The Green Party

Norwich has had a Labour majority for most years in recent history, meaning that Green councillors must work especially hard to gain influence on the council.

However, the Green Party has a strong local presence in Norwich. As a result, it is often a very close battle for majority in the local Council Elections.

Green councillors are able to gain influence year-round by paying attention to local issues and taking action to address those issues.

However, these efforts are wasted if people are unaware of them, so it is essential that the Green Party keep people informed of their actions.

Photographing the launch of the national Green Party manifesto in Norwich

The councillors were impressed with my work, and soon trusted me with more important projects.

Most significantly, this meant taking responsibility for the design of the seasonal Ward newsletters.

These newsletters are one of the Norwich Green Party’s most effective communication tools. They discuss local issues and demonstrate the work done by Green councillors.

Design for the Nelson ward newsletter, Summer 2019

But these newsletters were going to print without much consideration being made to their design. Most were created in a Word Processor, with poor formatting and confusing layouts. As a result, the newsletters were not appealing to read, and created a poor impression of the party.

Previous design for the general Norwich newsletter, Autumn 2017

These newsletters had a few specific requirements:

• Fold-able – they would be folded in half vertically, and would fall unpredictably through a letterbox, meaning that either the top or bottom half would be visible.
• Glance-able – most readers would not spend more than a few seconds glancing at the newsletter, so we had to capture their interest very quickly.
• Inexpensive – the printing had to be as inexpensive as possible, so colours and images had to be used strategically.
• Focused – each newsletter contained many stories, but including too many would dilute the content and overwhelm the reader. I put pressure on the editors to include as little content as possible, and prioritise only the most important stories, so that we could give them more space in the final design.

New design for the general Norwich newsletter, Winter 2019

From 2018-2020, I was the primary graphic designer for all print materials in the 3 highest-priority wards (Mancroft, Nelson and Thorpe Hamlet).

These wards have a combined population of ~30,000 people.

Some publications, such as the Norwich general newsletter and the Local Election Manifesto, were printed with over 20,000+ copies.

This means I was the graphic designer during the successful election of 6 Green councillors (Nelson + Thorpe Hamlet Wards) in 2019, up from 3 councillors the previous year.

This has been a huge test of my capabilities. A single spelling mistake or formatting error can be very damaging to the party’s reputation. Also, due to the fast-changing nature of local politics, publications must be designed very quickly.

Despite this, I have proven to be capable of consistently delivering a high standard at high speed.

Green Party councillors can also increase the amount of votes they receive by reminding their supporters that an election is happening, and encouraging them to participate.

So, for one final push leading up to the elections, the Norwich Green Party holds an election campaign. This involves creating leaflets and flyers that encourage people to vote Green.

Manifestos from previous years had been neglected in terms of design. They were almost entirely text, which was uninspiring and overwhelming to look at.

The 2016 Norwich Green Party manifesto

So, when designing the 2018 manifesto, I started from scratch.

I spread the content across 8 A5 pages instead of 4 A4 pages, so that each page could hold a distinct piece of information. This would reduce overwhelm and help the reader to understand the structure of the content.

The redesigned 2018 Norwich Green Party manifesto