In a time of ongoing political change, upheaval, and increased consumption of digital and visual content, graphic designers have the potential to impact the opinions of voters through the use of branding and other creative work. I wanted to utilize my thesis to explore the relationship between branding and political campaigns by posing important questions about the influence of design on individual voting behaviors: how might a logo, typefaces, colors, merchandise, or messaging impact the decision to vote for one candidate over another? How might they elicit a voter's implicit biases? In addition to my creative work, I asked exhibition visitors to cast a vote for their preferred candidate in an effort to answer the above questions.

While creating work, I decided that the best way to visualize and display the different types of creative work was to create three separate campaigns, branding systems, and messaging points while utilizing the same name for all three candidates (Logan Jones) for simplicity. The three candidates ranged from moderate to far left and were, hypothetically, running in a primary in a blue congressional district. 

The first candidate utilizes more "traditional" branding, colors, and typefaces. I envisioned this candidate to be a moderate democrat running for re-election. The second candidate, inspired by progressive candidates, still falls under more "normal" campaign branding, but begins to break out of the traditional styles in their use of colors, logo design, incorporation of hand lettering, and more direct messaging on their merchandise. The third candidate, the most far left candidate, utilizes the most unconventional, dynamic, and aggressive branding and messaging as well as the addition of illustrations and use of typography.