Equality Design Essay

Jessica Mosier
Equality
February 17, 2009

As it is stated in the Nineteenth Amendment of the United States, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United Sates or by any State on account of sex…” The Nineteenth Amendment changed the future for all United States women and was one more step towards equality. For my historical project I desired to make equality the focal point, part of the hierarchy of my graphic design, because it conveyed the main message I was trying to send to the viewers of my graphic piece. My focal point is the word equality, part of my typographical message, which is placed in the lower center of the piece and has a large, bold font to catch the viewer’s attention. I used the word equality to symbolize women, who are obviously crushing sexist men, which is why sexism is being crushed by equality. The piece has a certain movement or rhythm; from equality, to the repeated word sexism, up to votes for women. The way the words are placed in the deisign allows the eye to move smoothly; the words are within close proximity of eachother on the lower half of the design. Votes for women is placed in the upper left corner, and the rest of the visual is placed in the middle/lower center. “Votes for women” is suppose to give the illusion of the sun, which is shining down on equality lighting the way to what women desire. The piece is well balanced, leaving just the right amount of negative space and words to convey the message without making the piece to busy. The symmetry of my piece is asymetrical; the words are placed this way to make the piece more dynamic. The asymetrical design of my piece also helps makes the visual weight perfectly balanced for the viewer’s eyes. When I first started my design I used the rule of thirds for all my thumbnails, but eventually steered away from it and allowed my piece to more creative. The rule of thirds is an excellent starting to point to allow the designer to decide what she/he wants the main focal point to be, and how to give the piece proper rhythm. Overall, I am very happy with my design; I like the simplicity but directness of the message I am sending to the viewers.