University of Otago politics and design student Niko Elsen
shows off his display demystifying Dunedin's mayoral
candidates. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Dunedin student Niko Elsen might be fighting an uphill
battle - trying to stimulate student interest in local
government - but the third-year politics and design student has
combined his talents to do just that.
As part of a design assignment, he has developed charts
showing the background and priorities of the seven mayoral
candidates, along with their thoughts on student issues, and
displayed them at the University of Otago library.
The accessibly presented information has attracted up to
eight students at a time to the display.
Mr Elsen (20), a third-year student and grandson of former
Timaru mayor Wynne Raymond, has political aspirations
himself.
This year he has studied what students expect from local
politics.
"I decided to take it further through design studies," he
said.
Mr Elsen interviewed all seven mayoral candidates, and
attended mayoral forums.
In the past, he had found local politics boring - "and that's
what most students think".
But, "if you get under the skin, there is a little colour
among the grey."
The philosophy behind his design was presenting something
"visually engaging" rather than just passing on political
rhetoric.
He included all candidates' general profiles and professional
history.
As well, through reading the Otago Daily Times and from his
interviews, he identified each candidate's priorities.
The fourth aspect was to set out each one's thinking on
student issues, which he summarised in 140 characters, the
limit for Twitter posts.
A survey he had done showed students did not like reading
political "blurbs".
"Only people who are really engaged [in local politics] will
actually read one."
His design catered for students who wanted "simple, concise,
strong, direct messages", Mr Elsen said.
The response, he said, had been "really positive", with 100%
of respondents to his survey finding the display useful.
His view of the candidates on offer was that they were
"diverse".
While not all would be up to the job of mayor, he said, some
could make it as councillors.
And with 60 to 70 hours of work in the past couple of weeks,
and his girlfriend describing the design as "the other
woman", it was now up to his lecturers to provide the design
with a vote of approval.
david.loughrey@odt.co.nz
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