Occupy Design

Article from The Daily Good

Occupy Design: Visual Tools for the 99 Percent


Last weekend, San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C. hosted spontaneous "Hackathons" to brainstorm how to use various platforms to help Occupy Wall Street. One of the ideas hatched was Occupy Design, a new website that gives a "visual language" to protesters across the country. Jake Levitas, a designer from San Francisco who's heading up the project, says it's a chance to fight back at media who characterize the movement as directionless.

"These are people who have valid concerns grounded in reality and grounded in data that can be communicated visually," Levitas says. "If we get these signs on CNN instead of the ones that say 'Screw capitalism' on a piece of cardboard," viewers don't see a generic grievance but "exactly how people are being screwed and by how much. It’s a lot harder to argue with statistics than it is with talking points."

The site provides big-think infographics that illustrate data on the wealth gap, symbols for overarching concepts like "justice" and "community," and practical signs to use on the ground like "toilet" and "landfill." Levitas says it's a chance for designers and techies to contribute to the movement, even if they can't make it to a protest.

"There’s all this untapped potential for people who are extremely talented," he says. "It's essentially a way to connect occupiers and designers. Everyone has a different role in this movement."

Keith Olbermann on Occupy W.S.

Who are the 99%?

Check them out here.

They're not unbathed hippies or drugged college students, they're real people.

From the link above, here are some excerpts:

Lost my job in 2006. Sold my home and moved in with my 87-year-old mother.
Worked temporary jobs on and off for over 5 years with little or no benefits.
Cancer survivor. Need medical care. Can’t afford health insurance.
TOO YOUNG TO RETIRE.
Watching my retirement funds and savings shrink.
Moved to Mexico to get medical care. Rent a room and live on $250 a month. No car. No phone.
Mom is in the hospital and I wonder if I can afford to come home.
I AM the 99%.



I am a state C.N.A. with 20 years experience, I now make $10.33 an hour & have only 47 paid hours a month, do to state cuts. My 21 year old daughter is blind an has autism. Her income for personal care needs have been cut by 75%. My husband & I care for her 24 hours a day 7 days a week. My husband is a full time student. We have four children at home and live off of $1300.00 a month. We are reduced to eat low grade foods, live in a very little tiny 2 bedroom house. We have no medical or dental an i have had an abscess tooth for 4 months now. Our car is dying & who can afford $3.78 a gallon for gas anyways? The best part is unemployment says both my husband and I owe them money, because we had our jobs taken from us…. How does that work? So 1% how is life? READY FOR CHANGE… WE ARE THE 99% !!!!!!!!!!!!!!