The comics contract thing may be drifting away from the "Disinformation and Design" subject line but Terry brings up a good point about contracts—what is their function? Better yet—what are their functions?
Although determining who prevails in a dispute is one function (and, perhaps, an implied threat of possible legal action is another), stopping disputes before they happen is--in my experience practicing design--the more common and more important one. Clear communication about who does what and when and who gets what and when reminds everyone of their roles and duties, eliminating the sorts of misunderstandings that become disputes. Eliminating "standard contracts" is a great first step in that. Depending on the parties involved, pictures and diagrams in place of or in addition to verbiage could be worthwhile.
But, as David points out, it’s hard to guess what other people understand about verbiage or pictures or diagrams. Kathy McCoy used to talk about having designed Swiss/International style directions for a floor buffer when she worked at Unimark and only much later wondering what a janitor thought about them. She contrasted that with a comics format piece done by Reverb for the union organizing hotel workers in Los Angeles. She implied that the Reverb work was more effective but I wondered what hotel maids thought about the comic book.
Thanks to Stuart for the very interesting link.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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> On Apr 29, 2019, at 8:41 AM, Terence Love <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Contracts are a very special kind of designed object that for their existence depend on their being a part of a larger design comprising the judicial system (for establishing the unique meaning of contracts) and the enforcement system (criminal justice system) for ensuring contracts are fulfilled.
>
> Currently, the primary enforceable judicial process that is available to ensure the fulfillment of contracts depends on contracts being written in words to have a unique meaning.
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