Democracy by Design

  • Arriving at the Houses of Parliament

    The design students arrive at Portcullis House on a visit to the Houses of Parliament.

  • Exploring the art collection

    Students got a chance to see artifacts from Parliament's art collection, such as a Margaret Thatcher puppet from the Spitting Image television show. They also received talks from curator Emma Gormley and from Baroness McIntosh about politics and the arts.

  • Screen printing in action!

    Students took part in screen printing workshops at Camberwell College of Arts print studios. They learned how to work their ideas into posters and t-shirt designs.

  • The campaigns: Group 1 - Youth's Cross

    Youth’s Cross was a design campaign aimed at encouraging young people to vote in the election and generating a strong interest - a buzz - around politics. The designs were simple and typographic, and attempted to draw attention to the visuals.

  • Group 2 - The Power is in Your Hands

    This group designed a storyboard for a TV commercial encouraging young people to vote. The story challenged assumptions about young people as it implied the youth were getting into trouble, when actually they were going to vote.

  • Group 3 - Be Heard

    Be Heard was a campaign that used music to engage young people with politics. The idea was based around a touring music festival for young people, which would visit major cities and mix music with debate about how politics affect them.

  • Group 4 - Vote and Skank

    Skank was a campaign based on the use of viral videos, popular amongst young people. 'Skank' is a dance that young people will come up with that is based around voting.

About Democracy by Design

Students studying art and design were asked to create visual communications campaigns aimed at encouraging young people to vote.

The students visited Parliament to view its art and architecture, meet its decision makers and find out more about how the British political system works.

Working with industry profesionals, they then developed their ideas into posters and t-shirts using screen printing. Their work was exhibited in the Houses of Parliament during September 2010.

Related links  


Democracy by Design: Read more
Find out more about the Democracy by Design project.

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