ACT UP Graphics

ACT UPのグラフィック / 1987–1990s / Style / Printmaking and Social Movements

The visual strategy of the AIDS-crisis direct-action movement. The pink triangle of SILENCE=DEATH, a clarity seized from advertising's own grammar and the principle of free reproduction forged activist graphics as strong as the ads they stood against.

ACT UP Graphics — SILENCE=DEATH badge — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — SILENCE=DEATH badge — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

ACT UP Graphics — Gran Fury / ACT UP, The Government Has Blood on Its Hands poster — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain — Gran Fury / ACT UP, The Government Has Blood on Its Hands poster — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

At a glance

Visual cues

The pink triangle inverted
Advertising grammar seized
Declarative typography
Free reproduction

Best used for

Health and rights campaigns where those affected print and distribute the message
Demands that must break a public silence with the same force as advertising

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Dictionary entry

Type: Heavy sans capitals with signs like the equals mark set as words
Composition: One symbol and one short line, legibility at distance taking priority
Material: Artwork built to survive black and white copying, free reproduction assumed
Caution: Lifting the symbol without stating a demand strips out the movement's claim and leaves an emblem of sympathy.
Further study: the Silence=Death Project / Gran Fury / its influence on public-health graphics

Related entries

Atelier Populaire (アトリエ・ポピュレール)Same Printmaking and Social Movements lineage.Compare ACT UP Graphics and Atelier Populaire
Corporate Modernism (企業モダニズム)Shared effects: Trust.Compare ACT UP Graphics and Corporate Modernism

Cite this entry

The dictionary is meant to be linked to. Take whichever form fits where you are writing.

Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/act-up-graphics
Markdown: [ACT UP Graphics — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/act-up-graphics)
HTML: <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/act-up-graphics">ACT UP Graphics — IndexStyle</a>

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