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10/07/2020 09:45 AMThousands of people are working on getting out the vote, but not the way Peter Good and Jan Cummings are. They are aiming to get out the vote not as political volunteers, doorbell ringers, or telephone bank callers. They’re doing the way they did everything else in their professional lives, with graphic design.
Two years ago, Good did several sketches for get out the vote posters. One sketch was more specific, focused on women voting. He added the biological symbol for female, a plus, using it as the T in vote.
“I thought it looked interesting; actually I thought it looked fantastic,” he recalled.
Fantastic enough that Good decided it would make a great button. He designed an unusual button, a square button. Not only was it unusual, however, it was also more expensive to produce. Cummings and Good went back to round buttons.
Still, that was just the beginning. Next, they printed T-shirts with the vote logo, popular until after the 2018 midterm elections. Then, Good said demand fell off, until another election.
With the 2020 as the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, the Democratic primary field featuring women like Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, and prominent women politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Good thought it might be time to bring back the Vote logo.
They not only started remarketing the Vote button, they expanded the Vote merchandise. Now you can buy Vote buttons in boxes of 20. Someone sent Cummings and Good a picture of a person in a mask with their Vote button in the middle and the words, “Put your vote where your mouth is.”
The next question was inevitable.
“Why aren’t we doing masks?” Cummings wanted to know.
So now they are, along with Vote note cards, Vote journals, and Vote tote bags. There was even a 2020 Vote New Years card. It says 2020 whether you turn it up or down.
“Just like this year, topsy turvy,” Cummings said.
Cummings and Good have featured their Vote collection on Facebook and Instagram. Chester residents have sent buttons to friends in other states. Recently Cummings and Good heard from a fan of their merchandise in California.
There is one thing that the designers want to make clear. Their Vote material is urging people to exercise the privilege of a democracy; it is not endorsing any candidate.
“We are not telling people who to vote for,” Good said. “These are positive messages.”
Cummings and Good sold their office building in Chester in 2018, but they have not retired. They are working, instead from their Chester home.
“I wonder sometimes what it would be like to be retired,” Good said.
Cummings had advice for him: “When you are doing what you love, it is not a job.”