Question:
“How does the inevitable intersection of design and politics make you feel? Do you feel included, ignored, galvanized, patronized, disillusioned, or something else entirely? Perhaps you’re most interested from a historical perspective: is there some moment in the design of political messages that you find particularly interesting?”
Answer:
“Just like anything else in our world, design plays a major role in politics. Every step of a political campaign requires sufficient attention to marketing in order to best pitch their ideals to interest groups and the American people. Across political history, design has been used to inspire revolt against standing governments, belittle political opponents, and spread blatant lies into the eyes and ears of the people. While design and politics birth some amazing design, it isn’t as pure as other design marriages. The sheer corruption present in politics yields some illegitimate fruit when paired with design, a fair comparison being a nun having an affair with a prostitute.
A particular detail worth noting is the definitive prominence of good design across the left side of politics. Whereas that kind of attention and support appears rather absent in right-leaning politics. Being that major design hubs and creative opportunities are centered in major cities, this observation makes sense. The real mystery lies in how any major political faction can suffer so greatly from lackluster design and poor attention to detail in this regard. Even above the bipartisan level at the Central Intelligence Agency, we see their redesign as something more indicative of a poor appeal to teenage gamers and cybersecurity recruits than anything else.
Personally, I enjoy exploring design from a historical perspective. Being a fan of most things antique, vintage, retro, etc. has led me to gather influence from older examples of design. I believe this works to my benefit, where most might look towards trends, I tend to dust off trends of days gone by and remaster/pay homage to them through my designs. In a world so heavily centralized around electronics and the digital realm, I like to see where the new and the old can merge. That said, I’m a major fan of old campaign buttons across the entire political spectrum (think Eisenhower era design across local, state, and national levels). I’ve found that adopting these bold, eye-catching patterns and layouts to digital platforms has the potential to create some amazing pieces.”
