Map of where the stickers were placed.
For my project, I placed stickers around Charleston that insight people passing by to educate themselves on the the racial climate of France and help them recognize the importance of international consciousness especially in discussions about serious topics like race.
The Third Design.
In terms of sticker design, I used colors that were bright, so that they would grab attention, and I chose red, white, and blue as they are the national colors of both the United States and France. Initially, I created three designs for my stickers, but I ultimately ended up only using two of the designs. This was due to the third’s wordiness. Stickers must deliver a quick message that is easily consumable, and the third design did not achieve this goal.
Sticker at Waterfront Park
As for their locations, I biked around Charleston and placed the stickers in public areas that see a lot of faces during the day. I gravitated mainly towards tourist areas, like Market Street or the Battery; local places, like Harris Teeter or Marion Square; and student areas, like the MUSC and CofC campuses. By placing the stickers in these certain places, I gain a more comprehensive Charleston audience, as people from different backgrounds that make up the Charleston community are exposed to my stickers and message through my website.
Sticker in Marion Square
The Charleston community was chosen because of its close proximity and American identity, which differs from the French origins of the Justice Pour Adama Movement. This fits in with the exigence of these stickers well, as the stickers and my website promote an increased global unity in which Charleston can play a unique role. As a port city and a tourist attraction, many people pass through Charleston, already lending to its global sense of place. My stickers and website respond to this pre-existing global community in Charleston by centering around one certain issue, the Justice Pour Adama movement, to encourage these people to consider race on an international level that intersects with many other social identities.
Sticker by Colonial Lake
A notable constraint of this project is that it relies on the curiosity of the general population. However, I recognize this constraint and still decide to remain hopeful that people will see my stickers and feel motivated to learn more. In a way, my audience is not all of the Charleston community but instead those who have the means and motivation to learn more about international discussions of race and social sustainability. Internet access is also a serious constraint, because my stickers do not provide very much information without access to my website. Additionally, on a more physical level, stickers do not last forever, which is also an important constraint. To help mine last longer, I’ve added a protective layer of plastic over them, which helps to weatherproof them.
I chose to communicate my project through the genre of stickers and then through a website to engage more closely with the community in a more accessible way. While I did consider other genres for this project, I decided on stickers because other mediums, like those of a brochure or pamphlet, tend to be found in places that are not nearly accessible to all as a stop sign may be. Because my audience is the intellectually privileged community of Charleston, the sticker serves as a broadcast to all with a motivation to learn and a phone in hand. A brochure simply is not as accessible.
Stickers, on the other hand, tend to be more playful or fun rather than political. However, in public spaces, political stickers are seen fairly often. Even when I was putting these stickers up, I saw others encouraging people to vote or be politically active. The largest revision of the genre was the addition of a link to the stickers, as many of the political stickers I have seen do not have links. I standby my use of a link to my website though. Through using both the stickers and website, I was able to create a direct avenue for the curious to learn more about race from a global perspective, which is very important in the current racial climate around the world.
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