Students from Art and Design Professor Randall Hoyt’s Typographic Systems class are working to encourage student voting through a campus-wide art campaign.
Hoyt’s students have been working since the start of the semester to design non-partisan posters that encourage Keene State students to vote in the upcoming election on November 5. The posters have been distributed throughout campus, as well as the personal social media accounts of students who designed them.
Hoyt’s class is participating in a wider project by the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). AIGA’s “Design for Democracy” project seeks to uplift “Get Out the Vote” efforts by designing posters that encourage voter participation.
Hoyt said that he gave students election-themed assignments previously, and believes encouraging student participation is important.
“I feel like it’s my civic responsibility to be involved and bring opportunities to students to get their peers involved,” said Hoyt.
“During the 2020 election, my students worked on a project to redesign absentee ballot forms to make the documents less confusing,” added Hoyt.
Hoyt said the posters take no political side, and only exist to encourage student participation in the electoral process, regardless of ideology or party affiliation.
“There’s no politics or issue-specific messaging here, just a message to students, from students that you need to get out and vote,” said Hoyt.
“No matter who you vote for, you have a stake in the outcome of this election, and students need to make their voices heard,” added Hoyt.
Seniors Henry Zoll and Jason Hamilton designed posters for Hoyt’s class. Zoll and Hamilton applied their own creative visions to their posters with the intent of encouraging peers to vote.
Hamilton’s posters are type-based and employ colors to catch people’s attention.
“I tried to create four different posters with four different eye-catching color choices. I want to reach everybody, and give them something to look at and think about, without trying to make them think a certain way,” said Hamilton.
Zoll said peer-to-peer messaging can encourage college voting in a way that mainstream political pandering can often fumble.
“It can get very tiring to hear the corporate, broad appeal messaging,” said Zoll. “Mine takes a youthful and personal stance that hopefully appeals to people our age, without making people feel forced to do something or feel pandered to.”
Hoyt collaborated with KSC’s Accreditation and Assessment Officer Kim Schmidl-Gagne, who also serves as the coordinator for the American Democracy Project (ADP). The ADP is an initiative of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and seeks to encourage student civic engagement.
Schmidl-Gagne viewed the posters and talked to Hoyt’s class. Hoyt’s class also helped to contribute to the design of the ADP website.
Schmidl-Gagne said educating students on their rights as voters is critical in an age of widespread political misinformation and disinformation.
“Usually around this time, rumors start to spread like wildfire. A lot of those falsehoods can discourage people from voting, when it’s actually fairly simple and straightforward,” said Schmidl-Gagne.
“We put a lot of our effort into day-of-election registration, and we have busses and vans on campus that will be able to take students to their polling locations, folks who will be on those vehicles to help students and remind them of their rights and details, and lots of fun stuff happening on campus the day of the election,” added Schmidl-Gagne.
Senior Carlos Barrera said he is one of many KSC students who are excited to vote on November 5.
“I’m feeling excited, especially since this will be my first time voting,” said Barrera. “It’s important to get out there, vote and make your voice heard in terms of what you believe and what you want for our country.”
Ryan Pacheco can be contacted at
rpacheco@kscequinox.com
