[ssf] flyer design: some comments

[dave thompson]

Hello, all
Despite Dan’s hard work on the design, personally I am
not too keen on the flyer, even though the idea of the
meeting is great and I look forward to hearing about
the various campigns, iniataives, etc. I like the idea
of making it a form of a social event as well: at the
Green Party meeting last week with Caroline Lucas,
they had tea coffee and cakes and many people stayed
behind to talk, plan, etc. 

I think to a certain extent, the flyer is tilting at
windmills though; many of the people who will be
attracted to the event won’t have  telly, or are
already much to busy to watch it. I also think while
not being too PC, if we sent it to for instance:
Sheffield Mental Health Action Group, for whom T.V is
often a lifeline, they would not be too happy. 

More significantly, While i think, aesthetically it is
a great design, I could show you leaflets I wrote ten
years ago during the CJA period which look very much
like the radical chic/protest culture that the leaflet
exhibits and which I now feel was largely
unproductive.  To me, the leaflet highlights the 
‘spectacular’ approach of the emerging SF’s. There’s a
danger that it becomes a politics of ‘activism’ that
attracts a certain type of person: often young, fit,
able, educated and middleclass, it is often abstract
and means little to the man/woman in the street.
Parties, protests, art and culture, the bedrock of
this approach are good things in themselves, but I
also think it is diligent hard work on more mundane
things like welfare,housing, even the lack of public
toilets in Sheffield that will allow us to grow and
gain respect and yes, the great work we are planning
to do in Burngreave.

Having said that however, if we must use the poster,
due to time, popular support, etc, I prefer the first
draft, , the second sounds a bit over the top and has
more emphasis on thecounter-culture in the text. I
also wonder if instead of all the pictures of wanton
vandalism(joke), just have one, and then we could have
some images of positive things that are
proposed/happened in Sheffield, perhaps a photo of our
launch, the lantern parade, a picture of burngeave,
etc. 

I hope I am not nit picking over something as basic as
a leaflet, but how we are represented is important as
it will reflect who is attracted to our new movement
and how diverse it is. Further, as I have often
suggested constructive debate and criticism is
esssential if we are to move forward, as is of course
praise and positive support, so well done Dan for
doing the flyer..  

regards

dave t

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