Osama loves design

Banner ads, videos, sequels? Is it me or does Al-Qaida seem to be going a bit hollywood? I don't think I ever really paid much attention to how these guys get their message out and when I saw this banner ad featuring Osama Bin Laden's announcement of a new video, I was somewhat intrigued about the design. It seems to me that for a terrorist organization, this ad's design isn't half bad.





If you study it, one can see there's a certain sense of alignment and formatting to this ad and the typography might even be considered beautiful. It occurs to me that someone with a background in design would have had to have designed it. I wouldn't call it award winning work or anything, but I've seen much worse.

It struck me as curious. Are terrorists hiring graphic designers? If so, it makes me wonder whether organizations like Osama's see the value in graphic design and what role design plays to combat his and other's propaganda.

©2007 David Scott | Cosmic