"Contested Editing" Visual Identity & Print Design

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Contested Editing is an initiative brought to life under the premise that the act of translation is a deeply political practice.

Statement:
"Throughout the intricate process of translation, choices are constantly forced upon us; choices that by their very nature are political insofar as they inevitably entail an arbitrary gesture of exclusion/inclusion, in their attempt to crystallise a thousand potential ‘Ifs’ into an “Is”.

How to choose what “deserves to be represented”? Under which form? Contested Editing operates through the understanding that in the fragile attempt to secure a meaning, there are always hidden, untold stories urging to escape. And it’s by nourishing those potentialities that this project seeks to unfold."

The wordmark was inspired by old typography typically found in the pamphlets of several social movements, while its free form delivers the message of disarticulating structural norms. The icon element, borrowed from the visual simplifcation of suffragette iconography, acts as a balancing and grounding constrast to the wordmark.

The development of a visual language for Constested Editing works in tandem with their project; capturing the inherent processes of creation, destruction and pluralism in translation. Print and digital elements are marked by an archive selection of black and white photographs of social movements and revolutionary moments, cropped into layers, adjoined by fragmented angles, mixed and diffused by overlapping shapes as subtle hints of reduced iconography. For example, the colour palette reflects the violet colour of the Women's Social and political union. The soft violet hue is combined with negative space and acts as a bridge for the couple above, who in this case are Lost [or found] in translation.