Why study propaganda and design?
Propaganda analysis is an antidote to the excesses of the Information Age. Understanding the use and design of propaganda exposes the tricks that propagandists use and suggests ways of resisting the short-cuts that they promote. We can learn a great deal about these tactics from the work of the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (IPA). From 1937 to 1942, the IPA was dedicated to promoting the techniques of propaganda analysis among critically-minded citizens. The IPA produced a booklet titled “The Fine Art of Propaganda, which details specific “Tricks of the Trade” which can still be used today by civic minded designers. The chief devices used by propagandists are: • Name Calling Giving an idea a bad name – is used to make us reject and condemn the idea without examining the evidence. • Glittering Generality Associating something with a “virtue word” is used to make us accept something and approve the thing without examining the evidence. • Transfer carries the authority, sanction and p
