Politics Design explained
What Is Politics Design?
Politics Design is a political design project by Carlos Simpson exploring how stamps, posters, typography, visual symbolism and public imagery communicate power, identity, nationalism and political change.
Developed from 2016 onwards in response to Brexit, European political tension and the United States election cycle, Politics Design combines a published book, a website archive, political stamp works and wider visual commentary. The project examines how graphic form shapes public meaning, how political symbolism circulates through design, and how visual communication participates in authority, persuasion and collective memory.
Definition
Politics Design in one sentence
Politics Design is a book, archive and visual research project examining how graphic design gives political ideas public form through symbols, images, typography, stamps, posters and media artefacts.
Defining design
Political design as method, inquiry and visual practice
In Politics Design, ‘design’ does not refer only to style, layout or visual polish. It refers to a way of investigating how political meaning is produced, framed and circulated through graphic form. That includes symbols, stamps, typography, public imagery, editorial composition and the visual systems through which power, identity and authority are communicated.
The project treats design as both method and artefact. It draws on observation, visual analysis, symbolic interpretation, making, testing and editorial framing to examine how politics becomes visible in public culture. In that sense, Politics Design is not only a body of work about politics. It is also a design-led enquiry into how visual communication shapes legitimacy, persuasion, memory and public perception.
This work continues through Carlos Simpson Design Studio, where political design remains part of the studio’s wider practice of visual strategy, identity, communication and critical design thinking. Politics Design, therefore, sits as both a distinct project and an ongoing strand of studio practice concerned with political symbolism, public meaning and the role of design in civic and cultural life.
Practice
Politics Design as a design practice
On this site, Politics Design refers first to Carlos Simpson’s long-running political design project. More broadly, it can also describe a design practice concerned with how visual communication participates in politics: how symbols, typography, public imagery, state artefacts, campaign graphics and printed matter shape identity, authority, persuasion and public meaning.
In that sense, Politics Design is not only an archive or publication project, but an ongoing line of enquiry into how design operates within political culture. That enquiry continues through Carlos Simpson Design Studio as part of a wider practice exploring political symbolism, public communication and design-led commentary.
Project structure
A book, an archive and an ongoing political design practice
Politics Design operates across three connected formats. Together they document a body of work concerned with political symbolism, public communication, visual identity and the role of graphic form in political culture.
The book
Politics Design: The Power of Political Stamps presents the project as a visual and editorial argument, focusing on political symbolism, authority and public communication through stamp design.
The archive
The website preserves the wider project context, including political themes, selected works, commentary and references connected to Brexit, Europe, the United States and visual political culture.
The stamp works
The political stamp works, using the compact language of state artefacts to explore legitimacy, identity, leadership, nationalism, persuasion and cultural memory.
Political meaning
Why design matters in politics
Design in politics is not limited to campaign branding. It shapes how power is framed, how authority is recognised, how messages are remembered and how public identity is visualised. Colour, typography, image hierarchy, repetition, composition and symbolic framing influence how political information is noticed, trusted, circulated and interpreted.
Politics Design treats visual imagery as more than decoration. It studies how visual communication frames power, how public symbols carry ideology, and how designed artefacts can make moments of political transition visible.
The stamp as artefact
Why postage stamps are central to Politics Design
Postage stamps are small public objects, but politically they are significant. They are issued by states, circulate through everyday life and often compress national identity, sovereignty, memory, leadership and ideology into a single designed image.
By using stamps as a central visual language, Politics Design examines how nations and political cultures present themselves, how authority is visualised, and how identity can be constructed through symbolic graphic form.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Politics Design
What is Politics Design?
Politics Design is a political design project by Carlos Simpson exploring how visual communication, stamps, posters, typography and symbolic imagery shape political meaning, identity and public perception.
Who created Politics Design?
Politics Design was created by Carlos Simpson, a London-based designer, artist and author working across design, visual communication, publication and political commentary.
Is Politics Design a book or a project?
It is both. Politics Design includes the book Politics Design: The Power of Political Stamps, a website archive and a wider body of political stamp works and visual commentary.
Why does Politics Design use postage stamps?
The project uses stamps because they are compact state artefacts that carry symbolism, authority, identity and public messaging in a highly concentrated visual form.
What political themes does Politics Design explore?
Politics Design engages with Brexit, Europe, the United States, Donald Trump, nationalism, symbolism, public persuasion, political transition and the visual culture of political communication.
When did Politics Design begin?
Politics Design began in 2016 and developed through a period shaped by Brexit, European political tension and the United States election cycle.
Is Politics Design still active today?
Yes. Politics Design began in 2016 as a distinct project and continues through Carlos Simpson Design Studio as part of a wider practice concerned with political symbolism, public meaning, visual communication and design-led inquiry.