Statistics reveal that voter turnout for U.S. presidential elections has never peaked above 62%. Even worse, this number drops significantly for non-presidential cycles. What does only 62% of voter turnout look like? In this design, the percentage is visualized with the stars of the American flag (only 62% appear, as a somber homage to the disparity). The absence, here replaced with a dark blue void, becomes a kind of messaging, in and of itself.

An international figure representing our nation’s democratic ideology, The Statue of Liberty is shown here under construction. Relying on archival photography from the New York Public Library's Digital Collections, the design metaphorically humanizes the infamous icon, reminding a U.S. audience that our ideals require ongoing civic engagement in order to work. The typography reads: "democracy is a process, not a discreet event. Vote." It falls to us, as citizens, then, to determine what our ideology will be today, tomorrow, and in the future. We do this through the civic processes that give voice to our values: to speak, to organize, to vote.

A simple typographic poster whose message, through typeface design, layout, and hierarchy, insists urgently on one thing: VOTE. The typography conveys the urgency of a contemporary, digital landscape, wherein the state of our nation’s democracy is at risk through new, mediated channels of misinformation and disinformation. 

A bitmap image of the iconic Lady Liberty is legible only as an organized grouping of individual dots. The many circles make up an image greater than the sum of its parts and allude to concepts bigger than just individual marks: democracy, civic power, collective action, national ideology. If a viewer (and a voter) is too myopic, all they will see is individual dots making up a chaotic and non-sensical field. It is only when taking a step back and viewing the collective energy of many marks as a whole, is the powerful image formed. Like the image, democracy requires each person's individual commitment to make the larger democratic project work.