graphics
OBSERVED
legibility
democracy
Improving ballots is easy compared to
the task of convincing elections officials
to adopt graphic designers’ proposals.
ORIGINAL
Design for Democracy:
Ballot +Election Design
University of Chicago Press
$65, 192 pp.
Ballot Initiative
The AIGA’s efforts to improve the way we vote
are finally gaining some political traction.
Repetitive language
is removed and voter
instructions are placed
in a designated area.
Names are set with
lowercase letters in a
larger, bolder, more
legible typeface (Univers).
Shading distinguishes
the yes and no votes,
which are grouped for
each candidate.
IMPROVED
In the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, the mechanics of voting underwent prolonged and intense national
scrutiny. Yet subsequent reform efforts tended to focus on
voting machines, software developments, and the processing
and counting of votes—not on the design of the ballots themselves. Fortunately, an initiative of the American Institute
of Graphic Arts (AIGA) called Design for Democracy stepped
into the void, working to apply basic principles of legibility
and clarity to the nation’s ballots.
But improving ballots is easy compared to the task of convincing elections officials to adopt graphic designers’ proposals. Richard Grefé, executive director of the AIGA and
president of Design for Democracy, says it’s a matter of overcoming the status quo. “There’s no conspiracy, there’s no
malice, there’s no neglect,” he says. “There’s just stasis.” Now
after seven years, Design for Democracy is making real
progress. Last June its best-practices recommendations were
accepted by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an independent agency established in 2002. And last November the
University of Chicago Press published Design for Democracy:
Ballot + Election Design, by Marcia Lausen, which uses successful redesign efforts in Illinois and Oregon as case studies.
(An example from Chicago/Cook County is at left.)
Whether any of the AIGA’s suggestions will be implemented
in time for the first wave of presidential primaries this month,
or the national elections in November, is uncertain. Grefé is
hopeful that recent talks with Florida will eventually translate
into statewide regulations there, and that other states will follow suit. Ultimately, he says, what’s needed is for local and
state officials to understand and embrace the value of good
design. “It’s not cosmetic,” Grefé says. “It’s actually assuring
a more accurate and verifiable vote.” —Mason Currey #
