Ballou on Visual Communications

With the New Year came a new opportunity: I’ve taken on the role of Director of Communications for the Manning Centre, a conservative non-profit based in Calgary.

As many of you know, I’ve always been keen on using visuals and new media to get political ideas across — so stay tuned!

You can check out my first project here : www.manningcentre.ca/conference

At the Calgary Glenbow museum, I came across an infographic sewn on a large piece of fabric that described the “Social Credit” economic system. The “Socreds” won the 1935 provincial election with the promise to give every family $25 a month (the “basic dividends” shown at the top right of the image below). They were unable to keep their promise and the party later abandoned its revolutionary platform. Judging from the poster, however, I’m surprised anyone was able to make sense of it!

(I recreated the image below – PDF version here)

(Original poster)

Before “Successories” motivational posters came the Mather “work incentive posters” of the 1920s. Posted in public buildings and factories, they offered daily self-help in the Dale Carnegie era.

An animated clip about Israel I created based on my friend Michael Prell’s book, “Underdogma“.

This 3D animation shows love making in a very different light!

A fellow creative recently told me that his wife was into “brutalist” architecture – the bunker-like buildings with exposed concrete walls from the 60s and 70s. The University of Toronto library is a good example:

The Montreal metro is in the same vein:

During a recent road trip to see the largest hydroelectric dam in Quebec – the Robert Bourassa station (formerly La Grande II) – I tasted an extreme version of this aesthetic:

The picture doesn’t do justice to the “cathedral”, as they call it. Not only was the scale impressive, but the designers had really paid attention to detail: even the machinery was colour coordinated. The whir of the rotors added to the amazing sensory experience.

Now, this is a communications blog, and it’s clear that brutalist architecture was making a statement :

It was a time when society thought the future of science-fiction novelists was upon us. Le Corbusier and the new modernist movement sought to eradicate the past (…)

Hydro-Quebec certainly played a big part in Quebec’s coming-of-age, and the dam represented a certain faith in technology and big government-led projects. So, next time you see a concrete building, try not to think of it as drab, but rather as a symbol of high-tech optimism!

Found at an elementary school playground, this surprisingly well made infographic — seemingly crafted with some ancient Microsoft WordArt — tells students how to deal with conflicts. You should be able to get the gist of it without even speaking French! Click to enlarge. (Translation below)

• “I calm down”
• “I explain myself and listen to the other”
• “I take my share of the blame”
• “I find solutions” (“1. Fix it 2. Meet the other halfway  3. Move away & retreat 4. Play together 5. Flip a coin & take your turn 6. Apologize 7. (Think it through)”)
• “Apply the strategy”

A neat video by my friends at the libertarian Institute for Humane Studies (IHS):

The SAQ (Société des alcools du Québec) – the state-owned alcohol monopoly – updated its store in my hometown, complete with a brilliant colour-coded system for picking wines. I have never chosen wine based on anything but price and label-design, so this is god-sent. A beautiful booklet lays out the various “taste profiles” and the foods they ought to be paired with. Once you’ve picked the bottle, you apply the appropriate sticker as a reminder. Here’s a screenshot from the website: