d4d — tyler galloway

First it was skateboarding and BMX [and design].
Then, punk and hardcore [and design].
Next, the politics and activism within hardcore [and design].

My faith, my lowercase-p politics, and my love of design eventually coalesced into a unified vision of how I could use my talents and passions to their best possible end – communicating creatively and strategically from the bottom-up, focusing on fundamental human needs and rights, reflecting community voices as much as possible through collaboration, and working with others who share my values.

Design has tremendous power that can be focused in almost any direction and to almost any end. Way too often, it is used to further a capitalist, consumerist agenda or to prevent, rather than promote, critical thought and action. I realized over time that I had no interest in furthering those ends, but in creating in service of ideas, convictions, values, critical thought, and ordinary people.

I choose to focus design's power to give power back to those who can most benefit from it, so they might have living wages, skilled defense as tenants, safety in their workplaces, education in prison, and the dignity and respect they deserve, simply because they are alive in this world – such is the nature of having human rights.

I use graphic design to introduce ideas, organizations, and people seeking to counter the current balance of power, to give ideas some clothes to wear out in public so they are seen, heard, accessible, persuasive, truthful, and powerful. To contribute to that rebalancing of power, to spread it more broadly and justly, is the best use of my skills I can imagine.

For over a decade, working under the studio moniker "The New Programme" and with the help of a small stream of student collaborators, I've served as the principal designer for "Stand Up KC". This organization is a founding city in the nationwide "Fight for $15" movement to earn restaurant and low-wage workers a living wage, needed benefits, increased workplace safety, freedom from sexual harassment, and the right to unionize. Kansas City was one of the first seven cities in American history to see fast food workers go on strike.

I was approached by one of the primary organizers, Mike Enriquez, after working alongside him on several similar initiatives that proved to be great test cases for what "Stand Up KC" would grow into – a powerful voice for anti-racist, working-class organizing, and one of the more visible and impactful groups in this nationwide struggle. This became possible because we maintained a long-running relationship, and because Mike recognized that thoughtful and strategic design could add credibility, increase worker solidarity, and amplify the messages that proved critical to the movement's success.

All the same principles of identity design can fight capital in addition to promoting it. "Stand Up KC"'s visual identity created a solid foundation on which to build a wide array of posters, banners, flyers, and other ephemera needed by the organization. What follows is much of what I've learned from these experiences over more than a decade of fruitful collaboration.

01

Consistent Branding

Increase solidarity: When there is careful coordination of the colors, typefaces, compositions, and messaging for the group, they become galvanized in spirit through that material and visual unification, and a shared sense of pride is created.

Increase credibility: Viewers know when something is produced professionally and with intent, as opposed to an off-the-cuff message on cardboard. That level of "professionalism" signals the group is serious enough to consider their visual impact beforehand. They are therefore well-organized and serious about their message and goals, not just an ad-hoc group.

Immediate recognition: From the first public action, "Stand Up KC" became known for their bright red shirts with large, slab-serif typography. It is bold, clear, and unmistakeably "Stand Up KC" coming down the street or marching into your restaurant.

02

Considering Context

Understanding the context in which your work sits is incredibly important for any designer, and is arguably more critical when going out into the street with messages that could improve the circumstances of your life.

Kansas City is a car city, and drivers are the majority audience for these public actions, usually passing by at 25 to 35 mph and from 10 to 70 feet away. Most well-trodden roads are two lanes each way, with a turn lane dividing them, so at least 50 feet wide. Very few viewers are pedestrians. This context nearly calls for billboard-like messaging.

03

Concise Messaging

Virtually inseparable from the issue of context is the need to create the most meaningfully precise, concise message possible.

Very short messages are required for a fast read. The shorter the message, the bigger you can make the type. The bigger the type, the greater the reading distance. State your problem, demands, and/or solution in the clearest, most concise way possible without losing the spirit of the message.

04

Honor & Exploit Physical Constraints

The physical dimensions of a poster offer a very real constraint. Poster size, message length, and type size are all in relation to one another. Are people driving by the event, walking by, or stopping to watch? Will the media be there? Those factors each afford differing levels of message length and type size.

Typeface choice figures into this in terms of scale, consistency of use, condensed vs extended widths, and overall legibility. We opted for a bold, condensed face because it created a visually loud presence on the poster, perceived as larger within the space, while allowing room to pack in more letters horizontally.

Turning Constraints into Opportunities:

Present: vertical 11×17 poster, "Voice on the Job"
Observation: all text is on one poster
The opposite: each word on one poster
The opposite: horizontal poster, tile sheets together

05

Considering the Materiality of Posters

Our posters are mostly hand-held, overhead or in front of the body. Only on rare occasions did we use poles or sticks to elevate them, which is a great way to literally stand above the crowd and possibly increase viewing distance.

Poster stock must be durable to maintain shape at least through the end of your event. We had the means to silkscreen most of our posters at 2'×3' onto nice cardstock, so re-using them was a must due to their expense. The posters need to withstand wind, but not be unwieldy to carry. Some participants have complained over the years about the weight of our posters when they hold them over their heads.

06

Considering Media Flow

We learned very quickly that in Kansas City, significantly more people would "see the protest" online afterwards than would see it live. So, how legible and understandable are the messages when photographed and re-used in newspapers, the web, and TV?

Make It

BIG

Make It

CLEAR

Make It

COMPLETE

Notice the maximum phrase is still short and only a few words per line. Ideas are visually broken into very small chunks for an immediate read. With photo sets on social media, it becomes possible to build a more complex narrative over multiple photos. No need to cram every idea into one poster or one photograph.

07

From Print to Digital

Building on the "mediated protest" concept, we learned that we can extend the physical protest into virtual space, simply by posting adaptations of the physical posters. Very similar principles apply online as in a car-centric, "drive-by protest" context.

But new affordances also bubble up – the internet allows for meaningful animation of messages through simple GIFs. You could post videos of the event itself or add sound to your animated posters – music, voice, or sound effects – to reinforce the visuals or expand on the message.

Street

Physical presence, immediate impact, local audience

Internet

GIFs, video, sound, viral reach, global audience

08

Multiple Messages at an Action

We learned that if we had multiple demands or solutions within our larger issue, it was still possible to communicate those. There's no need to reduce it down to a single message repeated on a hundred posters. Each message can be succinctly expressed on its own poster, but those messages need to be coordinated carefully to add up to a cohesive whole.

Knowing there will be many people at an action, we maximized the space of a relatively cheap 11×17 print, tiling the message and image across two pieces. It's best to keep one thought to a self-contained frame, avoiding the need to control sequencing or placement of people – that's a recipe for disaster.

Stand Up KC Shirts Strategy:

The Stand Up KC shirts were one of the very first things we made. Name/logo on front, core value message on the back. No matter what way people are facing, viewers are being sent a message, and each would be seen in close proximity.

09

Participatory Elements

Stand Up KC organizers knew the power of personal storytelling to win people to the movement, and I knew the benefits of participatory design to create ownership and empowerment for participants.

I work at _______ and I deserve _______

The pre-set, on-brand typography signals that this is from "Stand Up KC". The scale and allocation of space was carefully planned. At the end of the day, workers sharing their authentic stories and identity as human beings is always the most impactful.

10

Imagery

While I love artful social and political posters as much as any other graphic designer, many that make it into exhibitions or books would not communicate well in the streets.

A careful balance between message, concept, and speed of communication needs to be achieved. I never want to insult my audience's intelligence, but I also know that these posters are only going to get about a two second look, if I'm lucky.

Indexical Images

Something closely associated with the concept, but not the concept itself. I could use hands, or hair, and not totally telegraph the meaning. That still leaves a second for the "aha" moment.

Synecdoche

A part representing a whole — great for poking at corporations. People make their own connection about who the wage-stealing or sexual harassment villain is.

Sometimes, an illustrated or photographic portrait is the best answer when you want to show reverence for your subject. Images of past civil rights leaders link the current struggle to historically revered ones. It also adds to extrinsic ethos. Illustration is powerful — the technique employed can shift the conversation from exalted reverence to stylized attitude, to outright mockery of a subject.

This work has been the highlight of my career so far, and reflecting on it feels like this group of tireless and determined workers is taking their place in history, with me graphically amplifying, cohering, and supporting them along the way.

A thoughtful, strategic design approach matters because it allows grassroots organizations to leverage the power of graphic design to clarify, maximize, and legitimize their messages. Well-planned and organized protests take advantage of the moment, creating ripples through media beyond their initial presence in the street. Graphic design has been a force-multiplier for this movement and can do the same for any other.

This design work matters now as much as it ever has – maybe more – because of the growing economic disparity that has characterized our age. It's important to demand alternatives to wealth inequality, for working-class people to demand a seat at the table, to demand the respect and dignity that they are due.

On January 1, 2026, Missouri's minimum wage increased to $15 an hour. There are many more battles to be fought, however. Join me on the front lines. I'll be there, sketchbook in one hand, laptop in the other.

Introduction

Consistent Branding

Considering Context

Concise Messaging

Honor & Exploit Physical Constraints

Considering the Materiality of Posters

Considering Media Flow

From Print to Digital

Multiple Messages at an Action

Participatory Elements

Imagery

Conclusion