design assignment

I chose to focus on the often unrecognized harm companies which provide suppressed prices for goods and services by connecting the provider and consumer directly, more specifically Airbnb, have on local economies and low-income populations. I first read through some articles on the effect of “gig-type” services (e.g. Instacart, Ubereats, Airbnb, etc.) have in exacerbating the poor economic condition of rooted citizens in a community. The exploitative practices of rideshare companies on their workers have already been well-documented. However, we often overlook the seemingly innocuous consequences of partaking in a service such as Airbnb on the local housing market as these issues are much easier to sweep under the rug.

I first looked through a series of Airbnb ads. Their marketing is done in collections, with a central design as a guiding template for a series of ads. Their designs are often minimalistic but oscillate between highly graphical to using “stock photo-esque” images. I chose to create an ad mimicking the latter as I believe it would be more impactful for the subverting purpose of this assignment.

I chose a somewhat colorful photo of a set of buildings in Brooklyn, an area that is known to be a hub of housing displacement. As I wanted to use this image as a background for white text, I lowered its brightness. I further increased the vibrancy and saturation of the image in order to convey a sense of almost saccharine and disingenuous happiness to play off the joyful but cost effective getaways Airbnb tries to market. I further manipulated Airbnb’s logo “Belong Anywhere” to be “Belong Nowhere” in reference to the company’s complicity in exacerbating housing insecurity and homelessness.