Beyond the Social Poster: Post 1

Hello there!

So I've been doing a lot of research and basically just tried to get a firm grasp on this project. I know you're just dying to see all my progress, so here ya go!

Some general research about the project brief:

When it comes to research, I had a bit of trouble. I was in the wrong direction for awhile. I had thought my topic was about all the war and violence going on in Iran right now, but turns out I was completely wrong. I continued to research for a few days because I didn't feel like my take on the topic was right. I'm very glad I did that because I finally stumbled across the actual topic: the Green Movement in Iran.  

Research about my particular topic (People of Iran):

The Iranian Green Movement refers to a political movement that arose after the 2009 Iranian presidential election, in which protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Green was initially used as the symbol of Mir Hossein Mousavi's campaign, but after the election it became the symbol of unity and hope for those asking for annulment of what they regarded as a fraudulent election. Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are recognized as political leaders of the Green Movement. Hossein-Ali Montazeri was also mentioned as spiritual leader of the movement.

            On that day in 2009 Iran's 10th presidential elections were held. Over 39 million people, representing about 85 percent of the eligible voters, cast their votes. According to the government's claims, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received 62.6 percent of the votes, while his main opponent, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi received 33.75 percent. The disbelief that these results were accurate ignited the widespread protests of the Green Movement.

            Angry crowds in Tehran broke into shops, tore down signs, and smashed windows. Civil unrest took place as protesters set fire to tyres outside the Interior Ministry building and others formed a human chain of around 300 people to close off a major Tehran street.

The demonstrations grew bigger and more heated than the 1999 student protests. Al Jazeera English described the 13 June situation as the "biggest unrest since the 1979 revolution." It also reported that protests seemed spontaneous without any formal organization. Two hundred people protested outside Iran's embassy in London on 13 June. Ynet has stated that "tens of thousands" protested on 13 June. Demonstrators are chanting phrases such as "Down with the dictator", "Death to the dictator", and "Give us our votes back."  Mousavi has urged for calm and asked that his supporters refrain from acts of violence.

Works Cited:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akbar-ganji/iran-green-movement-five years_b_5470078.html

http://iranprimer.usip.org/resource/green-movement

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_Green_Movement

Here are three main sentences to get the point across of what my topic is about and why we should care:

1. Citizens' votes were thrown away during the 2009 presidential election in Iran; furthermore, their leader is not someone they elected, even though the government says so.

2. Their human right to vote was taken away from them. Protests broke out and the green movement started.
3. Imagine if we had our voting rights taken away from us--we believe in democracy, and we should take a stand for the rights of every human being.

I've started to begin making prototypes. Before I started I made a Papanek Morphological Analysis diagram, and it really helped me brainstorm and come up with all kinds of different ideas. I will definitely be using this diagram more often:

Here are my three prototypes:

Since the Green Movement protest went on for
days and days, I thought an instagram page
would be a cool idea to show what was going
on day by day. Each post could be a snippet of
information that includes a picture and a hashtag
of everything that happened during the protest
that day. 

With the topic of my project being "People of Iran," I can't
help but picture a magazine with that title. Throughout the
magazine I would have spreads of information (as seen
above), and then I would include spreads that have pictures
on them of "the People of Iran" following the informational
spreads. This way, people can flip through and really get a firm
grasp on what's happening. 

As I was looking through pictures and researching, I
couldn't help but notice that in almost every protest
picture people were holding up posters or signs of
some kind with messages that show their rebellion on
them. I thought that it would be a cool idea to recreate
those posters, but with information and symbolism to
explain the event that was going on.