The Politics of Design: A (Not So) Global Manual for Visual Communication, Paperback/Ruben Pater

The Politics of Design shows the importance of visual literacy when communicating across borders and cultures. It explores the cultural meaning behind symbols, maps, photography, typography, and colors. It is a practical guide for design and communication professionals and students to create more effective and responsible visual communication. We all know the power of propaganda and how it's always strictly related to a memory of a specific symbol, typography and colour. It has a purpose and normally remains a classic design to be parodied years later by a new generation of designers. But visual literacy is still a strong weapon nowadays, it's all about context. This book can be used as a manual filled with realities alerts a designer should be aware so that he doesn't end up in misconceptions of cultural differences and actually make this asymmetries work in his favour. It will result in a stronger, fundamental response to the inevitability of being partial when dealing with images in the midst of globalization. Misinformation and the terrible consequences it may cause, may it be on purpose or not, is always a piece of vital information away. This is the right book to fill that void, to build bridges between different perspectives on the meaning behind some characters, images and even the order and position they are presented in.