DOI

https://doi.org/10.25772/E99D-9S80

Defense Date

2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts

Department

Graphic Design

First Advisor

nicole killian

Second Advisor

Lauren Thorson

Third Advisor

Meg Miller

Abstract

Over the course of 8 years working in progressive political strategy, 2015–2023, I became increasingly critical of the systems, formulas and tools we were using to communicate with voters. Reply STOP to Stop is documentation of my time at graduate school, of wrestling with ideas of political design, language, communication and distribution. I analyzed my past work — all the texts, emails, social media posts, print ads, web banners, videos and other miscellaneous scripted content — and wondered if we would all be better off without it. Would elections be fairer, would there be less fake news, more community building? Less divisiveness? Was I part of the problem? I used to believe my job was an act of resistance against conservative ideals and MAGA propaganda, but now all this content felt like adding wood to a fire.

I made work about this disconnect, how the language in politics often felt flat and soulless when the issues were anything but. My research became about political language — the absurd, hyper-edited and often useless nature of it. I thought about design’s role in distributing political communication; I delved into the ad targeting and focus groups, scripting and editing, words and sentence structure, slogans and buzzwords. I tried to work within these systems — using their tools upside down or backwards — in an attempt to find a hidden truth, something more real.

Rights

© Molly Garrett

Is Part Of

VCU University Archives

Is Part Of

VCU Theses and Dissertations

Date of Submission

5-9-2025

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