Voting is Sexy is a collaboratively designed, non-partisan, voting campaign, created through a ARTDES 300 studio class at the University of Michigan, Stamps school of Art and Design. I, and a class of my peers, under the direction of Prof. Hannah Smotrich and Prof. Stephanie Rowden, created a campaign to get our peers in the art school and across campus to vote in this 2018 midterm election. 

Voting is Sexy was more than just making some posters about voting. In this campaign we created informational installations in the Stamps art building, did presentations for classes to register students and answer questions, did pop-up events on campus to further inform and register students, and overall became experts about voting in the midterm election. We branded the campaign and learned how designed thinking is needed to run a campaign like this. We had to always fact check and make sure we were giving out accurate and thorough information about registering and what to do at the polls. Many of my peers around campus had never voted before, so we really became their source for basic information. 

My role in this campaign was on the graphic design team. The whole ViS team worked cross-collaboratively between sub-teams, so I was working on graphics that my team wanted to put up in the school, as well as graphics for digital and print that could be used on social media and at our events. Through this collaboration, I learned how to work on a long term project with a group of diverse team members. It was mostly artists and designers, but we also had students from the School of Business as well as the Michigan theater program. I learned how to create a flow of work and communication between these different people, and soon we were able to expect what the others would need. 

This type of social engagement work has really fueled what my goals are as a designer. I plan to get my Masters in Social Work so that I can use my design skills as a community organizer or working with NGOs. 

https://www.votingissexy2018.com/

https://www.instagram.com/votingissexy2018/