RVA Votes
RVA Votes was a civic engagement campaign built in collaboration with MOB Studio at VCU, designed to boost voter turnout in Richmond neighborhoods with historically low participation. As copywriter and graphic designer, I wrote the messaging and shaped the visual identity for posters and buttons that kept Richmond voters encouraged and informed.
Copywriting, Typography, Client Relations With Local Businesses
Responsibilites
Copywriter Graphic Designer
My Role
4 people
Team Size
2 weeks
Duration
There are neighborhoods of Richmond, VA which have low voter turn out
Spread messages of support in these areas by creating visual messages of support, which also have voting information available.
Overview
RVA Voting Access Project encouraged voter participation in Richmond Virginia by to spreading a positive outlook and informing the public of deadlines and local candidates. The total products were buttons, large sized posters & 8 ½ x 11 & 11x17 posters wheat pasted in local areas with low voter turnout.
We used Studio 23's Riso printer & guillotine to produce our prints for posters and buttons. The buttons were then solidified to finalize our designs. This was our first time using a Riso printer, an excellent way producing a mass amount of copies. We then wheat pasted to distribute posters allowing our work to withstand rain and tough weather and creating a polished look when dried.
My Role
Copywriter: As copywriter I produced phrases to encourage and promote voter turn out in the Richmond area.
Graphic Designer: As a graphic designer I used my knowledge of typography and imagery to select the fonts and produce the designs on my buttons.
Tools Used
Process Work
Design drafts and teamwork
Pictured here is our print out of button designs, this was the step prior to then forming them into buttons. "RVA" is a common term used to abbreviate Richmond, VA. We did this project in collaboration with MOB Studio at VCU.
These were our finalized buttons, and the arrows indicate the designs I contributed.
My button designs include:
“Voting...that’s hot”
“PROUD TO BE A VOTER”
“RVA VOTES”
“My to do list: Vote”
“Don’t complain if you didn’t vote”
“Your rights depend on your vote”
“Your Vote Your Future”
Displays throughout the Richmond area
We targeted local businesses and public parks, and were featured on their social media posts as well.
Some of the businesses and locations we collaborated with included these below, among others.
68 Home,
Richmond's Inistitute of Contemporary Art,
Veloctiy Comics
Monroe Park
My Reflections
This project pushed me to think about design as a public facing tool for behavior change, not just a screen based deliverable. Writing short, youthful, punchy phrases that could land with a stranger walking by was a different kind of copywriting discipline than anything I'd done before. The words needed to work instantly, and grab their attention.
Producing on a Riso printer for the first time also shaped the design decisions: limited color separations meant simplifying our visual language early, and wheat pasting meant designing for posters that needed to survive rain and weather while still looking intentional once dry.
As copywriter and graphic designer, I focused on message and typography while collaborating closely on where and how the work would show up across the city.
