Every four years, the Get Out The Vote Campaign (launched by AIGA) invites graphic designers to make posters that rally US voters to go to the polls. Here are 14 posters from the 2016 GOTV gallery that showcase a variety of inventive approaches aimed at galvanizing Americans to go to the polls on November 8.
I have chosen the following two posters that may connect with fellow quilters and sewists. Remember - it's important to cast your vote on election day.
The following excerpt is being shared from
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Daryl Chen is the Ideas Editor at TED
Suffragette struggles can inspire us to vote
Alexandra South, an account manager for a creative agency in El Paso, Texas, says she isn’t a graphic designer; she’s an artist and “textile arts are my favorite medium.” She wanted to hand-stitch her poster and as she began to research older embroidery and lettering, she discovered images of textiles that women’s suffrage campaigners had made while in jail for protesting. “Their prison embroidery stitches were uneven, un-patterned, free-hand stitch work done with bits of thread from their clothing and bedding,” she says. She mimicked that effect for the top part of her poster and chose Art Nouveau lettering for the word “Vote,” and she hand-stitched the entire creation in threads of muted shades of red, white and blue. “When we reflect on history and remember how powerful the suffragettes were when they came together, we can draw inspiration that we can continue to drive women’s rights in this country,” South says. “We are mothers, daughters, decision makers and a force to be reckoned with.”
As seen in AIGA
Voting can be playful — yet purposeful
Jessica Helfand, who is an artist-in-residence at Yale University, co-founder of the Design Observer blog, and author of the new book Design: The Invention of Desire, admits, “I’m obsessed with photography and, in particular, with the photographic portrait. So I often begin with actual images that tell stories and build out from there.” For her poster, she was captivated by this archival photograph of a British suffragette, saying, “I loved her spirit, her sense of purpose — and that scooter!” Helfand believes that low turnout in the U.S. is tied to a deficit in education. “Without education, we are prisoners of sound bites that introduce turnkey solutions to things we can’t access,” she says. “Maybe if every school child in America were obliged to follow Nate Silver on FiveThirtyEight, we’ll see more citizen engagement — and better voter turnout — a generation from now.”
As seen in AIGA
I voted! I hope you did, too.
