AIGA Get out the Vote

2016
Case study + impact report

Design for prepared by Laetitia Wolff


Democracy AIGA director of strategic initiatives, April 2017
 Overall, 30 chapters
hosted 50+ GOTV
events
to reach 15,000
members
in less than a year.
(Not to mention
millions of eyeballs
Design for
via media partners.)
Democracy
 Table of contents
1. Initiative overview…….………………….…………………… page 6
2. Design challenges……………………….……….…………..… page 15
3. Deliverables and solution

Part one: Chapter activation……………………………..….…..
 page 23
Part two: Latino campaign activation.………………….….….
 page 51
4. Outcome & impact
Part one: Chapter engagement and media impact ……..…..
 page 74
Part two: Latino campaign reach …………………………..….. page 89
Annex

Design for
Democracy
 The GOTV campaign

AIGA designers use design as a tool

to raise awareness and engage
citizens, including the Latino
community, in the democratic
process.

Design for
Democracy
 Participating chapters
AIGA Arizona | AIGA Atlanta | AIGA Boston
AIGA Chicago | AIGA Cincinnati | AIGA Cleveland
AIGA Colorado | AIGA Detroit | AIGA El Paso
AIGA Jacksonville | AIGA Kansas City | AIGA Memphis
AIGA Miami | AIGA Minnesota | AIGA Nashville
AIGA New York | AIGA Oklahoma | AIGA Philadelphia
AIGA Pittsburgh | AIGA Raleigh | AIGA Richmond
AIGA Salt Lake City | AIGA San Antonio | AIGA St. Louis
AIGA Seattle | AIGA Upstate New York | AIGA Washington DC AIGA
West Michigan | AIGA Wichita | AIGA Wisconsin

Design for
Democracy
 INITIATIVE OVERVIEW

Design for
Democracy
 AIGA Design for Democracy

This civic engagement program wields the power of design

to motivate the American public to register and turn out to
vote in the 2016 general election, as well as local elections
to come.
This year, AIGA’s Get Out the Vote program is in partnership
for the first time with the League of Women Voters.

Design for I / INITIATIVE OVERVIEW_GOTV_Mission

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 AIGA’s oldest initiative

AIGA launched Get Out the Vote in 2000 as part of its Design for
Democracy initiative. It’s a campaign held every general election year
that invites designers to create nonpartisan posters to inspire
Americans to vote in the upcoming election.
AIGA recognizes that good design makes choices clear. Design for Democracy
works to enhance the entire voting process–from registration to the polling place
experience–and the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission has endorsed AIGA’s
recommendations for redesigning election ballots to optimize voter participation.

Design for Overview_context

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 The League of Women Voters

LWV has been a respected leader in the voter

engagement field for over 95 years, and is active in all
50 states and nearly 800 communities. League
volunteers conduct nonpartisan voter registration,
education, and mobilization year-round with the goal
of engaging millions of voters in local, state, and
federal elections, and ensuring that they have fair and
equal access to the vote. Visit VOTE411.org to find
out about upcoming elections in your community.

Design for
Democracy Overview_program partner
 Civic, media, and 

advocacy partners
• Edward James Olmos • Mi Familia Vota
• Estrella TV / LBI • Naleo
Media • Neenah Paper and O’Neil
• Fox Sports Printing
• iKahan Media • The city of Phoenix Standard
• KCET Vision
• The League of • Telemundo 52 / NBC
Women Voters • Tu voto latino
• The city of Los • TV Azteca
Angeles • Univision Communications

Design for Overview_program partners

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 Key project players
Latino activation
Chapter activation
 - Augustín Garza
Get Out the Vote task force: 
 - Edward James Olmos
- Los Angeles Mayor Eric
- Jenn Visocky O’Grady, national
Garcetti
board member (AIGA Cleveland)
- Phoenix Mayor

- Frances Yllana (AIGA Dallas)
- Karen Kurycki (AIGA Greg Stanton
Jacksonville) 
 - Arizona Secretary of
- Lee Zelenak (AIGA Chicago) State Michelle Reagan
- Sarah Rutherford and Vanessa
Omolivie Okojie (AIGA Cleveland)
- Antionette Carroll (AIGA Saint
Louis)

Designer Christine Wisnieski

(AIGA Cleveland), brand guidelines
designer, produced both digital and
print assets for AIGA and it’s 70+
chapters

Design for Overview_program partners

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 A low budget project

$5,000 from AIGA

Covered expenses for exhibitions, t-shirts, and other swag 

Printing was pro bono, courtesy of Neenah Paper and O’Neil Printing

80% of the participating chapters spent less than $1,000 on their

activation project

Design for Overview_budget

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 Timeline of key milestones

Winter 2015-Summer 2016
April 15, 2015–January 15, 2016: General planning and review of previous campaigns
December 2015–February 2016: GOTV 2016 brand collateral development
- Studio of Christine Wisnieski hired
- National in-kind sponsorships acquired with Neenah Paper and O’Neil Printing
January 2016: Partnership with League of Women Voters established
- Medalists, Fellows, and Design Leaders identified for curated poster exhibition
- GOTV toolkit planning begins with task force
February 15, 2016: On President's Day 2016 AIGA officially launched the Get out the Vote campaign
April 2016: Agustín Garza and Edward James Olmos’ GOTV poster in development for video message with Latino TV
networks
May 11, 2016: Bloomberg News and Bloomberg TV features the symbolic participation of Milton Glaser with his poster,
“To Vote is to Exist”
June 2016: Functioning toolkit template presented at Leadership Retreat
July 7, 2016: Double inauguration of exhibits at Cleveland State University and at the Philadelphia Capitol
July 18-21, 2016: Republican National Convention in Cleveland
July 25-28, 2016: Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia

Design for
Democracy Overview_timeline
 Timeline of key milestones
Summer-Fall 2016
August 22, 2016: Press Conference in Los Angeles with Mayor Garcetti: Edward James Olmos presents
alongside Agustín Garza and Julie Anixter with Voto Latino and NALEO
August 26-November 8, 2016: KCET station and its digital KCETLink station run the 2017 AIGA GOTV
PSA featuring Edward James Olmos, as well as AIGA PSAs repurposed from GOTV 2012
September 26, 2016: Facebook Live event with Edward James Olmos in collaboration with AIGA
Arizona, featuring Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Arizona Secretary of State Michelle Reagan
September 27, 2016: National Voter Registration Day celebrated
October 18-20, 2016: GOTV exhibit during the AIGA Design Conference in Las Vegas; it was handpicked
in a survey as the #1 benefit from the conference
November 7, 2016: Last reminder to encourage designers to go to 411.org for voting information
November 8, 2016: GOTV gallery closes with a record-breaking 727 posters filed from AIGA members
January 2017: TV Azteca nominated for a Peabody Award for “Este año tu voto es cosa seria”
campaign

Design for Overview_timeline

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 DESIGN CHALLENGE +
NEED ASSESSMENT

Design for
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Design for Graphics courtesy of AIGA Cleveland

Democracy Jenn Visocky O’Grady, Sarah Rutherford, and Christine Wisnieski on content and art direction
Design for
Democracy AIGA Cleveland exhibit, graphics courtesy of Christine Wisnieski
 Program challenge #1

How do we get designers to be more civic,

and really activate the program at chapter
level?


How do we particularly encourage student
members to vote?

Design for
Democracy
Design for Source: U.S Census Bureau; Graphics courtesy of AIGA Cleveland

Democracy Jenn Visocky O’Grady, Sarah Rutherford, and Christine Wisnieski on content and art direction
Source: U.S Census Bureau: Voting and Registration
 Program challenge #2

How do designers raise awareness of the

importance of voting for the Latino
population, and engage that segment of the
U.S. in the democratic process?
Overall, only 48% of eligible Hispanic voters turned out to vote
in 2012, down from 49.9% in 2008 (Pew Research Center)

Design for
Democracy
 “I want to see the hispanic electorate
thrive beyond a 75% turnout. I’m
committing my design talent to
inspire a much greater participation
of the hispanic community in the
political life of the country.”

–Agustín Garza, LA-based artist and designer

Design for
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 DESIGN DELIVERABLES
Part one: Chapter activation

Design for
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 The GOTV poster gallery

727 posters were submitted by AIGA members in

2016 vs:

212 in 2012

319 in 2008
 GOTV poster gallery
A legacy component of this campaign, the
gallery was updated directly through our
backend system with a submission
checklist that was adapted from previous
years. The poster template footer was
updated to include the Vote411 logo,
reduce excess verbiage about the
campaign, and tie back to Design for
Democracy.

Each poster appears in the member gallery

as a thumbnail image (with name, title,
and chapter), linking to its own detail page
for full 11x17 download. This year we
added the option for members to adapt
their poster to square format, optimal for
Instagram.

Design for
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 GOTV brand guidelines
An Exhibition
of Design for
Civic Engagement

OUT

[date–date]
Art Gallery
at City Hall
[date–date]
Painted Bride
Art Center

Part of Design for Democracy

Design for The GOTV Branding & Promotional Assets Guidelines included sample social media posts, editable vector graphics, 

Democracy promotional posters and postcards, exhibition graphics, voting fact sheet and…
 GOTV brand guidelines
AIGA recruited designer
Christine Wisniewski to create
promotional assets for AIGA’s
high-impact marketing and
promotional campaign, as well as
additional materials to support
the organization’s local chapters,
200+ student groups, key
influencers and tastemakers: all
aimed to spike awareness,
interest, excitement, and
ultimately, participation in this
year’s program.

Design for
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 Q+A with Christine Wisnieski
What was the inspiration for the GOTV branding guidelines you designed for
chapters?

Our hope with the GOTV campaign in general was to create a system that could expand and
contract. A system that designers could give life to, could expand upon, and would be excited
by. We believed delivering a guide that outlined the basics of the system would provide AIGA
chapters a foundation to work from and customize to suit their needs.

Did you have to use blue and red :)?

No but yes. While we explored different variations on a traditional palette, a more classic
combination felt most appropriate and recognizable for a direction rooted in icon flag shapes.

In your opinion, what worked best with the branding of the program this year?

We created a campaign that, we hoped, would be basic at its core but come to life in buildout.
Use of iconic shapes, bold saturated color, and uncomplicated typography helped us to share
simple yet important messages. A modular layout offered a flexible system for a variety of
mediums and messages all while remaining graphic and bold. This system easily morphed
into a three dimensional environment and exhibition space.

What would you have done differently?

We may have created a more stand alone GOTV “logotype.” We felt balancing the multi-level
messages of the campaign posed challenges initially but once we moved into exhibition,
message and art seemed to flow together more easily.

Design for
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 GOTV toolkit
The task force, led by Jenn Visocky O’Grady and a committee
of chapter leaders and experts including Antionette Carroll,
Karen Kurycki, Frances Yllana, and Lee Zelenek provided
assistance to AIGA’s 70 chapters and 250+ student groups to
facilitate local, non-partisan, engaging, and effective program
ideas and activation models.

Facts and statistics were pulled from the most reliable expert sources
and policy centers on best practices in election strategy and voter
behavior (including youth and gender-based participation habits). Most
of this information was folded into the animated GIF (see following
page), the online toolkit, as well as exhibit graphics.

Design for Deliverables_chapter activation

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 GOTV animated messaging

Design for The animation video designed by Vanessa Omolivie Okojie (CSU design alumni and current Kent State MFA student), 

Democracy working with Sarah Rutherford and Christine Wisnieski on content and art direction
 GOTV toolkit activation ideas
Roller derby punk parties | High school workshops + curriculum to
create voters for life | Elementary school poster making class
Board phone drive about voting | Flash cards to explain local, state, and
national politics with simple infographics | Create a civic
engagement internship within city hall | One-hour social
innovation blitzes addressing voter apathy | Storefront popup exhibits |
Voting button or link on every chapter’s website
Social media graphics with stats on voting, democracy, and ballot
design | Activate National Voter Registration Day, September
27, 2016 | Educate college + university students about where to vote
Collaborate with other civic organizations who’ve already done a ton of
legwork | Target young people | Focus on grassroots efforts | Pay
attention to the language we are using…

Design for Deliverables_chapter activation

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 The microsite-toolkit:
https://aigagotv.com/

Deliverables_chapter activation
AIGA Atlanta produced “I’m Fixin’ to Vote” a social media campaign
Design for
Democracy AIGA Nashville launched a call for posters from its local members
AIGA Upstate NY produced a student voting guide
Design for Deliverables_chapter activation
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 Special exhibitions
Jenn Visocky O’Grady spearheaded a by-invitation exhibit
concurrent with AIGA’s general call for participation to members.
The final collection of special edition posters featured national
board members plus select Medalists and Fellows invited to
submit their GOTV designs at a larger scale (22x34”). The initial
plan was to gather 45 posters, recognizing the 45th President
election.

We ended up with 50 posters (and live files), which were sent to O’Neil
Printing to be produced in eight sets for exhibitions in Cleveland,
Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Las Vegas, as well as for our own AIGA Archives,
the League of Women Voters, and the Library of Congress.

Design for Deliverables_chapter activation

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 Thank you for lending
your vision and influence
to AIGA’s 2016 campaign,
Get Out the Vote.
We appreciate your time
and leadership in this
pivotal election year.
Exhibitions in Cleveland,
Philadelphia, Las Vegas...
We are currently organizing three
exhibitions featuring original 2016 Get Out
the Vote posters, some curated from the
all-member campaign collection, and some
by invitation (like this one) to design leaders.
Confirmed exhibitions will take place in
Cleveland (July 2016, during the RNC) in
Philadelphia (also in July, during the DNC),
and in Las Vegas (October 17–19, at the
AIGA Design Conference). Exhibition
graphics and didactic materials will also be
made available to our 70 chapters should
they like to “pop up” their own.
• Deadline is Monday, May 23
• One large-format GOTV poster design
communicating a voter-mobilizing call to
action through nonpartisan visuals and
copy, with a title and brief (150 words
max) description of your design as a
separate document.
• A high resolution, packaged InDesign file
for your poster using the template
attached in your invitation email.
• Poster size is 22 x 34" plus 0.125 inch
bleed.
• Convert all type to outline.
• Provide your credit in the branded banner
where indicated (name, city, state).
Design for
Democracy
Submissions
When submitting, please email:
Aidan O’Connor, aidan_oconnor@aiga.org
Questions
Any questions about the project or
assistance, please contact:
Aidan O’Connor, director of initiatives
aidan_oconnor@aiga.org
212 710 3131
Our civic engagement initiative
wields the power of design to
motivate the American public
to register and turn out to vote
in the 2016 general election, as
well as local elections to come.
While the campaign is
open to all AIGA members to
contribute nonpartisan posters
for display and distribution
through AIGA.org, we are
inviting your design to appear
in one additional aspect of the
campaign, with its own
format and deadline.
Rights and reproduction
By submitting a poster, you certify that
you created or have ownership of the
work—including the right to distribute
stock images and fonts used in your
design. You retain the copyright and
agree to distribute under a Creative
Commons “Attribution-NoDerivs”
license:
creativecommons.org/licenses by-nd/3.0/
You grant to AIGA the right to use
accepted work for reproduction in posters
for the Get Out the Vote initiative; in
publications; in exhibitions; on its website;
and for educational and AIGA-related
noncommercial promotional purposes.
Program Partner
The League of Women Voters
Deliverables_chapter activation
 GOTV exhibition launch

The campaign kicked off this year with “To

Vote is to Exist,” a poster from iconic
designer Milton Glaser. Glaser, co-founder
of New York magazine, creator of the famed
“I ♥ NY” logo, and an AIGA Medalist, is one
of the world’s most celebrated and prolific
designers and a vocal leader and activist for
using design as a tool for change.

“Full participation in the electoral TO

VOTE
process protects our ideals,” says
Glaser. Glaser’s work joined a collection of
posters from AIGA members and IS TO
influencers from across the country,
including: Sean Adams, Antionette Carroll,
Drew Davies, Agustin Garza, Kit Hinrichs,
EXIST
Jenny Lam, Marcia Lausen, and Paula
Scher to name a few.
AIGA’s civic engagement initiative, part of Design for Democracy.
Learn more: aiga.org/vote In partnership with
Poster design by Milton Glaser, New York, New York the League of Women Voters
 Cleveland State University hosted the inaugural stop of the touring exhibition
Design for Location: at the Galleries at CSU, 1307 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
Democracy Exhibition dates: July 7-30
First Location: Art Gallery at City Hall, City of Philadelphia’s
Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy,

Exhibition Dates: July 1–29
Second location: Painted Bride Art Center, an arts community performance and exhibit space in old Philadelphia
Exhibition Dates: July 7–August 6
AIGA produced a video during the AIGA Philadelphia chapter opening, interviewing key stakeholders
About AIGA Design About AIGA Seattle
for Democracy We are a community of creative pioneers,
harnessing the power of design to build a better
It’s an election year, and politics dominates the

news cycle. How can designers and creatives get
involved? Can we use design to redefine interac-
tions between our government and its citizens?
Can we design a better future for our democracy?
AIGA Seattle is exploring these questions
Design
future. We constantly explore and leverage the
physical and digital landscapes, by engaging
people through design-related programming.
We are designers, strategists, writers,
developers, students, educators, directors and
volunteers. We call the Pacific Northwest Home.

for Democracy
through local programming for the AIGA
We are AIGA Seattle.
National Initiative, Design for Democracy. Since
1998, Design for Democracy has collaborated seattle.aiga.org
with researchers, designers and policymakers
to achieve AIGA’s goal of demonstrating the
value of design by doing valuable things.
AIGA Seattle's Design

House of Learning
We hope to see you in June at the next event in
the series, Design Swarm! for Democracy Team
Programming Director Committee Chair
Jenna Blake Rebecca Wall
Special Thanks Committee
Anna Baker Krista Serianni
Carl Silverberg Kristian Kofoed
Christina Nghiem Laura Avery Tuesday March 29th, 2016
James Holt
Jonathan Duyker
Maggie Fowler
Pete Albertson
General Assembly—Seattle Tower
Ken Zinser
Special thanks to General Assembly for
providing the venue — www.generalassemb.ly

Special thanks to Litho Craft for printing

the event program — www.lithocraft.com

Design for Chapter activation - Seattle

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Design for Chapter activation - Seattle
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Chapter activation - Boston
 Google Art project

Following the success of our inaugural online exhibition in collaboration

with Google Art Project (“African American Culture and History: an
AIGA Design Journey”), Google invited AIGA to create a new collection
with the theme of elections. The selection presented 45 posters
including medalists, various design leaders and members.

Google analytics since July 13, 2016:

• 1,104 unique page views on http://www.aiga.org/get-out-the-
vote-2016-google-art-project
• 1,917 unique page views on https://www.google.com/
culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/6QIC0UI0SaBaKQ

Design for II / DESIGN SOLUTION

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 Google Art project

https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/6QIC0UI0SaBaKQ
Design for
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 DESIGN DELIVERABLES
Part two: Latino activation

Design for III / DESIGN SOLUTION

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Deliverables_latino activation
 The Latino poster

AIGA’s national board member Agustín Garza brought his poster to life. Los
Angeles-based Garza activated his poster, in collaboration with actor and activist
Edward James Olmos and photographer Dennys Ilic, into a multimedia campaign
reaching millions of Spanish-speaking households via Azteca global media group.

“I feel enormous empathy and respect for people who leave their country, their family, their
language, their food, their home in search of a better life. Latinos are among these extraordinary
people who make up nearly 20% of the U.S. population. It is imperative that such a significant
number of citizens show up to vote, regardless of their political preference,” says Garza.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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 “We want the Latino voter to
know that their vote is
meaningful, valuable, and a
determining factor for the
future of this country.”

–Edward James Olmos , actor/activist

Design for
Democracy
 Partner in crime: Edward James Olmos

Olmos has participated in ‘Get out the vote’ events for

almost 40 years. In 1978, Olmos was doing a play called
“Zoot Suit” in Los Angeles when Willie Velásquez, who
launched the Southwest Voter Registration Education
Project (www.svrep.org), approached him for help.
Since then, Olmos has continued to lend his name and
support to nonpartisan efforts that encourage everyone
to register and vote.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

Democracy
From left to right: Edward James Olmos (actor/activist), Agustin Garza (designer), and Dennys Illic (photographer)
on the shoot of “Este año tu voto es cosa seria”
 GOTV across platforms
During this pivotal general election year and as the party
conventions were drawing all media attention, voter
participation amongst Latinos still lagged. Overall, 48% of
eligible Hispanic voters turned out to vote in 2012, down from
49.9% in 2008.

(Pew Research Center)

“Este año tu voto es cosa seria” (This year your vote is a serious matter) is
more than a poster: it’s a national, non-partisan Spanish-language voter
education campaign that ran from August through Election Day on
multiple hispanic TV channels, bus shelters, benches, billboards, and in
sports arenas and kiosks.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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 “Este ano tu voto es coas seria” aired as 5’, 10’ and 15-seconds PSAs on Azteca TV and other hispanic channels
Design for
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 GOTV on TV Azteca

Three different versions of the PSA campaign “Este Año! Tu Voto Es

Cosa Seria” (5, 10, and 15 seconds) were scheduled and shown on
average 36 times daily, non-stop for 4 months. That is over 4,300
times, mainly on prime time.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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 “Now more than ever, it is imperative that
U.S. Latinos exercise their civic right and duty
to vote and have their voices heard. Azteca
America has a long-standing commitment to
inform, educate, and empower our viewers
and the Hispanic community overall. We
greatly support the important efforts of
AIGA’s ‘Get Out the Vote’.”

– Manuel Abud, president and CEO of Azteca America

Design for
Democracy
James Edward Olmos was interviewed many times about his latino vote advocacy, using “Este año tu voto es cosa seria,”

on Azteca TV and other hispanic channels
 From L.A. to Miami
As we approached the registration deadline and the final elections,
there were a few critical states where the vote could swing either way.
Agustín Garza encouraged chapters to spread the Latino campaign
within the states with a high concentration of Latinos (California,
Texas, Florida), inviting them to do what he called “surgical”
activations.

Select AIGA chapter leaders were enlisted to take on the GOTV Latino
campaign further: AIGA Miami leveraged the existing campaign assets,
edited content as needed, adapted the files for local production, found
funding, and approached local suppliers.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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Excerpt from the AIGA Miami chapter activation plan, which included demographics research and an ambitious media plan
“I personally wanted to urge a key voting
demographic (Latinos in South Florida) to
consider the weight and power of their
vote. AIGA's "Tu Voto" campaign was an
incredible platform from which to do so.
I'm grateful and proud of the work our
board and volunteers did to
mobilize this campaign.”

– Rebecca White, vice president of AIGA Miami

Design for
Democracy The AIGA Miami chapter activation featured guerilla-style wild posting
 The AIGA Miami chapter activation featured collaborations with small businesses, encouraged to place the Garza poster in their shop windows
Design for
Democracy
 GOTV at the urban scale

Agustín Garza explored and encouraged other tactics to

activate the message get out the vote at the urban scale, such
as display screens in public transportation, bus cards, outdoor
print and digital billboards, and bus shelters.

Ben Monterroso, executive director of Mi Familia Vota, one of the most

influential latino advocacy groups, helped fund the activation’s outdoor
expenses (approximately $15,000) in Los Angeles and provided
enormous leverage and information resources.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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 With the support of the City of Los Angeles’ media planning department Agustin Garza managed to feature
Design for the Este año campaign on bus cards, but also on outdoor media, bus shelters and public benches
Democracy
Design for Thanks to Agustin Garza’s continued efforts, the Este año campaign reached audiences live on soccer stadiums, 

Democracy during games that are televised nationally. The AIGA logo was included on the stadium’s digi-board.
Design for The AIGA Miami chapter activation featured billboards at heavily trafficked urban streets, (pictured) SW 27th Ave, Miami
Democracy
 GOTV and the City of L.A.

On Monday, August 22, 2016, in the El Pueblo neighborhood of

Los Angeles, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the launch of “Este
Año tu Voto es Cosa Seria” in partnership with AIGA and a
collective of non-profit entities: including NALEO Educational
Fund, Mi Familia Vota, and the League of Women Voters, The
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), and other
grassroots organizations as well as representatives from the
Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.

Design for Deliverables_latino activation

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 LA Press conference guests included: Mayor Eric Garcetti; Edward James Olmos, Actor/Director;
Design for Julie Anixter, Executive Director, AIGA and Agustin Garza, AIGA LA;
Democracy Sandra Perez, National Director of Civic Engagement, NALEO Educational Fund;
Ben Monterroso, Executive Director, Mi Familia Vota
 OUTCOME + IMPACT
Part one: Chapter engagement
and media impact

Design for
Democracy
 GOTV poster submissions

The Get Out The Vote had a record-breaking participation

statewide throughout the chapters. There were 70+ chapters

that contributed to the Open Water gallery. The gender
representation in submissions was split nearly in half
between male and female.

727 completed submissions

89 from Philadelphia (12%)
65 from DC (8.94%)
60 from New York (8.25%)
10 a small number from students

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

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 GOTV participation
Overall, 30 chapters (43% of our network at the time) hosted
GOTV events–from pop-up poster shows to pizza parties, Design-A-
Thon, and gallery exhibits to community partnership programs, videos,
and panel discussions. In total these chapters reached close to 15,000
AIGA members, out of our 25,000.
AIGA Arizona / AIGA Atlanta / AIGA Boston
AIGA Chicago / AIGA Cincinnati / AIGA Cleveland
AIGA Colorado /AIGA Detroit / AIGA El Paso
AIGA Jacksonville / AIGA Kansas City /AIGA Memphis
AIGA Miami /AIGA Minnesota /AIGA Nashville
AIGA New York /AIGA Oklahoma / AIGA Philadelphia
AIGA Pittsburgh / AIGA Raleigh /AIGA Richmond
AIGA Salt Lake City / AIGA San Antonio / AIGA St. Louis
AIGA Seattle / AIGA Upstate New York / AIGA Washington DC
AIGA West Michigan / AIGA Wichita / AIGA Wisconsin

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

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 Impact on the League:
Communications

Nationwide, more than 4.5 million visitors on VOTE411.org, the

League’s nonpartisan voter education website. VOTE411.org was
featured on every single AIGA Vote poster, the PSAs, and other
campaign elements.
On Facebook, LWV promoted its partnership with AIGA at least four
times in 2016, reaching our more than 85,000 followers each time
and leveraging hundreds of “shares.”
On Twitter, LWV regularly promoted the AIGA partnership through
the year, reaching out 15,000+ followers each time.

Design for Impact_media engagement

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 For the League:
new community engagement
LWV sent targeted messages to its affiliates nationwide, encouraging them
to make use of the posters as well as to reach out to local AIGA chapters to
plan voter engagement events.
Dozens of local LWV affiliates utilized AIGA Vote poster designs to
encourage citizens to get out the vote.
A number of collaborative activations were put on together by local LWV
and AIGA affiliates (78% of chapters connected with LWV).
LWV provided voter registration at a special event convened by the Mayor
of Los Angeles, promoting the AIGA Vote program and ensuring
significant outreach to Spanish-speaking voters.

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

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 GOTV in the press
Overall, AIGA GOTV campaign was listed in a dozen design
publications and general press titles, online and print, reaching
millions of impressions, including interviews of Milton Glaser in
Bloomberg Business Week and Bloomberg TV; and interviews of
Agustín Garza and James Edward Olmos on TV Azteca.

Other publications included:

Cynopsis / Design Observer / Design

Week, UK / Dexigner / Dezeen /
Eye on Design / GDUSA (print and
digital version) / Los Angeles Daily News
/Marie-Claire / Media Life Magazine /
mediapost.com / PRINT / Quartz /Slate /
Takepart / TED / ideas.com

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

Democracy
 Social media engagement
Engagement on social media, as conceived by the task force, was a
critical strategy to amplify the campaign. Visual assets were provided
in the toolkit and shared with all chapters who often developed their
own campaigns on their respective channels. 

AIGA’s social media coverage included poster highlights on Twitter,
special features on Instagram, and a Facebook Live event.

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

Democracy
 Social media engagement

Design for Impact_media engagement

Democracy
 AIGA’s first Facebook Live
event
On September 26, 2017, a day before the last
voting registration day, AIGA’s first-ever
Facebook Live chat featured actor Edward
James Olmos. This event was produced in
partnership with Mi Familia Vota and took place
virtually on Facebook, and physically at the
Arizona Capitol Museum, where AIGA
Arizona’s Get out the Vote exhibit was up until
November 30.

Moderated by AIGA member Chris Leone, with

AIGA Arizona President Liz Magura and
Francisco Heredia of Mi Familia Vota as
respondents, guest speakers included Edward
James Olmos, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, and
Arizona Secretary of State Michelle Reagan, all
gathered in the Old Senate Chamber on the
third floor of the museum, along with several
Spanish-language media outlets.

12K people reached

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

Democracy
 GOTV on KCET: Media impact

KCET invited AIGA to repurpose some of the 2008 video-based PSAs to run several hundred times
Design for on their channels Aug-Nov 2016
Democracy
 GOTV on KCET: media impact
- On the L.A.’s local KCET station and the digital KCETLink station (seen
by over 1.8 million unique viewers in 11 counties monthly), the
following PSAs were featured between August 26 and November 8:

AIGA’s “Excuse” ran 206 times*

AIGA’s “So Vote” ran 190 times*
AIGA’s “Este año…” PSA with Edward James Olmos 280 times

- On our satellite station Link TV (DirectTV 375/Dish Network 9410),

which covers 36 million viewing households, the following were
featured:

“Excuse” was seen nationally 148 times*

The Olmos PSA ran 237 times
“So Vote” ran 98 times
*AIGA PSAs repurposed from 2008
Design for Impact_media engagement
Democracy
 “We wanted to thank you once
again for being part of KCETLink’s
voting initiative. AIGA’s PSAs
were such an important part of
making this initiative a success.”

–Amanda Martin, Communications Department,

KCETLink Media Group
Design for
Democracy
 GOTV: Chapter engagement
case study
AIGA Cleveland launched a special campaign, the “Get Out the Vote: Design + Community Project,”
wherein outstanding local organizations worked in collaboration with designers towards creating
social progress within their communities and bringing voter awareness to their audiences.
Two videos documented the engagement that addressed populations at risk or not civically literate, such as
homeless and new migrants.

Designers collaborated with three different Cleveland-based organizations:

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH), a non-profit coalition of service providers, housing activists, members, and homeless
people working together under the common goal of finding solutions to homelessness.
OCA of Greater Cleveland, a membership-driven, non-profit, non-partisan civil rights and educational organization dedicated to the social, political,
and economic well-being of Asian Pacific Americans in the United States.
The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan organization that works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public
policy through education and advocacy.

Design for Impact_chapter engagement

Democracy
 GOTV solution to challenge
#1: The chapter experience
Get Out The Vote had a record-breaking participation and
engagement level throughout chapters. A qualitative survey was
sent to the 30 chapters who actively participated, and 19 provided
responses. Overall the feedback is enthusiastic and engaged. 83% of
them are interested in the next Design for Democracy project.

https://docs.google.com/a/mail.aiga.org/forms/d/1Jb4ngO08H-vJLOO7F0ArWNLH5aeuicCnuGM-4JBjWtI/edit#responses

Design for
Impact_chapter engagement: a sample of the qualitative feedback we received on the survey
Democracy
 OUTCOME + IMPACT
Part two: The Latino
campaign reach

Design for
Democracy
 GOTV on TV Azteca
Three different versions (5, 10, and 15 seconds) of
the produced PSA were scheduled and shown on
average 36 times daily on the network
(between 

7 p.m. and 12 a.m.) nonstop for 4 months, i.e.
over 4,300 times, as well as on multiple outdoor
and social media channels throughout the U.S.

There is no Spanish-speaking television network

in the country that has demonstrated such
commitment on the subject. By broadcasting the
PSA in prime time and with such substantial
rotation, Azteca America has raised awareness
about the importance of this essential civic
engagement.

2,647 views on YouTube

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 GOTV on other Latino
media platforms
Aside from TV Azteca, Agustin Garza helped establish partnerships with a
number of Spanish-speaking media channels including Univision, Estrella
TV/LBI Media, Telemundo 52/NBC, Fox Sports and high traffic digital media
spaces such as those offered by PrimeTime Sports Entertainment, iKahan
Media and Standard Vision. They all featured not only the “Tu Voto es Cosa
Seria” PSA but some also covered the August 22 press conference in Los
Angeles.

During the period from August 6, 2016 to November 7, 2016, Univision TV aired “Tu Voto es Cosa Seria”
98 times, alternating between ten second and five second versions.

Note from Univision: Exact viewership is difficult to provide as it is rotated during open inventory at all
hours of the day.

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 GOTV engaging Angelinos
The August 22 press conference in Los Angeles, led by the office of
Immigrants Affairs of Mayor Garcetti, was an opportunity to
provide free voter education targeting Spanish-dominant Latino
voters, and register new citizens. Approximate attendance 80
participants.

Although Mi Familia Vota led the registration efforts during the event with a dedicated booth, NALEO,
another non-partisan organization that enables Latinos to access the information they need to be
empowered citizens, registered six people at the event. They focused primarily on distributing voter
information cards (approximately 50 in 2 hours), collateral, and citizenship services flyers.

NALEO’s 888-Ve-Y-Vota hotline was included in this campaign and offered similar information and
resources through live-operators to this demographic segment often overlooked by major campaigns and
candidates. Their hotline is the largest bilingual and national hotline catering to the needs and
requests of Latino voters across the country.

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 Engaging Angelinos via the
Spanish-speaking press
The August 22 press
conference in Los Angeles
generated additional press
coverage, from KPFK, 20
Minutos, My News LA, SIPSE,
La Voz Arizona, Telemundo
Atlanta, Noticiero Telemundo,
Univision, La Opinion, Terra,
Estrella TV, and Azteca
America.

Additionally, the press

conference had a strong
presence on social media. The
event was featured on the LA
Story in Snapchat, and received
over 200,000 impressions.

This video alone, documenting the event, garnered 2,800 views on YouTube.

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 GOTV reaches the urban scale

Garza negotiated the

support of Standard
Vision for a digital board
located downtown LA.
The Este año spot ran
twice per hour, 20 hours
per day, for 27 days,
generating approximately
47,000 impressions.

901 W. Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 GOTV seen at the urban scale
In Los Angeles, Garza
negotiated the support of
iKahan Media for strategically
placed digital bulletins.

Location one
Firestone Blvd. at Rio Hondo
When: October 10-November
6, 2016
Impact: 164,912
impressions

Location two
Garfield Avenue at Firestone
Place

When: October 10-November
6, 2016
Impact: 150,984
impressions

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 The AIGA Miami chapter
activation strategy featured
billboards at key locations,
including main
highways (Florida
Turnpike, Palmetto
Expressway, I-75, and I-95)
as well as a couple of very
heavily trafficked urban
streets (SW 27th Ave and
NW 57 Ave).

The “Tu Voto” boards ran for

27 days prior to the
elections, reaching around
810,000 impressions.

Design for The AIGA Miami chapter activation featured billboards at key locations, including, here, I-95 and 79th Street (Miami)
Democracy
 Soccer stadium game:
Club America vs. Pumas
UNAM teams

When: October 8, 2016

Impact: the average
stadium attendance is
25,000 people and for this
game alone, the GOTV
rolled around the stadium
12 times in 90 minutes.
Also, the PSA was shown
during half time on the
main score board.

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 FoxDeportes

Where: The Spanish-speaking

sports broadcast channel
When: At least one airing of the
PSA in primetime and 

three throughout the day on
September 20, 2016.
Impact: Distribution reached over
22 million households, of which
6.5 million are Hispanic.

FoxSports digital

Where: 15-second PSA was posted

once per week on Fox Deportes’
Facebook and Twitter pages
When: September 20-November 8.
Impact: Average views per post
are about 10,000

Design for
Impact_latino campaign reach
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 GOTV key outcomes

On the chapter level, AIGA produced:

Enthusiastic and meaningful civic engagement by design and collaborations 

across the AIGA network
Learn-by-doing leadership skills acquired in planning new partnerships with local community
activists, grassroots organizations, city governments, and advocacy groups
Fundraising skills with every local money raising efforts

With the Latino campaign, AIGA generated:

Activation tactics for other Latino-centric communities
Media coverage galore
Visibility of design to non-traditional design audiences
Design to new venues, public spaces and arenas, multimedia platforms
Inclusive Spanish-language civic messaging using design
a Peabody award nomination

Design for
Democracy
 GOTV solution to challenge #2:
The Latino vote

At the time we write this report, some contradictory analysis

exist on the overall Latino vote in the 2016 election:
Turnout aside, a record 27.3 million of Latinos were eligible to vote in 2016, up 4 million from four
years ago (the largest increase of any racial or ethnic group). And the Latino electorate grew in many
states since 2012, including the battlegrounds of Arizona, Florida, and Nevada.
The national exit poll suggests that Latinos made up a larger share of voters in 2016 than
previously: 11% this year vs. 10% in 2012 and 9% in 2008. Preliminary estimates show that slightly
more votes were cast nationwide compared with 2012, leaving it unclear how many Latinos actually
voted in 2016.
This year’s Latino voter turnout, which has historically trailed other groups, won’t be known until
sometime in 2017 when the U.S. Census Bureau publishes its report on U.S. voting.

Source: Pew Research Center, 2017

Design for
Democracy
 GOTV postcards from
70+ AIGA chapters

Design for
Democracy
 Epilogue
“Design makes ideas, people, and places
more visible. AIGA has pioneered the
notion that design can be a powerful tool
for an engaged democracy, and this
campaign is one of many civic engagement
projects under the organization’s respected
Design for Democracy initiative.”

–Julie Anixter, executive director of AIGA

Design for
Democracy
 Annex
GOTV videos playlist on You Tube,

GOTV Google Form Survey results

GOTV + Design for Democracy page on aiga.org

GOTV microsite:

http://www.aiga.org/vote
Special thanks to Corey Strausman, associate chapter development director and Obed Figueroa, Diversity & Inclusion resident,

for their help gathering data for this report.

Design for
Democracy