Client Need: Develop branding for a 'Get Out the Vote' event before November 2024 to encourage marginalized communities to register to vote.
Audience: Registered, undecided, young and marginalized voters in 3 different southern Arizona counties, with special appeal to people of color, Arizona tribes, immigrant communities, rural workers and young people of Mexican-American heritage.
Problem: How to develop a mark that will speak to the unique populations of southern Arizona counties in order to inspire them to register for the upcoming November 2024 elections
The client, a representative from a partisan committee, initially expressed the need to develop a unique branding 'mark' that would speak to women voters specifically, with a focus on the imagery of 'Lady Liberty'.
Below are ideation or 'mood boards,' experimenting with liberty, Arizona imagery, poster sentiments from her description, and minimal typography. The posters below represented a kind of feeling that included women, but did not seem specifically to appeal to young male voters.
Below features expanded ideation for a mark that is more inclusive of the Southern Arizona audience, including references to land, heritage and tradition. For example, feathers are a nod to native symbolism.
The event contracts the Desert Diamond Center for the venue.
Below are branding options presented to the committee (my sketches are in the left column; pre-proposed ideas preferred by the committee are in the right-hand column.)
The client expressed preference for the idea of Lady Liberty accompanied by a saguaro cactus (to represent the land), the horse (to represent Arizona history of vaqueros), the feathers (to stand in for tribal representation), and stars (borrowed from the Arizona state flag). The committee wanted a more generic typeface for the lettering (they chose 'Impact'). The red figure on the navy blue palette is the selected palette.
The organizing committee chose the design below for the final imagery to represent Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Graham counties, all in Southern Arizona:
Once the contract for the event headliner (Azteca band, Ozomatli, from Los Angeles) was signed, then all of the digital collateral was produced for promotional purposes, including the website:
Promotional ads, video and radio spots boosted the campaign in addition to entries in local community calendars. The featured band, Ozomatli, supported the event and used our branding in their social media:
Screen graphics created for digital displays throughout the venue:
A video clip from the event, featuring Ozomatli (below). Results of the campaign: event tickets 'sold out' and committee reports that over 200 people successfully registered to vote that evening.