group installation

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Our second project, in response to the first project, I teamed up with Sean Kesterson, Karlin Johnson, Daniel Sexton and Jess Andrews. We screen printed 800 small postcards that had our team logo on it, designed by Jess. We decided that this logo would be our "brand" and the focal point in our community outreach. We had over 1,000 logos vinyl cut in a bright cyan that we agreed as a group would be the most eye catching. But just having a logo EVERYWHERE around campus was just not going to be enough. So we also designed posters to be put up as well. And in typical democracy fashion, we voted on the three that we thought would work best for our concept. The ones we used were designed by Daniel, Karlin and Jess. For the small postcards that we printed, we strung them on twine and hung them from the trees on campus. And while campus security did not let them stay there for long, they were absolutely beautiful while they were up. The following paragraph is something I wrote immediately after the installation of the project. After staying up all night installing everything, I wrote about how I felt the project went.

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Overall, I would say that our initiative was successful. It wasn’t as viral as I think most of us hoped it would be, but I truly believe that this is what makes the project that much better. Whenever a group of like minds is trying to spread an idea, or a product to a wide range of people, being subtle actually works better than being over conspicuous. Everyday, we are bombarded by media that tells us what to wear, where to eat, what kind of people we should be through our consumerism, to the point that most just block the majority out of their conscience. And this, at that point, is where subtly comes in and clever branding thrives. Seeing a logo somewhere when you are all by yourself, you stop and actually take the time to for your brain to process it. You see the logo in places where you least expect it, bathroom stalls, stairwells, doorways, drinking fountains…etc. And you recognize this logo, because you have seen it somewhere else before. And your brain starts thinking. Where have I seen that? When was that? What was that for? Maybe you don’t figure it out for a couple of days, but it drives you crazy. And when you finally remember that it was for a campaign to get people to vote, you actually take time out of your day and you think. You think about whether you voted this year or not, maybe you regret not voting and convince yourself that next time you will, maybe you reaffirm that you were right in voting and you know that every time you have the opportunity you will vote. Or, maybe you think about how irritating it was to see all those logos everywhere, but, you are still thinking about voting. And at the very subconscious level, your brain thinks about voting. And maybe next time, this logo will pop up in your mind when an election happens. Maybe you will think about the people who put that campaign together and spent their time to make people more socially aware. And maybe, it will work and if you didn’t vote that year, you will. Or maybe, it won’t work and you still won’t vote, but you are still thinking about the process of voting. And maybe, just maybe, someday, after thinking about it long enough, you will change your mind and realize the tremendous importance to voting.