The Associated Students of UC Davis (ASUCD), which employs upwards of 1,500 UCD students, holds elections twice a year for senate. Six students are elected Fall quarter and six more Winter quarter, as well as the ASUCD president and vice-president. Senate is responsible for the 13 million dollar budget used for the ASUCD units, making their position very important, and the role of the student body in electing them even more important.
In 2015 only 9% of UCD students voted in the ASUCD elections.
GOAL
ASUCD’s design firm, Creative Media, where I worked for the last year and a half of college, was hired to do the graphics and marketing for the 2016 ASUCD elections. It was our job to ensure that more students voted.
The chosen tagline for these elections was “Don’t let 9% of students speak for you"
Theme
After a brainstorm session, my two other coworkers working on the graphics and I decided to go with a superhero/comic book theme for the elections. We were drawn to the concept of empowering students—collectively UCD students can make a big difference for ASUCD. A comic theme is fun and would draw students in, while simultaneously being a call to action to use their power as students.
Logo
There were many elements to be made for this project, so there was little time to spend on a logo. Instead of taking time to go through drafts and revisions, our graphics team of three did the logo within a period of a couple hours. With a timer set, we individually mocked up logos going off the superhero theme. When this time was up we discussed what we did as a group and then narrowed down our theme to incorporate the arm of a hero flying through the sky. Again we set a timer and worked individually on this new concept.
I drew a hand with a fist and put a group of them together to show that it isn’t one person with all the power, but the collective group of UC Davis students. When we came together again, this was the selected design to revise. My coworker Lillian did the coloring, and the logo was ready. The colors we chose are a twist on the traditional blue, yellow, and red used in comic books.
We chose the fonts Gagalin and Action Man, as they both portray a comic book feel. In addition, we used the traditional "pow" explosion shape and speech bubbles in our graphics.
Material
I designed a 8.5x11 flier with comic-style boxes to be posted in buildings and used when we were tabling. I also made a t-shirt using the logo and speech bubbles for information. These were worn by for marketing and given away as prizes. I designed the stickers that were put on the bagel bags at UC Davis’s coffee house, as well as the “Vote Today” pins that were worn by all Coffee House staff on voting days.
Success!
We had an amazing voter turnout.
Lessons Learned
1. A lot can be done in a short amount of time.
2. Having a specific goal makes lack of time not as bad.
3. It’s powerful what a little graphic design and marketing can do.