Get Out the Vote: Washougal graphic designer promotes civic engagement ahead of election

Lori Reed was driving back to Washougal from Idaho on July 21, 2024, when she heard a radio announcement that President Biden had ended his re-election campaign and withdrawn from the upcoming presidential election.

That was the push Reed needed to decide to once again participate in the American Institute of Graphic Arts’ (AIGA) 2024 “Get Out the Vote” campaign, which tasks its members with creating visual materials that encourage people to vote in local and national elections.

“As I was driving, I was like, ‘OK, that’s it. This is my inspiration to participate again this year. There’s changes happening. It’s really important,’” said Reed, the owner of Reed Creative, a Washougal graphic design and marketing firm. “As soon as I got home, before I even unloaded the car, I whipped out a piece of paper and sketched out (a design).”

Participating designers can submit their designs to AIGA, which then passes them on to organizations that need them.

“It’s kind of a community service engagement project,” Reed said. “It’s super cool as a creative to go on their website and see all the different designs that have been submitted; I think there are almost 100 now. It’s good to be a part of something bigger and give back to your community.”

Starting in 1998, AIGA’s oldest initiative “has the mission to apply design tools and thinking to increase civic participation,” according to its website.

“By making interactions between the U.S. government and its citizens more understandable, efficient and trustworthy, designers become more vocal citizens and make democracy more sound,” AIGA states on its website. “In 2024, we continue to advocate for civic engagement through voter education, registration, and access. We turn design skills and aspirations into tangible actions that can make a difference.”

The campaign is part of Design for Democracy, an AIGA initiative to increase civic participation through design.

“As a graphic designer, using visual communications, my goal for every project is to visually communicate a message to a particular audience,” Reed said. “I feel this (campaign) does that to a larger audience.”

Reed created an artwork that spells out the word “vote,” with the V, T and E in blue san serif type, and an American flag-filled heart representing the O. The artwork also includes the election year in blue numbers.

Reed was inspired by Milton Glaser’s famous “I Love New York” logo (Reed interned for Glaser in the 1970s) and American pop artist Robert Indiana’s LOVE sculpture.

“From a design standpoint, it’s great to take a letter form and have it have multiple purposes and still be a readable word,” she said. “This says ‘vote,’ even though it’s a heart instead of an O. I was trying to figure out how to be nonpartisan, to do a blend of (colors) so nobody thinks it’s too strong one way or the other.

“Obviously, America has a red, white and blue palette, so I was trying to find a blend there, and I thought this lends itself very well to it. And I was trying to figure out different ways to incorporate the flag because I really do feel it’s important.”

In 2020, Reed and her team created four, 36-inch-high san-serif letters — V, O, T and E — from recycled sheets of paper and hung them from their second-story downtown Washougal office windows. They regularly updated the “O” with different elements, such as a blue checkmark, an American flag, and an ‘I voted’ button, to attract the attention of passers-by.

“There’s no data supporting it, but I do feel it had an impact,” she said of her 2020 efforts. “(My office was in the building) upstairs across (the street from then-Logsdon Brewing), and people were sitting there, having a beer and looking up, and they were like, ‘What’s that about?’ It’s a conversation starter.”

This time around, Reed, with help from Washougal’s PrintLab NW, produced stickers, posters, yard signage and T-shirts, all available upon request.

“I wanted something more than posters. I wanted to put something in my yard and (personal items),” she said. “I’m not selling them. I’m not doing it as a moneymaker. I’m just doing it as (a way) to raise awareness. I think having handouts expands the conversation. I do a lot of networking, and when I’m wearing (a sticker) or have it on something, it starts a conversation. Tangible elements help get the word out.”

As a nonprofit organization, AIGA is prohibited from endorsing candidates, so Reed is simply encouraging people to vote for their candidates of choice.

“I sit on several boards where we can’t advocate for (people),” she said, “so it makes me feel comfortable that I can still use my voice to encourage people to vote, even if I’m not sharing my personal (preferences).”

Reed said that she learned a lot about the history of voting in the United States while growing up in upstate New York, where the women’s suffrage movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries originated.

“Women have only been allowed to vote for a little over 100 years, and that’s only white women — black women and Native American women (were prohibited from voting) for even longer,” Reed said. “I just feel that in this day and age, (it’s especially important).

“I just sent care packages to some college students — children of friends,” she said, “and I put stickers in there with a note reminding them, ‘This is your first year of voting. You need to make sure that you can vote. You’re female — your life is going to be affected. You have the right to vote. Exercise it. Make your voice heard. Be a part of something bigger than you. Don’t just be a complainer about how things are. What can you do to really help change the world for women?’”