Transformative Justice — Kian Amos Design

PRODUCT AND GRAPHIC DESIGNER

TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE

OCTOBER 2023 - APRIL 2024

TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE

COLLABORATION WITH: Calla Bentsen

MATERIALS

Risograph printed zines, sanded plywood, clear acrylic, feather-finish concrete, black steel piping, projector, headphones, CD players

Transformative Justice is a collaborative project created in partnership with designer Calla Bensten. Transformative Justice is a series of educational and informative zines detailing information about prison abolition and the Texas Juvenile Prison System. These zines detail the benefits of investing in and uplifting communities to address problems and contain useful information and actionable resources in an easily understandable package.

Copies of these zines accompanied by an audio-visual experience were displayed in an exhibition space with custom built benches, zine storage boxes, and an information wall.

Zine graphics and layout, branding, exhibition visuals
Designed By: Calla Bensten

Zine content, benches, zine boxes, audio-visual, physical
exhibition construction
Designed By: Kian Amos

EXHIBITION SPACE

Our entire exhibition was designed around the space that we were provided, as it was backed by an angled wall composed of cinderblocks. The final exhibition is inspired by classic DIY_punk zines, abolition movements, and wheatpasted posters. The space embraces the harsh concrete edges of the wall and utilizes the angled wall to make visitors engage in a literal change in perspective.

The final space contains four zine boxes, four concrete benches, an information wall, a mounted projector with video, and four CD players with audio.

Our space was situated at the end of the exhibition hall, so the only way to approach is from the projection side. This means that users would see only the black-and-white projection on the concrete. CD Players and benches invite users to stop, sit, and engage with the video before continuing further.

As the user progresses the perspective shifts and the bright colors of the zines and zine boxes reveal themselves, mimicking the idea of transforming and evolving the outdated prison system into something new. Finally the space is capped off by an information wall describing the project and two more benches.

All of the visuals for this project were inspired by old-school punk zines, past prison abolition movements, and wheatpasted posters. There is also an emphasis on texture and physicality, with actual concrete, metal, and wheatpaste used all throughout the space.

Digital scans of each zine and additional resources can be found here.

Space as seen on approach

Same space with a perspective shift

Viewers watching and listeng to Profit Through Punishment

ZINE BOXES

These four zine boxes were designed in a way to exactly fit the space we were given for the final exhibition. Each box slots into a cinderblock and becomes a free hanging zine dispenser. Laser-etched acrylic panels are held on by four flush-sunk neodymium magnets, allowing them to be removed for restocking. Each box also includes a copy of their respective zine attached to the base via a metal cable, creating a permanent copy that remains if the zine stock runs out.

MATERIALS

Sanded plywood, clear acrylic, feather-finish concrete, metal cabling, neodymium magnets, acrylic paint.

Exhibition wall and boxes as seen from the projector side. Opposite view

The finished boxes were covered in cement-board tape and coated in a thin layer of feather-finish concrete. Because of the angled wall, the boxes blend in with the wall from one angle, and then slowly reveal themselves as you enter the space.

BENCHES

Four benches were designed and built for the exhibition space to provide a place for people to engage with the zine content in a more meaningful way. We knew from user testing that while people were likely to take a zine, most would just glance through before walking off. These benches are an attempt to create a space for the user to stop and engage with the project for a little longer, be it the video, the audio, the zines, or the wall.

Each bench has a wooden base comprised of a solid particle-board interior core surrounded by a veneer of birch wood. This core was then covered in cement-board tape and coated in a layer of feather-finish concrete similarly to the zine boxes, preserving the concrete texture.

Finally, one-inch black steel piping was used to secure the legs to the underside of the bench.

MATERIALS

Particle board, birch veneer, feather-finish concrete, black steel piping, cement-board tape

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SITE DESIGN 2024