.  Taiwan still belongs to Japan.

UPDATES! (June 11): Why is Sinai Peninsula given away to Jordan?  It is actually Egypt.

Constructing an artmaking ritual as social and spiritual practices (part 2)

This is second of the series in my brainstorming.  


Do you feel led to contribute to the art supplies and such?  Any contribution is welcome and is tax-deductible when itemized as allowed by the tax code.  It should be noted "dedicated funds" for "spiritual retreat and outings."


Some of the points for consideration:

1.  This is a spiritual retreat, and in the past (especially before 2008) this looked like one of those "oooh, look at those poor bums, I didn't know they could paint!" type of activity.  And the outcome, given the low expectation, was apparently infantilized and mediocre.  My goal has been to raise the standard while greatly enhancing the experiential side of it.  The retreat affords one of those rare moments where people are not hassled and moved along amidst noises of the city.

2.  This event moved from being Christian to being interfaith and ecumenical, even though it is still predominantly Christian (though now mostly mainline Protestant oriented).  The organization's policy now specifically prohibits proselytizing, and therefore finding something that everyone can find some meanings is crucial.

3.  Not everyone has a same level of artistic skills, creativity, attention span, or aesthetics.  The past approach in the group project was something I found to be untenable, as it often meant everyone got a "square" or whatnot (like a quilt piece, or a tile) and each worked on it during the same amount of time allocated.  It also made a very uncoordinated piece that lacked coherence, harmony and overall unifying theme.  Since it is displayed in public areas, I also felt that some degree of anonymity and privacy is appropriate, and the previous approach did not serve that ends.

4.  I feel that an introduction of ritual elements serve a number of good practical purposes.

• A ritual takes participants into a kind of otherworldly realm detached from and free from the ordinary realities.
• A ritual, as a constructed space, is not only symbolically meaningful but it can even allow for a greater ecumenical "neutrality" -- I am constructing, for instance, an invocation using a fictitious name of a deity to avoid privileging any specific religious path, instead of using "God," "Goddess," "Allah," "Jesus," and so on.
• It also bonds the participants together in a good sense of community and camaraderie, something impossible under the previous models experimented.
• And most importantly it is a spiritual retreat and I feel that this could be integrated into the overall theme of the retreat.

Classic hand-drawn restaurant menu boards!

Portland, Oregon area restaurant and coffee house owners: Do you need a pro to get a menu board right, with some serious artistry?  Check this out: http://iriscat.weebly.com/hand-drawn-art-menu-boards.html

Social media management for you by Sarah

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