NUTZEN is a nationwide magazine of the print and media associations in Germany.

In 2021 they launched The Title Competition for apprentices of Graphic Design in Germany.

The topic of the title, as well as the main topic of the magazine, were Parliamentary Elections that would take place in 2021.

First 10 places were rewarded and mentioned in the new issue of the magazine in print.

Since the topic was of a political nature, it was a great challenge for me to think of an interesting concept.

I had to research German political climate and which political topics are specifically relevant and of interest for the next elections.

The concept I wanted to run with was to implement a ballot paper on the cover of the magazine.

The idea for the cover developed from Four Dimensions of Social Justice after Irene Becker and Richard Hauser.

These four dimensions are interdependent and partly in conflict: not all goals can be achieved at the same time.

I took the concept of different social justices and played with them in my design. I tried to implement them on a ballot paper and then disassemble the design to create interesting layouts.

I decided I should combine analogue and digital methods to make the cover more unique, so I experimented with scanography and paper textures.

Newspaper always covers most current social and political topics, which I found to be a good match for my concept of presenting different social justices.

Focusing on individual social issues from the news made the topic less abstract.

An "x" in a circle is a well known symbol for voting in Germany: The candidates are presented in a table, each row having a circle, which is to be checked with an "x" in order to vote for a specific candidate.

By trying to squeeze in as many topics as possible in one voting row, I wanted to express how difficult it can be for the voters to find a political party, which addresses all the important issues equally.

The headers of the included articles deal with different up-to-date social topics, such as
Police cruelty, Lockdown, Vaccination, Digitalisation, Environmental protection, Pension Insurance, Inclusivity...

My design won a 10th place in the competition: I am flattered that it was noticed and rewarded by the jury!

Here you can see the designs of all ten winners:

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