Marcia Lausen, author of Design for Democracy, talks about the transformative effects that design can bring to democracy, how the ballot issues of 2000 provided an opportunity for the design community to step forward, and her own experience re-designing Chicago’s butterfly ballot. She describes how the AIGA Design for Democracy initiative has expanded its initial work in punch card design, and how its resources, tools, guidelines and programs have enabled the production of elections nationwide to be more accurate, efficient and accessible.
Marcia Lausen is the director of Studio/lab, a multidisciplinary design consulting firm, as well as a professor of graphic design and the director of the School of Art at Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a founding member of and adviser to the AIGA Design for Democracy initiative, in addition to being a former national board member and AIGA Chicago president. Lausen is the author and designer of Design for Democracy: Ballot and Election Design, published in November 2007 by the University of Chicago Press and AIGA. An essential tool for designers and election officials, lawmakers and citizens, Design for Democracy harnesses the power of design to increase voter confidence, promote government transparency and create an informed—and empowered—electorate.
