Designing for Activists
Leading up to the election and the days after, I’ve been volunteering my design time and skills for Eleven Three, a bipartisan non-profit that supports election integrity organizations like Civic Alliance and Choose Democracy.
I responded to one of their calls for design help. Impressed by their professionalism and brilliant focus, I told them to reach out directly for anything they needed.
The majority of the work was creating simple, bold graphics for social media. Speed was more important than precision — a significant change from the corporate work I’m used to. The design wasn’t treated as something precious, needing rounds of approvals or input from three levels of leadership. Adrenaline fueled decisiveness. Layouts designed for simplicity and quick copy changes. The effectiveness relied on the messaging, and the networking of the people distributing it.
What impressed me most was that they were two steps ahead of everything I was seeing online leading up to the election. While my Instagram feed was full of posts about early voting, Eleven Three was messaging against efforts to stop counting votes and misinformation about the outcome being final on Election Day.
One of its partner groups, Choose Democracy, was monitoring signs that the administration might refuse to accept the outcome of a fair election. They needed time-sensitive posts at their fingertips, preparing for anything that could happen, or did happen. Because it was social media, assets were shared minutes after texting them to the network, and posted on the Instagram feeds of notable people I highly respect, which was surreal in itself (shout-outs to Ijeoma Oluo, Van Jones and The Ellen Show!)
Immediately following election night, the team at Eleven Three delivers a call-to-action to designers and illustrators to submit their own visual take on the message “Count Every Vote.” The aim was to flood social media with as much content as possible.
Because of the urgency around the issue, it was like a reality competition quick-challenge, and notable designers like Oliver Jeffers, Yves Behar and Tycho were attached to the effort. Below are some favorites that came in:
It is a privilege to be in the company of brilliant minds, working towards a shared mission. While I often tell young designers not to work for free, I also tell them emotional fulfillment is greater than the paycheck.
