To Brexit? Or not to Brexit?

Brexit

Here at Print on Paper, we’re staying well away from the Brexit debate. We prefer to focus on issues closer to our heart, such as: whose turn is it to make the tea? Will it actually be warm this summer? What’s the best supermarket Meal Deal combination?

It is, however, election season. So for those of us who are politically charged and knowledgeable enough to make their voices heard, newspapers are superb way to explore some ideas. Read below for our chat with Harry Dowlen and Jennifer Whitworth, creators of this brilliant Brexit-themed Tabloid!

Hi guys! What prompted you to put this project together?

We were both disappointed with the result of the referendum and were inspired to create something in response to it. Through further development it became apparent that we should look at both perspectives of the vote and so we designed this publication with the idea of trying to be non bias. Showing both sides was important to us because we felt that, especially with remain voters like ourselves, we didn’t know anyone who had voted to leave, highlighting the divisions of opinions currently in the UK. We realised in order to try to stop divisions like these there needs to be a transparency of opinions and an openness to conversation.

What was the reasoning behind choosing newsprint?

We chose newsprint because we had noticed that newspapers had heavily debated the European referendum, in some cases clear bullsh*t was published on front pages to sway the opinions of the public and even normalise xenophobia. Our choice of newsprint was to make a point that newspapers had been a key tool in informing the general public in the lead up to the referendum and we wanted to show the opinions of both sides, unlike many main stream outlets who were heavily bias.

What future do you see for a post-Brexit Britain?

We see that with the recent choice to call a snap election, post-Brexit Britain could very much become more divided than that of a leave or remain vote. Unfortunately the referendum has given Theresa May a chance to gain a large majority in parliament and potentially secure a Conservative government for a long period of time. However for Britain to move forward there needs to be more platforms for open discussion and not one that is spoon fed to us through newspapers aligned with certain political views. We want a post-Brexit Britain to be a great place to live but this can only happen with cooperation from both sides.

Do you have any plans for future work similar to this?

Whilst we don’t have any immediate plans to create similar work to this project, we have always been interested in sharing and discussing political opinions and making work about it. Graphic Design is a powerful platform to inform and communicate, and with the (unfortunate) state of the UK currently we will continue to create work that questions political situations.

Thank you for talking to us!