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Blog Post 12/4

— Did this experience change you personally in any way?

Definitely! This was the first time working in such a big collaborative manner over such an important issue. To have this collective goal and all equally share this similar passion was particularly unique and one that I think is extremely successful in a design setting, in order to make good work. I really valued this team experience and being able to work in smaller groups and then report back to other groups to work with different platforms and explore these areas. For example, changing larger wall graphics in smaller more bitesize pieces for the Instagram. It was also one of the first times working as a group with such strict deadlines, we couldn’t afford to delay putting out material due to the fast approaching dates. This idea of letting people down if we didn’t have material or weren’t organized was another massively motivating factor.

It also further made me realize my need to create design that attempts to solve problems or create commentary. For me, I feel unsatisfied creating art and design that doesn’t have this meaning behind it. It was extremely motivating receiving the good feedback throughout our campaign and just knowing people were responding well to it. Knowing that our group played some part in increasing the voter turnout by over 300% is such a sense of achievement, it makes me want to continue projects like this on with large societal impacts.

— Name one thing (or more!) that you will carry forward with you from this experience.

One thing I’ll carry on from this experience is that I think I work best in smaller groups where we can all share our ideas around a table and give each other in-depth feedback, I find this time valuable. I think this is helpful to know when thinking about workplace environments.

[stephvisblog]

1. Please read back through your blog and list all the things you did

After our class on the 11th of September, we started brainstorming ideas for both pop up events and activities we could do around campus to get the Voting Is Sexy message out. We brought these sketches to class on the 14th to critique. A couple of my ideas included painting the rock and as a pop-up idea have a couple desks.

The week commencing on the 17th of September we all began working on color palettes inside and outside class that we could use for the rest of the semester. Developing these color palettes was a really important step to ensuring that Voting Is Sexy became its own almost distinguishable brand. After some brainstorming outside of class, the graphics team, myself included, came together and sorted through palettes we thought were visually working. We decided on keeping a strong purple as our primary color, two strong secondary back up colors and a subtler accent color. I helped collate a file that we could share on the google doc so everyone had access to the specific hex codes so all the different team’s work would remain consistent. After class and over the weekend the graphics team began considering wall graphics that could be displayed around stamps that would be useful in both engaging with students and remind people of our presence. Over the weekend we shared our sketches online and were able to begin critiquing parts we thought were successful.

In the Tuesday class, the week commencing on the 24th of September, the graphics team critiqued the sketches in person and we were able to explain parts that might not have been easy to understand just from seeing online. We pinpointed the key ideas we thought would be most impressive as wall graphics and split off to work on these. I presented the idea of having an interactive map of the United States where anyone walking past could stick a pin in where they planned to vote. Each state had the specific dates for both sending in your absentee ballot/online (if that was an option) and attached coming off the map were QR codes linked to that state’s online application. This was also a means to subconsciously remind them that where they were putting their pin in is where they should be voting! I continued working on this over the weekend and the graphics team met up that Sunday to see everyone’s progress and start printing off some photos to put on the walls around stamps. It was also a chance to figure out where would be putting all these images up on the walls and in relation to one another/

The week commencing on the 1st of October I continued working on the interactive map and reorganizing information, keeping it as minimalist and understandable as possible as there was a lot of content being displayed. Ryan and I met up outside of class before Thursday to work on buttons to hand out at the lecture. In the Thursday class I worked on sketches and signs we could use for the lecture to encourage people to engage with our table and funny signs playing off some of our Voting Is Sexy puns. I completed two signs which we ended up printing and using.

The week commencing on the 8th of October, in the Tuesday class I helped work on signage for the lecture series that week, in addition to considering further button ideas. I wasn’t present in the Thursday class but helped before and after the lecture with registering people and engaging with stamps students.

The week commencing on the 15th of October I began working on the Stamps For Stamps Absentee Ballot box that we could place inside the office where students could post their absentee ballots and we would provide them with stamps. We created a simple graphic with a small explanation and covered a box with VOS colors. In Thursday’s class and over the weekend I created a post for the Instagram that broke down the five steps to absentee voting, based off a US letter size graphic we had pinned up around stamps. I simplified the information into 5 square graphics that could be posted on Instagram as a group that viewers could flick through. Each graphic presented the information in a fun screen size appropriate manner to summarize the dense information. Our absentee ballot group critiqued these graphics in our Sunday meeting.

The week commencing on the 22nd of October I finalized the graphics and sent them to Ryan ready to post on the Instagram. I then began creating handouts for the lecture on Thursday. These were the “don’t be spooked” flyers we could hand out during lecture reminding people of our Voting Is Sexy after hours, I also made these into candy size appropriate attachments. Over the weekend I worked on breaking down another graphic for the Instagram to encourage people to think about their plan for November 6th. Again, this was a five-part graphic which Instagram viewers could scroll between. The images encouraged people to consider which polling location they will vote at, how long it will take them to get there, when in the day they will vote, and who with.

The week commencing on the 29th of October I finished up this Instagram 5-part graphic and sent it to Ryan. I then proceeded to create another graphic for the Instagram to emphasize the point that you can’t take a selfie in the polling booth but to encourage people afterwards to emphasize them participating in voting.

2. From your current vantage point, what parts of your work are you most proud of and why?

I’m most proud of my Interactive Map graphic! To be completely honest, I think this was partially because I spent the longest on this graphic so I felt like I was able to achieve an overall better piece of work. I think what made me the proudest was to see how well it went down with students in Stamps. It was clear a lot of people were engaging with the graphic which was so exciting to see, and to see the pins increase over the time was so rewarding. I also think that it broke down a lot of complex information successfully which is so important when it comes to the topic of voting, as there’s so much information out there! Managing to simplify it in a more readable visual manner made the design clear to navigate and got people engaged and educated on their states deadlines.

3. When was voting the sexiest for you? Why?

Finding out the results in Michigan and realizing that the turnout among Michigan students had increased by such a large margin!! Also, the energy on campus of the day of the mid-terms made it feel like everyone was buzzing around excited to vote and informed on their decisions. Having my friends text me when they’d voted further confirmed the importance of what our class has been trying to do all semester!

4. What parts of our collective work did you feel was most impactful? Why?

I think having a presence at the lecture series almost every week and just being able to engage with the stamps community was very impactful. It was especially impactful seeing/hearing everyone’s reactions to our videos that we were able to play beforehand and to receive direct response this way. In addition, the work I made for the Instagram felt more impactful than other graphics purely in the sense that you could see people liking, commenting and sharing our material. Also, as I was logged into the Instagram account from my phone, I was able to receive notifications when people were viewing our profile/liking our content so It was especially impactful seeing how these numbers increased as the mid-terms got closer.

5. What surprised you?

One of the bigger surprises I found was actually how difficult it was to find out the most basic information regarding voting. For example, when researching for the map’s graphics having to find out that multiple states vary in time and date for certain deadlines and work out which states do and don’t have online registration seemed overly complex. Michigan purposely seemed to be making it hard for people to vote and find out essential information.

6. What disappointed you?

I think I was partially disappointed with the lack of time we had from the beginning of the semester up until the election and how that impacted the pressure on the class. Unfortunately, due to my current internship alongside of school work, being available outside of class to help at pop-up events and stay after class wasn’t extremely easy, therefore I was disappointed that I couldn’t help out in these other ways. I’m also such a perfectionist that it’s hard for me to submit work when I know there’s more I can do, but obviously there was time pressure to get out as much content before the mid-terms as possible, so I was disappointed slightly in myself that I couldn’t accept not everything was going to be perfect in my eyes. At the same time, I think if as a class we had set more concrete deadlines for certain graphics and had more of a structure for when certain material needed to go out the pressure could have been elevated

7. Do you think our class added something unique to the collective efforts around increasing voter participation? How would you describe our contribution?

I definitely think we added a unique spin surrounding increasing voter participation. I think playing off this phrase “Voting Is Sexy” was extremely successfully in both building our own cohesive brand/image but also advertising Voting as irresistible to our peers. Having videos play off these innuendos was an extremely comical way to go after a big issue and I think it successfully grabbed younger audience’s attention in the sense that it made you feel as if you weren’t WOKE if you weren’t exercising your right.

[stephvisblog]

What? what did I do?, 

Last week the graphic’s team worked on developing what was going to be displayed on the two big walls in Stamps. I specifically worked on the lower wall creating an interactive map where students could place their pins in their location where they were registered. The map also displayed the last dates for absentee voting/online registering specifically for all the states Stamps students were from. States in green represented states with online registering, and attached were QR codes that directly linked to that state’s online registering page, and states in grey represented those without online registering. 

The graphic’s team also met up on Sunday from 2pm-6pm to focus entirely on the top wall. We covered the top section of the wall in photos from artscapade and some meaningful phrases surrounding the power of voting.

So What?  what did I discover, learn, realize? 

Something I realized pretty quickly when working on my map design, is how important minimalization is. There’s so much information surrounding “how to vote/register”, which often bombards viewers, ultimately turning them off from voting/registering as soon as they become confused. Our focus was to keep everything as simple as possible and let the graphics speak for themselves. 

Now What? what are the implications of what I learned for what comes next? 

I think for the graphic’s team the next stage will be developing the step by step guide to registering in arrow-like increments- along the bottom wall. Hopefully, as we have slightly more time to work on this, the design will be less of a last-minute panic, and we can put more time into making them extremely clear, and as minimal as possible.

[stephvisblog]

Experimenting with merch! Temp tattoos coming your way! #votingissexy

[stephvisblog]

Grab a lollipop in Stamps today! And while you’re at it....why not REGISTER! TurboVote have made it incredibly easy to register and have the option to sign up for updates/reminders of all the important dates regarding the upcoming mid-terms! Visit: bit.ly/TurboVoteStamps #itdoesntsuck #votingissexy

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Pre-collaboration Reflection

What do you anticipate will be your biggest challenges with collaboration this semester? 

I think one of the most obvious challenges for every one involving collaborative projects is making sure everyone's voice is equally heard and respected- even if you don’t necessarily agree with someone else’s approach. I like to think I’m an open-minded person and I do enjoy bouncing ideas off other people. I’m a firm believer that often the best ideas can come from simply discussing your thoughts. That being said, I’m also a perfectionist and very much like the end product to be perfect, but what I may consider to perfect others may not. I suspect my biggest challenge will be finding a balance between these two.

What strategies do you think you might try? 

I think remaining as open-minded as possible is key to any collaborative project and understand the goal is to make sure everyone is equally as happy with the final project as possible. Another approach could be that each team member focuses on one specific area, and then comes together to produce the bigger picture. Perhaps having loose guidelines surrounding type/colors/style could help coordinate a theme but then it’s up to each individual to follow their ideas.

Are there structures you have encountered in previous contexts that you think could be useful for our class to use? 

Yes! I think having specific assignments for everyone is really important to make sure everyone is contributing an equal amount as well as having their individual input.