Big Tech Poster
In this project, I was tasked to communicate a socio-political, environmental, or human rights issue. Inspired by the rapid misinformation that occured in the 2022 Philippine Presidential elections, I created a poster to raise awareness about the growing threat of media illiteracy and misinformation on democracy as a whole.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
With roughly 91 million or 83% of the Philippine population actively on Facebook, it has become the largest information disseminating platform in the nation. Given that algorithms are not held to the journalistic standards that are essential for distributing news, the sitting political regime was able to successfully abuse the lack of such safeguards to fuel their propaganda and historical revisionism. Moreover, as platforms such as Facebook depend on advertising to ascertain funding, they strategically show users content that will encourage them to linger on the site, generation significant attention for different ads. Thus, in these online realms, facts and fallacies are regarded as equal; how such information is distributed is not subject to its validity, rather the level of engagement it receives. This alarming phenomenon traps users in echo chambers and limits their exposure to other points of view.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
Building on the insights above, I developed the concept of an illustrated neighborhood where individuals are depicted as physically close but metaphorically trapped within their own digital echo chambers. The design uses the visual metaphor of phone screens as barriers, emphasizing how algorithms and misinformation isolate users despite their proximity to others. Each character is engrossed in familiar digital platforms, symbolizing how big tech has began to create disconnection and limits productive discussion of diverse perspectives. By framing this isolation against the backdrop of a familiar neighborhood setting, the poster visually reinforces the societal fragmentation caused by algorithm-driven media consumption.
