AIGA GOTV Poster Design

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This project consisted of designing a bipartisan poster for the AIGA's Get Out The Vote project. The project is part of their Design for Democracy initiative. Initially, when I approached the project, I wanted something that seemed fun and attention-grabbing and made voting seem fun, rather than a message that made viewers feel obligated by some social or ethical responsibility. While the latter type of messages are effective, I wanted to approach it differently. I came up with the idea to do a play on the "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" nursery rhyme in a way that symbolized both parties. By exchanging the word "vote" for the animal sounds in the original song, I intended to create a repetition that was eye-catching without being overwhelming. Over the course of the project, I tried a variety of layouts and typefaces to try and achieve that perfect balance between attention-getting and aggressive. I finally landed on a combination of fonts and a diverse layout and a simple color scheme that brought the whole poster together into one cohesive visual.

Variation One: creamy yellow background was added as an alternative to a completely white background. The text uses a handwritten font for a child-like and friendly feel. This version was ditched because the repetition of the red "vote" seemed abrasive and slightly aggressive.

Variation Two: The blue background was another attempt at a non-white background and the block-letter font gives the poster a more bold and eye-catching look. This version was ditched because it felt too busy and overwhelming. The same issue with the repeated instances of the word "vote" here made the poster seem overtly aggressive and in-your-face.

Final Design: the white background was implemented with a low-opacity star design in the background to avoid dead space in the poster. A combination of the bold block-letter font and the handwritten font were used to create a pleasing balance between bold and friendly. The color scheme is a simple red, white, and blue, to emphasize the design simplicity and to aid in the bipartisan message. The overall theme of the poster is reminiscent of "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" with the donkey and the elephant replacing traditional farm animals.