Overview
An art & advocacy campaign, including a physical installation and pop-up, centered around the importance of the youth vote.
Duration &
Tools
2 weeks
Adobe Illustrator +
Web Building Platform
Introduction
NO WASTED VOTES (NWV) is a "get out the vote campaign" developed during the weeks leading up to the November 2024 primary election. It addresses the pattern of low voter turnout for individuals ages 18-29, with this demographic making up 30% of non-voters in 2018, and 27% of non-voters in 2022. The campaign spanned 1 week, and combines a guerilla-style art pop-up, gallery installation, and mobile-first website providing accurate and timely voter resources to individuals.
Understanding Audience
Content
Conducting Interviews
A total of 8 user interviews were conducted with indiviuals from the target demographic. From these interviews, 3 key insights that may be strongly effecting voting behaviors are highlighted.
3 Key Takeaways
1
Effect of 2016 Election
Many indiviuals emphasized the role of critical elections in shaping Gen Z’s perspective of U.S. democratic process, specially the role of the electoral college in determining election outcomes. Some suggested that one popular belief contributing to low-voter turnout was that one’s vote was “worth more or less” based on state and jurisdiction (ex: swing states v. majority blue/red states).
2
Inequities in Voting
Some participants expanded on concerns about historical inequities in voting rights, as well as existing barriers to voting that primarily affect marginalized groups, such as voter ID laws and roll purges.
3
Generational Identity
Many participants voiced similar concerns surrounding generation-specific issues, such as the effects of the climate crisis or implications surrounding the wide-spread development and implementation of artificial intelligence technologies.
Concept Development
Final Application
Guerilla Art Pop-up & Gallery Installation
The final guerilla art pop-up spanned the two weeks leading up to the 2024 election. Each of the multicolored tags expand on topics related to the key takeaways.
Participants are invited to interact with the pop-up, take tags away and to scan the QR code featured on both front and back. This QR code directs to the mobile-first web component, acting as a hub for voter resources related to the topics of focus.
Final Thoughts
In all, this campaign was successful in connecting individuals with valuable resources. Web analytics show a nearly 200% increase in site sessions within during this campaign's active period, with the majority of traffic being direct and coming from mobile devices.
While Gen Z still made up around 28% of non-voters in 2024, this campaign reflects the ongoing need for further civic engagement.
