The 2009 race for District Attorney of Manhattan was a very tight election, and funding and exposure was critical to the success of each candidate. The position is quite prestigious and important, as the Manhattan DA sets the legislative tone for the rest of the United States. I was asked to help out the Richard Aborn campaign by designing invitations to various fund-raising and get out the vote events.

The first invitation was for a small event to be hosted by well-known financier Michael van Biema and his wife. The party was to have a Brazilian theme, owing both the his wife’s heritage and to set it apart from the more common fundraising events. A select group was being invited and so the invite had to appeal to them carefully by portraying the event as being both fun and highly upmarket. It was only natural that the design build on the Brazilian theme and I researched Brazilian design to ensure faithfulness to the attitude and nature of its design style. A colorful and impactful illustration created the sense of fun and latin partying, while carefully set type ensured that the event maintained its upmarket tone. A full turnout ensued and a significant amount of funds were raised on the night (as in six figures significant!).

The second invite shown was for an event hosted by renowned magician David Blaine who had taken a keen interest in helping out Richard. The event was hosted by Shelley Ross, a well known TV producer and was aimed at people working in the Manhattan media industry. It was held at the newly opened and highly exclusive club Rendevous (where a beer costs $12). My initial design concept focussed on David Blaine himself (who spent the night doing magic tricks for the crowd on a one-to one basis) to highlight his involvement and to attract people. While the campaign loved it, David himself did not want to be the focus (he felt that the candidate should be to the fore) so I revised the design to emphasise the exclusive nature of the event and the plush surroundings of the location. A large turnout followed and the event was quite successful in increasing funds and exposure for Richard.

The final event for which I created an invite was for a ‘Get out the Vote’ event in which all who attended were asked to donate their time in the lead up to the election to meet potential voters and encourage them to vote for Richard Aborn. The event was premised on the idea of a large host committee (some 80 people) each inviting 4 or 5 friends and getting them to sign-up to help out on the night. I initially focussed on the friends and common purpose aspect of the night, designing a more illustrative invite showing many people in the bar interacting around the primary content. However it was felt that this approach was too subtle and not direct enough. With this in mind I drew on the classic U.S War posters featuring Uncle Sam to design a decidedly contemporary typographic update. Using the names of the host committee to emphasise the purpose of the night proved very successful and the event was jam-packed with high sign-up rates.

The final invite shown was for a Congressional campaign fund raiser for Congressman Eric Massa. It was being held on his 50th birthday and so it was decided to base the theme of the event and the invite on that. The invite had to appeal to a more conservative and older audience, so I decided to forego imagery in favour of a simple typographic illustration which quickly showed the purpose and nature of the event without being too blatant about it. I used the Archer typeface (basis for the famous ‘I love NY logo’) to reinforce the New York aspect of the campaign. The extensive copy was carefully typeset to allow easy access to the important information and to not seem off-putting to the audience. The invitation was quite successful and there was a large turnout on the day.