Just in case you’ve been living under a rock — or been on an extended silent retreat — there’s a major presidential election in the US now taking place.
In tandem with the US election cycle, every four years the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) holds its own campaign. Since 2000, its Get Out the Vote effort aims to increase civic participation by inviting graphic designers to create original pro-democracy artwork.
The submissions are always varied, exciting and fun — they look like what official voting posters dream of becoming someday. Here’s a selection of 12 standouts from the gallery (you can see all the submissions here and here).
What was the inspiration for your design?
When thinking of a campaign to get out the vote, the first elements that came to my mind were the colors of the flag: red, white and blue. I started playing around with the colors and creating different abstract shapes and forms. I shared these designs with some collaborators, and a few people saw in my abstract design a similarity to the classic Firecracker popsicle so I went further with that.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?As a designer, I would aim to inspire those who feel disenfranchised by increasing accessibility through communication around voting in the months leading up to the election. Campaigns could be created on social media that would express with a few clear but urgent and striking words and images the impact that each individual can have by voting, as well as the responsibility we have to our communities, families and country to vote.
What was the inspiration for your design?
Coretta Scott King said, “Freedom is never really won. You earn it and win it in every generation.” I see democracy the same way — we all have a responsibility in keeping it afloat. Democracies are complicated and fragile, and history shows they can fall apart or, in this case, drown. We are no exception.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I’m encouraged by the early turnout numbers this year. I think Americans are realizing our democracy is much more vulnerable to external and internal threats than we’d like to believe. We need to be on our alert for voter suppression and have absolutely zero tolerance for it.
What was the inspiration for your design?
Voting is the heart and soul of our democracy. Now more than ever, it’s crucial that we sound the alarm and make our individual plans to safely cast our ballots. This poster is meant to reinforce the importance of voting and evoke a sense of urgency. The play on time with the alarm clock image became the perfect vehicle for my message.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I’d love it if we could get Election Day as an observed holiday. Unfortunately for a lot of folks, it’s not so easy to squeeze enough time away from their jobs and families to cast their vote. I also think mail-in ballots sent to every registered voter would be another excellent step toward increasing access.
What was the inspiration for your design?
Inspiration started when I saw the largely negative and anger-filled posts about the election on social media. It saddened me that people were focused more on voting against something than they were to vote for something. I wanted to remind people that voting is not a divisive act; it’s actually one of the most generous and unifying things you can offer to the people around you. For this reason, I chose to illustrate a sea of women intertwined and supported by one another.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I would broadcast stories from everyday people describing how the election personally impacts them. Empathy is a powerful force capable of moving humans to action; it’s time we start tapping into it.
What was the inspiration for your design?
Voting is something we need to do to make the changes we want in the world, but we only have a short time to do it. On top of work, school, social lives, health, families, quiet time, there’s a pandemic, so “I’ll just go tomorrow” can turn into forgetting or delaying until it’s too late. In my poster, I wanted to convey that urgency. I chose to handwrite it to make it more personal and used several different styles of handwriting to fill up the space and appeal to different people.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I have friends who say they don’t vote because they don’t like either candidate or they don’t believe one vote matters. As a creative person, I’d solve this with informative designs on social media platforms, billboards, etc. where I’d clearly list out the key things that could result from voting for a candidate. Some type of reward system could work too — maybe people’s names get changed to a different color on Instagram as a reward when they vote? It’s silly, but I could see that working too.
What was the inspiration for your design?
This design was inspired by Ann Richards, former governor of Texas and a personal hero of mine. The quote I used (“If you are not at the table, then you are on the menu”) is often attributed to her. This saying especially resonates with me as a woman since so many laws pertaining to women have been made largely by men.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I think no-excuse absentee voting and early voting are both great ideas. My husband and I voted by mail this year — that was easy! And I’d like to see Election Day be a national holiday with paid time off from work.
What was the inspiration for your design?
In spring of this year — which feels so long ago! — I was asked by AIGA to create a poster to celebrate women’s voting rights that started with the 19th Amendment in 1920. Of course, the history of women’s voting is complex, and it wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that women of color could also vote. I wanted to highlight this achievement through my poster.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I’m a huge believer that voting day should be a paid national holiday. People should not be economically penalized for the time they take to go vote, and minimum pay should be guaranteed as we do for jury duty.
What was the inspiration for your design?
I wanted to boil VOTE down to its most simplistic essence — self actualization, having a voice, and exercising free will. These are really big, complicated concepts. It was important that my design be easily understood, echo the call of social media, and tickle interest in even the laziest of viewers. It is clear-cut in its repetition and gridded structure but offers complexity in the varying emojis and their perceived meanings.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
There are many things I’d do, but here are a few:
1. Undo the devastating restrictions to the Voters Rights Act and restore safe, equal and easy access to a ballot. Perhaps even a Constitutional Amendment that safeguards the rights originally given in the Voting Rights Act and the 14th and 15th Amendments and guarantees such access, free of restrictions of any kind, in all 50 states.
2. End the practices of gerrymandering and the electoral college, and risk the tyranny of the majority by accepting the popular vote as the decisive vote.
3. Improve access to a ballot through technology, avoiding the need to travel in order to cast a ballot. For example, we could link a ballot to each person’s driver’s license or state I.D. and offer safe and easy alternatives for those people who have neither.
What was the inspiration for your design?
I wanted to design something simple yet effective that could be understood by people even if English weren’t their first language. I also wanted to recognize that each voter is just one of many people who are using their voice to be heard and there is strength in numbers.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I would find ways to increase voter accessibility, such as alternative methods of voting, outreach to younger and older generations and helping those who require additional resources to vote. Reaching out to undecided voters is also important. Those who don’t identify strongly with a candidate should know their voice is just as valid as those who favor one of the two candidates.
What was the inspiration for your design?
I was inspired by recent protests and civil unrest that have been long overdue. I wanted to convey someone screaming but not being heard to show what happens when you don’t vote. Casting a ballot is the most important thing we can do to ensure our voices are heard.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
To encourage participation, employers should be required to provide paid time off on election days, and elections should be moved to more convenient days like weekends.
What was the inspiration for your design?
We enjoy data and wanted to focus the message of our poster on the gender disparity in politics. While great progress has been made, the stark reality of the proportion of women to men holding elected office in the federal government is still abysmally low.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
In the 19th century, voters were incentivized with free whisky or ready cash at the polls. While we aren’t espousing free beer on election day — or are we? — it’s painfully clear that there is a new urgency to address the profound inadequacies of our current electoral system.
— MGMT. design (Alicia Cheng and Sarah Gephart provided these responses)
What was the inspiration for your design?
Celebrating diversity was a big inspiration. No matter what our differences are, whether they are physical differences, differences in sexuality and differences in political affiliation, women should make our voices heard through our vote. However, I want to emphasize these portraits are not representative of every single nationality or sexuality or identity group in the US. — they are just a sample of the many people who make America the melting pot it is.
If you were in charge, what would you do to improve voter turnout in America?
I think Americans need better advertisements. So much of the messaging I’ve seen focuses on guilt-tripping people into going to the polls. Educating Americans on why they should vote and how they can vote will benefit everyone and would increase voter turnout tremendously.