design for democracy

I had a particularly hard time with the first project for communication design. As the term theme is design for democracy, I started questioning my own sense of democracy and my role in it. Upon receiving the first assignment, design three postcards about voting, I realized how apathetic I actually am on the subject. This apathy was actually quite shocking, as I had never really considered myself that apathetic of a person. But as I tried and tried to come up with postcards that convinced people to vote, I kept on butting heads with this when in fact, I just did not care if people voted or not. And while this seemed shocking to me, as I analyzed why this might be, I was not so surprised. I have never been one for convincing people that what I believe in is what they should believe in. I am not really one for authority. and I genuinely believe that everyone has the right to their own point of view. So how much of a hypocrite would I be, if I suddenly turned the tables and tried to convince people that voting is the right thing to do. Of course I believe it is our rights as citizens of the United States of America to vote. It is the reason we have a democracy. And it s a right that the general public, by and large, takes for granted. A right that millions of people all around the world fight for everyday. And we actually get a choice whether we want to or not. Seems idiotic to me. But as I previously said, everyone is provided their right to choose, another great part of being a citizen in a democracy. So iI found it more and more difficult to tackle this first project with all this in mind. How do I persuade people to vote without seeming overbearing and authoritarian about it? I opted for another option. I decided that instead of persuading people that voting is the right thing to do, I would just remind them to vote. That way, the choice is still theirs. It would just be a shame to forget, if you meant to vote or not. I designed three postcards that were more or less a reminder. Two of the three were interactive. The thought behind this was that if i could get people to interact with the postcards, maybe this would trigger an initiative to actually go out and vote when the day came. One of the two was a set of three brooches that said VOTE on them. Made out of cardboard, these postcards are actually wearable. The other one came with a set of four magnets. So that the postcard that came with them could be put on a refrigerator or a filling cabinet. The other set of postcards came as a bunch. A set of cards that had people on them, holding cardboard signs that spelled out VOTE. Put meaning to it as you will.

And while these three postcards were still not exactly what I would have imagined when given the assignment initially, I think that they came out in a way that is not putting me on a soapbox. Preaching to the choir. I feel like I may have just used that phrase wrong. Preaching to the choir? hmmm. For some reason that just doesn't sound right. But I think you get the idea anyhow.

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