Voting Pictograms

(submitted by Jenny Lam)

With every passing year, America’s population is getting increasingly diverse and multi-cultural. The lag between the background and experience of our society’s population and the background and experience of our society’s leaders is significant. We won’t be unified in our diversity until the perspectives of our leadership more truthfully reflect the outlook of the citizens they represent.

Designed in Chinese using Kanji ideograms, this poster is intended to help close that gap. The design is targeted at voters who read Chinese, but also to teach non-readers the characters for “vote.” It was designed by three immigrant and first generation Chinese-Americans employed at Jackson Fish Market. The studio is housed in the former Immigration and Naturalization Service headquarters where throughout the twentieth century, Chinese-Americans entered the United States, Chinese-Americans were naturalized as American citizens, and some Chinese-Americans were held as detainees under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.

Get Out the Vote, AIGA’s civic engagement initiative, part of Design for Democracy.

In partnership with the League of Women Voters: vote411.org