Politics Design

Politics Design is a multidisciplinary project by Carlos Simpson that examines the relationship between politics, postage stamp imagery, graphic communication and public symbolism. It exists simultaneously as a book, a website archive and a body of political stamp works and visual commentary.

The project looks at how designed political artefacts — particularly stamps, posters and graphic interventions — can communicate authority, identity, persuasion and cultural memory. In that sense, Politics Design is not only a publication title; it is also the name of a wider visual and editorial enquiry into how design operates inside political life.

Postage stamps are small objects, but politically they are significant. They are issued by states, circulate publicly and often condense national narratives into a tightly controlled visual format. A stamp can communicate leadership, historical memory, ideology, territory, legitimacy and collective identity in a way that is both symbolic and highly accessible.

Politics Design treats the stamp as a state artefact: a designed object through which power is framed, identity is performed and political values are made visible. Because stamps sit at the intersection of government, design and everyday public circulation, they offer a revealing lens through which to examine how political imagery is constructed and distributed.

The book explores how political stamps, typography, image-making and graphic design can frame contemporary political moments. It focuses on the symbolic power of political imagery and the way design can shape the public reading of authority, crisis, leadership and national change.

The publication moves across themes such as Brexit, the United States, the emergence of Donald Trump, the wider European political landscape and the role of media pressure in shaping contemporary public discourse. It considers how visual material can become part of a broader political environment defined by propaganda, information overload, narrative control and the circulation of symbolic forms.

No. Stamps are the central entry point, but the project is also about political communication, visual culture, symbolic authority and the role of graphic design in public life. The stamp matters because it is a compact political object, but the wider enquiry extends beyond philately into design systems, public messaging, identity construction and the visual framing of political events.

That is why the project includes not only the book itself but also the wider Politics Design project archive, selected political stamp works, posters, commentary and related editorial material. Together, these elements build a broader picture of how design participates in politics rather than merely illustrating it.

Design shapes political communication by deciding how power is seen, how messages are structured and how public meaning is organised. Typography, image hierarchy, colour, layout, iconography and symbolic framing all influence how political information is received, remembered and emotionally processed.

In practical terms, design can give visual form to a government’s identity, frame the legitimacy of a leader, turn a political event into a recognisable public symbol or guide the way citizens encounter institutions and civic messages. Politics Design approaches graphic design not as surface decoration but as an instrument capable of shaping perception, reinforcing narratives and mediating the relationship between authority and the public.

Today, Politics Design can be understood across three connected layers. First, there is the book, which presents the core editorial and visual argument. Second, there is the archive website, which preserves the wider project context, selected works and supporting material. Third, there is the political stamp series and related design artefacts, which extend the project into visual practice and collectible form.

This structure allows Politics Design to function both as a publication and as a living archive of political image-making. It also preserves the project as a record of how graphic design, symbolic objects and public discourse intersected during a period marked by Brexit, political transition, media saturation and renewed attention to the visual language of power.