Design majors "Get Out the Vote" at MVNU

MVNU’s junior graphic design majors are taking part in a national campaign to encourage college students to vote in the upcoming election.

The original campaign, titled “Get Out the Vote,” is an annual project by The Professional Association of Design.

Graphic designers from all over the country submit their campaign posters on the website, AIGA.org, to be seen, downloaded and hung nationwide. Once a poster is online, anyone can use it to promote the election.

Hundreds of campaigns are already uploaded to the website. Lauren Dixon, a junior graphic designer, said her class is benefitting from the project.

“We’ve researched what’s been done, like the campaign posters created by other designers,” Dixon said. “We are using those for inspiration.”

Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Margaret Allotey-Pappoe said she hopes the assignment helps students find their voice in the world of design.

“As designers, how can we participate and become relevant in society?” Allotey-Pappoe asks her students. “I want to help students understand our role as designers and how we inform.”

When designing her campaign, Dixon did not want to hide her intentions.

“My campaign is raw, and I tried to be blunt,” she said. “I want it to just say, ‘hey, vote.’”

The most important part for the students, Allotey-Pappoe said, is to stay politically unbiased as they design their campaign posters.

“Our goal is to inform, not to persuade,” she said. “We are not taking sides.”

Allotey-Pappoe says the long term goal of this project is “young designers trying to inflict change among young people.”

The 16 students participating in the project will display their campaign designs all over campus this weekend and early next week for the MVNU student body to see.