New York Magazine commissioned Pentagram’s Emily Oberman and team to create powerful illustrations for the cover story of its March 27, 2023 issue, a blueprint for how Democrats can harness the issue of abortion to win elections, and overturn Dobbs.
New York asked Pentagram to come up with a bold, unexpected typographic treatment on the subject of abortion rights. The cover image features the words “Abortion Wins Elections,” arranged in the shape of an American flag, evoking both traditional patriotism and optimism, characteristics not often associated with abortion.
Inside, a wide variety of original political buttons pepper a full page spread, introducing the idea that all kinds of people (beyond Democrats), support abortion rights in 2023. The article, by Rebecca Traister, seeks to educate the public, and alert President Biden’s administration, that the Democrats that ran for elected office in the past few years, including Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer, have centered abortion rights within their campaigns––and won.
The team created over 70 buttons with nearly as many slogans, inspired by historic and modern political campaign buttons, abortion rights movements around the world, and the article itself. The goal was to highlight the infinite ways that politicians can integrate the importance of abortion into their campaign platform, recognizing that it can be healthcare, a civil right, a public health emergency, an economic issue, part of being human and a winning strategy for democrats all at once. Emily and the women on her team embraced the chance to illustrate this important issue.
