Politically Informed Design

Jessica Alba in 'Declare Yourself' photo by: Mark Lidell

One of the types of political branding that effects design the world over is the issue of voting. Many countries still don't have a fair voting system, the right to vote or any form of voting at all. However in countries like New Zealand and the States we have a fair and democratic right to vote.


A campaign in which politically informed design was evident was the 'Declare Yourself' campaign of the United States, which reached full peak in late 08 and early 09. The campaign was to try and get young people of the voting age to register to vote. It featured many celebrities including Jessica Alba as pictured above. The images were designed so that the models in them were 'silenced' this was usually due to bonds or gags. The slogan was 'only you can silence yourself'.


I think that the campaign was well designed and represented/tried to combat an important issue currently in our world, because as mentioned above many countries do not have a fair voting system or any form of democracy.


The design itself is a play on these issues, because in some countries it is not uncommon for people with differing political opinions to be silenced.