Product Description
Remember dimpled chads? Following the 2000 general election, when the controversy surrounding a confusing ballot layout brought the process of election design to the forefront of national attention, a non-profit organization called Design for Democracy launched an extraordinary partnership between election officials and design professionals to improve the election experience. In the first book to address the principles of good election design, awarding-winning design educator and expert Marcia Lausen shares and compiles the results of this Design for Democracy initiative in one easy-to-read guide. This practical-yet-detailed guide provides a set of tools that election officials and designers can use to easily improve the quality, legibility, and effectiveness of U.S. election materials. Filled with examples and prototypes for improved ballot design, election administration materials, polling place signage, absentee and provisional voting, and voter education and outreach, this book breaks down design basics and explains not just what looks best, but why. You’ll learn how to implement simple and intuitive designs, and how to make good design choices. Detailed topics include: the election design system (logos, symbols, typography, illustration, and photography); ballot design basics (information design vs. creative design, types of ballot, and electronic voting); the voting experience (registration, voter information and literature, the polls, poll workers, voter outreach); and more!
From the Back Cover
Remember dimpled chads? Following the 2000 general election, when the controversy surrounding a confusing ballot layout brought the process of election design to the forefront of national attention, a non-profit organization called Design for Democracy launched an extraordinary partnership between election officials and design professionals to improve the election experience. In the first book to address the principles of good election design, awarding-winning design educator and expert Marcia Lausen shares and compiles the results of this Design for Democracy initiative in one easy-to-read guide. This practical-yet-detailed guide provides a set of tools that election officials and designers can use to easily improve the quality, legibility, and effectiveness of U.S. election materials. Filled with examples and prototypes for improved ballot design, election administration materials, polling place signage, absentee and provisional voting, and voter education and outreach, this book breaks down design basics and explains not just what looks best, but why. You’ll learn how to implement simple and intuitive designs, and how to make good design choices. Detailed topics include: the election design system (logos, symbols, typography, illustration, and photography); ballot design basics (information design vs. creative design, types of ballot, and electronic voting); the voting experience (registration, voter information and literature, the polls, poll workers, voter outreach); and more!
About the Author
Marcia Lausen has more than 20 years of professional experience and ten years education experience as a designer, creative director, and design strategist. In 1995, she founded the Chicago branch of Studio/lab, a design research and consulting group that brings together a multidisciplinary group of professionals with backgrounds in graphic design, design research, communications strategy, architecture, photography, video production, engineering, and software development. As Director and Professor School of Art and Design University of Illinois at Chicago, she teaches both graduate and undergraduate students preparing for professional careers in design education, research, and practice.
