This cover was a particular challenge because the client included both a department of the university based in Washington, DC, and a center they collaborated with in Ghana. The cover image was one result of many different attempts to portray peaceful voting. Originally the ballot box (which is based off of plastic ballot boxes used in Ghana) was completely opaque, but it was very important to the African constituency that the box be transparent to convey honesty and transparency within the voting process. After several attempts playing around with outline and dotted lines, I decided to put ballots inside the box to demonstrate its transparency. The branch on the back cover is from a tree indigenous to sub-Saharan Africa.
