Background/Context

 

My research is conducted in a low-income area named ‘Dhok Chaudrian’ in the city of Rawalpindi,Pakistan. Pakistan is a country with a rich cultural heritage and traditions. These traditions are immensely vibrant and exotic in visuality.
On one side Pakistani traditions are cherished and valued, on the other it is acknowledged that it is a developing country struggling to survive the issues it faces today.

In a developing country like Pakistan one cannot separate ones self from the surrounding issues. The list of the social and civic issues is long and ever increasing. Being a capitalist economy, socio-economic factors, lack of infrastructure, a patriarchal society and lack of education are the root cause of the issues we face today. Low literacy further escalates lack of awareness towards the prevalent issues as problematic. People have become desensitized and have learnt to co-exist with their problems. I noticed this attitude of desensitization towards issues, through a personal experience. And that was the exact starting point for my research.

I, as graphic designer feel that a solution towards minimizing this problematic situation, if not eradicating it can be creating mass awareness about the issues. This is not trying to change the world but trying to initiate positive behaviour of self-sufficiency and community participation in the local population, by informing, encouraging and educating them.

As Frascara says (1997. pg1)[1] 
‘Visual communication design by itself cannot eradicate crime drug addiction, injury accidents or unfair discrimination, but concentrated strategies, including communications can significantly reduce the intensity of these problems’.
But this is not so simple.  In a country with a population of 180 million[2], the percentage of Pakistanis’ living below poverty line is 24%. The adult literacy rate in Pakistan is under 50 percent, while less than one-third of adult women have a functional reading ability.[3] These conditions of illiteracy concurrent with poverty further aggravate the difficulty of communication.

Having studied and practiced in different facets of graphic design, I found a great opportunity in attempting to use my expertise as a tool to initiate change in this problematic situation.

The idea is to research 'graphic design' as as 'contextual design' and 'visual' advocacy communication tool, primarily  focusing low-literacy populations.The objective is to generate a user-centered graphic design methodology that can be adaptable to other issues in Pakistan and similar environments in other parts of the world.Maybe this can be a step towards making a positive change in the present scenario faced by Pakistan today. To make my research focused and measurable I have selected the issue of hygienic household garbage disposal in low-income low literacy communities to test the designed methods.  

The questions that I ask from the platform of my research how can we make graphic design effective as visual communication in low- literacy contexts like Pakistan? Can visual be so powerful as to convey meaning without depending on the verbal? What should be the right design approach and what principles should be employed for  user-centered design generation?

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[1] Frascara,J. 1997.User Centred Graphic Design: mass communication and social change. London.Taylor & Francis.

[2] https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2119.html

[3] Hathaway ,R,M. (eds). 2005. Education Reform in Pakistan: Building for the Future. Washington, DC. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. ISBN 1-933549-04-1.Available at: www.wilsoncenter.org[Accessed 12 February 2010]