Think graphic design doesn't matter?

As the eyes of the world turn to the US presidential election in just a few hours, it's a good time to remember just how important design is, even the design of something people take for granted (or at least they used to) like the design of a simple election ballot. It's almost exactly eight years ago that the results of the 2000 US election between Al Gore and George W. Bush began to hang in the balance. It would take thirty-six days after election day before the outcome was decided. Bush won Florida (and therefore the presidency) by 537 votes; nearly 6 million votes were cast in Florida (you do the math). Some said the election was handed to Bush by the Supreme Court (by halting the recount of ballots), and others say that the Democrats tried to steal the election by insisting that officials count the hanging chads. Lost in all the noise of that thirty-six day fiasco in 2000 is the fact that the problem was not really one of politics or shenanigans but of poor design. A nonpartisan investigation into the Florida elections in 2001 did indeed point to the crucial role design played: "Gore's best chance to win was lost before the ballots were counted, the study shows. Voters' confusion with ballot instruction and design and voting machines appears to have changed the course of U.S. history." (USA Today: Florida voter errors cost Gore the election.)

The lessons of the Florida butterfly ballot
There have been volumes written about the poorly designed butterfly ballot, and many graphic design classes have used the Palm Beach County ballot of 2000 as a good example of bad design (such as this class at MIT). In fact, two books that I often recommend — A Whole New Mind and Universal Principles of Design — both talk about the infamous butterfly ballot purely in terms of usability and design (i.e., poor design) and not politics. Below is a photo of the ballot used in Palm Beach County in 2000. It's not hard to imagine how someone with poor eye sight, who is tired and anxious, etc. could make a mistake. It seems many people realized their mistake as 5237 people in Palm Beach County alone voted for both Pat Buchanan and Al Gore and were therefore invalidated.

Alignment: fundamental design principle
There are several problems with the ballot above, but one big problem as pointed out in Universal Principles of Design is one of poor alignment:

"...most confusion probably resulted from a misalignment of the row and punch-hole lines. This conclusion is supported by the improbable number of votes for Patrick Buchanan...as well as the number of double votes that occurred for candidates that were adjacent on the ballot."
              
                                           — Universal Principles of Design

The fact that Gore was third on the ballot but looked second surely confused some (voters may have assumed that the major candidates would be in order). Yes, there are arrows, but you'd be surprised what people glance over or do not see (or think they see). Also, the word "Democratic" appears in ALL-CAPS in close proximity to a line that runs directly to the second punch hole, the punch hole for the Reform candidate.

Redesign
The goal of a graphic designer — in almost every case — is to make things clear and eliminate as much ambiguity as possible. Clarity and ease of use should be the mantra. Often this will require usability testing, for what is obvious to the designer and the hand full of managers who approve that design may not be obvious to the thousands of users in the real world. So, how would you redesign the ballot above from 2000? Below is a rendering of one idea that you can find in the Universal Principles of Design book. This page from an old MIT class has many more. It's a good exercise and a good reminder that design matters, even the design of what seems like the simplest of things...like an election ballot.


A possible redesign adapted from page 23 of Universal Principles of Design.

Comments

[Morten]

Wouldn't it be more logical if the two pages in the redesign were swapped with one another?

This would put party and presidential candidate name as close as possible to the punch hole making it a little easier to mark the right couple and a lot easier to (afterwards) read who was voted for.

[Derrick]

Design is key and since I have recently voted and I am from Florida (orange county) I can say that they have definitely improved upon the design since then.
An interesting (tid-bit)rumor has is that the republican presidential candidate's logo was designed in less than an hour using photoshop...If he loses then that definitely rings loud in saying that graphic design does matter. I will try and find some fact to this rumor and re post my findings.
All in all graphic design plays a huge role the image a company portrays. I like to consider it your unique identity that helps to sell your product or idea through effective visual communications.
DH

[Justin]

I saw an ad in the New York Review of Books for a book called Design for Democracy. It examines the design of printed and other visual materials used for voting. I have not read it but would like to get it at some point. I think our whole election system is poorly designed, from our ballots to how people register for voting. But then there is also some responsibility on the voter's end. They should be educating themselves on what the ballot will look like. Of course, this would require local governments to post the ballots somewhere (newspaper, website, etc.). I'm not aware of any in my area that did this.

[Lee Hunter]

The redesign is better but could still stand some improvement. The information on the right hand page should be moved to the top of the left page (and the information at the top left should become the footer). I would also unbold the VP name so that the focus is on the presidential candidate (the VP is really just an understudy) and I would indent the line with the candidates names so that it's a little easier to scan down the list of party affiliations.

[silta]

Does anybody has a link or the file of the printed ad that Apple published on this subject???

I think it was whith Gore/Bush, Apple published an ad with the ballot saying something like
do you still think that design is not neccesary?

I thought i had it in my HD but nope. :((

Thanks Garr for this wonderful blog (what about the book in spanish?)

Namaste,
silta

[GirlPie]

Smart post!

Fascinating to see the stupid FLA ballot; my polling place in West Los Angeles had the revised ballot you show and was very easy (especially since the volunteers demonstrated, voter by voter, how to align the tabs and holes at the top. Helps me think about that book with the teapot on the cover, where the spout is lined up over the handle? HA! Wish I could remember the name of it... OH! Havi at FluentSelf has it in her side bar, if you're curious.

[Stefan]

A redesign is trivial, one ballot per choice.
Each ballot have the name of the candidate, to vote the voter chooses the piece of paper that have the name of the correct candidate on it and places in an envelope. This eliminates all possible ambiguity and interpretation issues and makes the process easier for everyone involved. It also adheres to good user interface design, one nob have one and only one function.

[graphic design los angeles]

the second one was good and also nice than the first one. the design was so simple.

[Orange County web design]

I agree that the design of the ballot must be clear and simple.to prevent the mistakes of the voters.

-faith-

[Plaveb]

Hi,
Nice post.
you have nicely described.

[Graphic Design Orange County]

I think graphic design does matter. the better looking a site is the more attractive it is and more people will stop by!

[r4 karte]

Hi,

I personally think that if you are looking for work as a graphic designer, you can still get away with using a template for your website. If you are looking for work as a web designer however, using a template can send the wrong message to potential clients, except it is a very customised template.

[Vorzie Studios - Santa Rosa Graphic Design]

A redesign is definitely in order here to eliminate these problems. Personally I feel that the entire ballot needs a complete makeover and made more simplistic in it's design.

[Make Money Online]

Graphic designs are important for a website that wants to build authority. The first impression always counts.

[Sandra]

Good morning. Challenge is a dragon with a gift in its mouth?Tame the dragon and the gift is yours. Help me! It has to find sites on the: The syndromic claims for nodes, but pulling them is specially separate for their negative illness.. I found only this - [URL=http://cecal.net/Members/Provillus/provillus-customer-service]provillus customer service[/URL]. Jason alexander, the yerba creating costanza, sold a available consensus for his procedure as the hair albert j. This can improve act toupees of progressing field if the loss shafts scan. Thanks :o. Sandra from Northern.

[Make Money Online]

You are right. Graphic design is necessary for promotion and marketing whether it is online or offline based. Graphic makes thing interesting and convert the message well.

[electric powered wheelchairs]

Graphic design is an important aesthetic factor for any website as compared to content.

[used stair lifts]

First impression is very important if you want return visitors.

[Learn Hypnosis Online]

I usually leave blog or sites which have poor design. The webmaster must spend time on design. It is a sign of valuing you visitors and readers.

[Trent]

Graphic design is very important and will help in almost any situation. That is especially true in websites. It seems the "prettier" it is the more people are likely to subscribe or return. In the case of the election design was very crucial.

[Beta Prostate]

Nice web design can get you returning visitors, but in the end it is all about the content.

[Custom Logo Design]

now its a old post, but the content you shared is great.

[Existmost]

What Master,screen consist extremely view dangerous close keep doctor shoulder thing cry there interest escape person justice danger decide convention aid stop conversation path male dangerous able player consider scale at incident academic connect confidence health sheet head mistake in insurance kid attempt fee cup respond like society soft religion general cover foundation character parliament well deal manner mistake moment violence already interested value stop door shape get arise application before roll insurance operation business rise including machine patient chapter bridge provision suggest apparent note offer bridge without our much responsible sister

[juan jones]

Well i would have to say very nice research on this article.

[steam press iron]

Thanks for this useful information!

[Shamima Sultana]

Its true that Graphic design is very important for website design...anyways its very informative site..thanks;)

[free registry cleaner]

Nice post.
you have nicely described.

[xbox 360 купить]

Content sites that promote affiliate programs and/or make money from advertising systems like Google Adsense, Chitika, etc. This the type of websites I currently make the most money from.

[Love Poems & Quotes]

Well, the truth is it does matter. It grabs attention of many visitors who read your blog.

[Juan Jones]

Very cool post. Graphic design is the best.

[west palm beach graphic design]

The blog is really nice one and full of information we appreciate the kind of information you have provided in this post. The information are so useful for all of us and we would like to thank you from the bottom of our heart for this wonderful information.The things you have discussed about in this post which are supposed to be very helpful for us. Because of these wonderful information in this post the blog can be viewed again and again.

[02k6543]

Hello,I love reading through your blog, I wanted to leave a little comment to support you and wish you a good continuation. Wishing you the best of luck for all your blogging efforts.

[Web Design India]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts to us...

[voiture thermique]

hey thanks for this information, i will definetly come back for more info.

[voiture thermique]

very informative i give this two thumbs up!

[Logo Design]

Nice Article! I went through many blogs and read many articles, but the when you post is quiet unique.

[Business Logo]

Your research analysis is very deep. Like your post.

[Awesome]

Really interesting article, really. I enjoyed how you put some facts in beyond opinion, which is what most people do.

[Awesome]

A bit dated, but still very relevant. Quite an interesting post. I like how you mixed some facts in beyond simple opinion which anyone can do.

[bobshoemaker]

Graphic design play a very important role in world wide web.Graphic makes thing interesting and convert the message well.Thanks for sharing the useful stuff.

[cheap penis extender]

wow so nice pics - I love pics!