Data rights and poetry in AWO’s visual identity

The Big Brother watches on the internet, too – or at least this is what the new visual identity of data rights agency AWO suggests.

AWO is an agency specialized on data rights: it has already consulted on cases including the Cambridge Analytica scandal or the prosecution of Google advertising practices.

The new visual identity of the agency is the result of a collaboration between design studio Accept & Proceed and poet Tom Sharp. The main principle in design was to emphasize the duality of technology: both the freedom and the oppression it provides, and they decided to turn to literature to archive this goal.

One of the main sources of inspiration were Richard Brautigan’s poem ’All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace’ written in 1967, exploring the influence of technology on society. Another figure of literature the creators turned to was George Orwell, whose views on power and data inspired the designers immensely when designing the symbols. One of the most obvious references to this is the Big Brother-type eye made out of an asterisk and parentheses.

Baskerville has been chosen as a typeface oozing reliability, which they balanced with the modern, “code-esque” look of Univers. The campaign ads warn viewers about the risks of providing our data with concrete-poetry resembling codes.

Accept & Proceed | Web

Tom Sharp | Web

Source: designweek.co.uk

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