Abstract
In November 2000, a poorly designed “butterfly” ballot in Palm Beach County, Florida, of the United States of America, changed election history. From 2001-2005, Design for Democracy, a strategic program of AIGA and UPA, conducted ethnographically based research to redesigned election artifacts, including the ballot. This paper explores the role of research, particularly ethnographic research, in the interpretation of the “meaning” of these redesigned election artifacts within the discourses of American democracy. In particular, it focuses on the discourses of American democracy as framed by the contexts of American professional design organizations, international museums such as the Pompidou Center, and American federal government officials. I argue that the research enables its audiences to reframe the negative view of American politics following the November 2000 election to one of a potential politics of inclusion, complexity, and transformation. This reframing has significant impact on individuals’ and groups’ perceptions of their active roles as potential positive civic change agents.
Keywords
activism in design/cultural, design ethnography, exhibitions, discourse analysis, politicians and business-organizations
Citation
Tunstall, E. (2006) Reframing American Democracy: the Role of Research in the Interpretation of Redesigned Election Artefacts, in Friedman, K., Love, T., Côrte-Real, E. and Rust, C. (eds.), Wonderground - DRS International Conference 2006, 1-4 November, Lisbon, Portugal. https://dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conference-papers/drs2006/researchpapers/65
Reframing American Democracy: the Role of Research in the Interpretation of Redesigned Election Artefacts
In November 2000, a poorly designed “butterfly” ballot in Palm Beach County, Florida, of the United States of America, changed election history. From 2001-2005, Design for Democracy, a strategic program of AIGA and UPA, conducted ethnographically based research to redesigned election artifacts, including the ballot. This paper explores the role of research, particularly ethnographic research, in the interpretation of the “meaning” of these redesigned election artifacts within the discourses of American democracy. In particular, it focuses on the discourses of American democracy as framed by the contexts of American professional design organizations, international museums such as the Pompidou Center, and American federal government officials. I argue that the research enables its audiences to reframe the negative view of American politics following the November 2000 election to one of a potential politics of inclusion, complexity, and transformation. This reframing has significant impact on individuals’ and groups’ perceptions of their active roles as potential positive civic change agents.