Politics Communicated Reflective Essay Liam Morkham 23/10/15

CONTEXTUALISATION:

A poster made by the Australian Greens Party to raise awareness rather than argue the issues of
climate change and highlight the current implications and trajectory of climate change, the poster is
aimed to a younger and those who arent political involved with text that attempts to include them in
the issue.
Assignment 3- Reflective Essay, Liam M

When undertaking the task of designing a communicative artefact in such a way that represented
the political views and rhetorical conventions raised in the course readings through the semester, it
was particularly important to evaluate what the aim of the artefact would be in terms of how and
why it would mobilize the audience into taking action for climate chance as this is a cornerstone of
all political reform. This being taken into consideration I drew upon many of the course readings that
highlighted why climate change has been addressed inadequately in terms of realistic approaches to
addressing the issues and provoking real substantial change, as well as the methods to provoke
action through the doctrines of week 4, specifically in my piece using Liberalism as defined by Bikhu
Parekh (2005). Using the course readings to form and develop my argument and the development
of my political profile, I attempted to create a poster that would catch audience attention through
stylistic choices that would draw specifically a young audience (as this was a key interested during
the readings as some readings outlined the lack of youth participation) as well as ensuring it
contained relevant yet succinct information to convey the view of the politician I was taken on the
mantra of, which was a member for Greens prominently focused on engaging youths in becoming
invested in public debates regarding climate change awareness.

A key reading that influenced my overall approached to designing the artefact (poster) was Leo
Hickmans 2010 article written for the Guardian on the 29th of March, which argued that in todays
society it would take a catastrophic event [to] persuade humanity (L, Hickman 2010, p2) to actually
take climate change and the threats it imposes seriously. With this mentality in mind, I approached
the design of my poster and my political profile to accompany it with the initial goal of depicting
some form of catastrophic event with my thoughts fixated on depicting a damaged earth from
climate change, a common visual image used for many political advertisements in relation to climate
change which allowed me to also research other posters and designs found online in order to
analyse prior examples and the stylistic choices in terms of visuals and text. Eventually I settled on a
more subtle look of a polluted earth surrounding by darkness with a green hue to convey the
pollution. I specifically recalled back to the points raised by Peter Dahlgrens Democracy in Difficult
Times as well as Colin Hays Political Disenchantment to try and create a poster that catered to
youths specifically (who made up a large percentile of unregistered voters) to get them motivated to
join in on the issue. Both articles also drew focus on the how and why politics or more so anti-
politics (C, Hay 2007, p.1) has become a hindrance to prompting substantial change, and I used this
to reverse engineer an artefact that would directly designed to show those who are not involved in
politics that they have every reason to get involved by having the poster feel inclusive to everyone
through the test with words such as You, Your Friends, Your Family and showing the earth in
which everyone lives on.
During the initial few days of approaching the assignment of making an artefact as well as forming a
political profile to compliment and establish the motivations of the poster, I considering the
foundation of Bill Schwarz 2005 article on conservatism in terms of the requirement to mobilize
change in civil society as well as in the state, on the cultural terrain as well as the economic (B.
Schwarz, 20005, p56). This notion of multiplicity when prompting reform on an issue was at the
forefront of my aim when creating the poster as I wanted to create something that felt like it had a
point and purpose in terms of target demographic, as I was aware that an issue like climate change is
accessible for everyone but at the same time believing that each group would require different
forms of information as advertising always needs to feel inclusive to the beholder. My artefact
however was more specifically curated to fit within Bikhu Parekhs view of Liberalism rather than
solely conservatism as I wanted to blend multiple doctrines in order to make my arguments feel
centred and not politically discriminate against certain viewpoints. Based on the feedback received
from my artefact which specifically commended my artefact on achieving this point: (Appealing to
young demographic, esp. liberal voters, Artefact Response Feedback), and while my profile
undertook the role of a greens leader, having multiple responses highlighted I had been successful in
understanding and transposing the traits of Liberalism in empowering the individual and providing
freedom from constraint (Bikhu Parekh 2005, p.32) when viewing the poster objectively in terms
of political standpoint.

Specifically relating to the readings on climate change between 9 to 11, I spent a great deal of time
considering whether or not the poster should be more about placing a stance on the issue of climate
change (Is it happening or not), but after rereading the pieces and knowing that the issue is accepted
by the vast majority as a legitimate concern that the artefact should more predominantly show the
issue taking place in the future to spark further efforts rather than argument for or against the issue.
As raised in Anabela Carvalhos 2005 piece: Governmentality of climate change and the public
sphere, this issue was be addressed more through the shifting relations of power and knowledge.
This piece also highlighted some of the history of the issue thus far, which showed to me that much
of the problem with gathering momentum to make political change is that it is still the subject of
ongoing debate in terms of how to address the issue, therefore I wanted to not feature the ways to
resolve climate change in the poster but simply show what the result will be, but not highlight if this
result with the assumption that viewers would perceive it as the result of current societies decisions
to combat climate change so that they may feel like they need to do more to prevent further
damage.

A key component in the development of the image itself came from reading through the rhetorical
devices used by politicians to persuade and shift views, while some readings did mention this such as
Bruno Latours What if we Talked Politics a Little, I also took this a step further and researched
online into the different rhetorical devices used and settled on ones that would best bolster the
quality of my poster and position. Repetition being a key choice by repeating words at the top in a
way that also incorporates inclusive language to make the reader feel a part of the issue. Also
depicting the whole earth in the image rather than specifically Australia in the image was also a
fundamental choice as I wanted to make the issue feel global even though the poster was designed
with the assumption to be shown specifically to Australia considering I undertook the persona of an
Australian politician.
When curating the artefact to look a certain way within the constraints I had outlined in my profile, I
encountered the issue of thinking that the poster looked to bland or didnt relate strongly enough to
any existing arguments made in the later readings of the course to do with climate change, in order
to resolve this I made the decision to add to my goal that the poster would need to somehow tie in
to popular culture of the 21st century, which enabled me to blend design elements from existing
posters to help add to my design, choosing the film poster of the film Alien (1979) and making my
poster parallel the design and font of the poster so that it might draw attention from younger
viewers as they may recognize the reference. Through comments in my feedback, this also worked
successfully as some recognized the reference and made the comment that it added to the overall
effect of the poster, with one verbally saying to me it drew a parallel between the danger of the
alien in the film, and the danger posed by the damaged earth in the poster.

In conclusion much of the design and stylistic choices of the artefact can be credited to the readings
from the semester as the provided the foundation in which to build upon an argument and well as
make educated decisions as to what are the best ways about exploring and advertising an issue
within the political framework. Through retrospectively reflection on the feedback and choices
made, I believe I successfully achieved the goals outlined on my political profile and incorporated a
large amount of course readings and doctrines discussed to create a thorough and in-depth artefact.

BIBLOGRAPHY:

- Bruno Latour (2003) What if we Talked Politics a Little? Contemporary Political Theory, 2,
pp.143-49, 151-53, 157, 161, excerpts.

- Bikhu Parekh (2005), Liberalism, in T. Bennett, L. Grossberg & M. Morris (eds) New
Keyword: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Maldon M.A., Blackwell, pp.198-200.

- Bill Schwarz (2005), Conservatism, in in T. Bennett, L. Grossberg & M. Morris (eds) New
Keyword: A Revised Vocabulary of Culture and Society, Maldon M.A., Blackwell, pp.54-7.

- Peter Dahlgren (2009), Democracy in difficult times, in Media and Political Engagement:
Citizens, Communication, and Democracy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 12-26

- Colin Hay (2007), Political disenchantment, in Why We Hate Politics, Cambridge, Polity, pp.
1-2, 5-10, notes 163, excerpts.

- Anabela Carvalho (2005), Governmentality of climate change and the public sphere, in
Scientific Proofs and International Justice: the future for scientific standards in Global
environmental protection and international trade.

- Leo Hickman (2010) James Lovelock: Humans are too stupid to stop climate change,
Guardian, 29 March, http://www.theguardian.com/science/2010/mar/29/james-lovelock-
climate-change
 Political Profile:
Name: Liam Morkham

Gender: Male

Political Affiliation: Leader of the Australian Greens

Party

Profession: Lawyer/Politician

Position in Government: Member of the Australian

Parliament of Melbourne

Political curriculum vitae: Involved with The Australian

Greens Party since 2012. Member for Labor 2011 to
2012.

Summary: I, Liam Morkham, the member for Melbourne am heavily investing in ensuring a safe and
sustainable future for the current generations as well as those of the future. Being one of the
youngest members in parliament I went to represent the voices of the youths who up until this point
have not had many high profile politicians regarding their needs. To ensure the safety of our future, I
am dedicated to increasing the amount of sustainable energy to be used in future through raising
public awareness of the negative impacts that will be caused in the long and short term if we
continue to use finite and harmful resources as a source of energy. The upcoming 2015 United
Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Paris is a pivotal point for the people of planet
Earth to rally and combat climate change, however the targets proposed by the Liberal government
that will be put forward and far below what they should be and through using Posters to raise public
interest in reprimanding this proposal, we can enter the summit with far more meaningful statistics
that will lead Australia into the forefront of nations to make real environmental decisions that will
have positive long term effects for both the people, the nation and the planet.

Goal: To design a poster that raises awareness of the current and future implications of Climate
change that will occur on our planet if real change isnt made soon. Using links to poster design in
Popular Culture such as film to draw attention to the younger generation, the poster will assist to
mobilize change in order to prevent the depiction seen in the image. The posters shall be
strategically placed in key public areas around Melbourne so they are easily viewable by the public
(Such locations would include, City Train stations such as: Flagstaff, Southern Cross, Melbourne
Central and Flinders, as well as other key streets in the city that have the most amounts of people
travel though)

Audience of Poster: The poster will relate to specially the younger generations as they will be living
the consequences of the decisions made now, the posters intend to highlight this through the phrase
coming soon..