About the design

2020 is the year of eyes. That’s all we really see of anybody, whether peering over masks. Or from the protests in HK and US, masses of people looking back hard at our leaders. Or staring at screens for school, work, and now, the worlds of film. This year’s kinetic graphics are also inspired by the “dazzle camouflage” used on boats in WWI to create visual confusion through hypervisibility, a strategy later adopted by modern day activists to deter facial recognition. Lastly, on our print publications is ZXX, an anti-surveillance typeface designed by Sang Mun as a call-to-action to raise questions about our online privacy. This typeface purposefully misdirects information and confuses text scanning software.

Honoring this weird, disruptive, and pivotal year, SDAFF 2020’s identity beckons like an online nickelodeon of playfulness, while its DNA whispers “You can’t ignore us. You will see us, but on our terms.”