Except You

I attended the AIGA conference in Denver this past October. Command X, a sort of Project Runway for graphic designers was one of the highlights. The contestant's final challenge was to design a campaign to encourage young people (18-24) to vote. The winner, Nichelle Narcisi, designed a campaign which blew the judges away and even brought one of them to tears. No joke.

It was an interesting concept, drawn from people's fear of being excluded from the group. The idea was that instead of telling people why they should vote, that one should show them about all of the missed opportunities to affect change in important areas such as the economy and the way when they doesn't vote. The campaign also insinuates that voting is something that EVERYONE else is doing and that by not voting, you are excluding yourself from your peer group.

It didn't bring me to tears, but I agree that it would be an effective campaign. This is the link to an article in the Design Observer in case you want to check out the full campaign: http://www.designobserver.com/archives/029268.html