vignette

Of the many campaign materials assaulting my visual sense since this mad scramble to E-day began, I have yet to see one that contains a political platform or a simple slogan that would tell me what the candidate intends to work on once he gets elected. Is this intentional, meaning, is this the candidate’s way of dodging accountability, of playing safe? Or is this reflective of the candidate’s cluelessness of things political?

Posters and handbills are the candidate’s first level of communication in any election campaign. Such being the case, campaign materials need to catch the eye of voters if a candidate wants to be on the right track.

But how?

By remembering that design is the single most important thing, be it for a poster, a tarp, or a handbill. A good design always creates a positive association in the voter's mind where the candidate is concerned. Of course design includes layout, the message that a candidate wants to put across, the photo of the candidate himself, and a catchy slogan.

When designing the campaign materials, it’s important for the candidate to strike a chord with his target voters and convey his message effectively. Does he want to be straightforward, questioning, or intriguing? The choice is his and his alone.

And so he has a slogan? Okay, he should let that slogan be the headline and render the other details in smaller but readable fonts. He should always remember not to cram his campaign posters and handbills with a lot of texts. Instead he should keep it brief, letting the image do the talking as much as possible.

These are the things I’ve been looking for in the wasteland we call Philippine politics. And so far, no such luck. Because what I see are campaign posters that contain nothing but the candidates’ numbers and their photos. And even these are overly Photoshopped they look like audition rejects from the fourth instalment of the Twilight saga.