Cabán for Queens
Brand and poster design for Tiffany Caban's campaign for Queen's District Attorney
The Challenge
In late 2018, Tiffany Cabán was preparing to launch her campaign for Queens District Attorney—a race that would become one of the most closely watched progressive primary campaigns in the country. She needed a visual identity that could cut through the noise of New York City politics while authentically representing her vision for criminal justice reform.
Tiffany came to me looking for a design partner who could translate her bold policy vision into an equally bold visual identity. Though my background was primarily in digital product design, I was moved by her mission and committed to helping her win.
My Role
Brand Designer · Created the complete campaign visual identity including logo, color palette, typography system, and campaign materials. Collaborated directly with Tiffany over several months to develop a design language that captured her vision.
Design Process
Understanding the Vision
Over several months of conversations, I worked to understand what Tiffany wanted her campaign to communicate. The words that kept emerging were: simple, straightforward, powerful, and most of all—bold.
This wasn't a typical political campaign seeking to appeal to everyone through safe, conventional design. Tiffany was running on transformative criminal justice reform. The visual identity needed to match that ambition.
Logo Development
The logo needed to work across an enormous range of applications—from social media avatars to street posters to campaign buttons. I designed a mark that was:
Simple enough to be instantly recognizable at any size Bold enough to command attention in the visual chaos of Queens streetscapes Flexible enough to work in full color, single color, and reversed treatments
The final design used strong geometric forms and confident typography that could hold its own against any background.
Color Palette
Political campaigns typically default to red, white, and blue—safe, expected, forgettable. For Cabán, I developed a distinctive violet-forward palette that immediately set her apart from other candidates while conveying progressive values.
The secondary color system provided flexibility for different contexts and applications, from door hangers to Pride-specific campaign materials.
Typography System
I selected and configured primary and secondary typefaces that reinforced the campaign's personality: modern, confident, and accessible. The type system was designed to work seamlessly from large-scale outdoor applications to small print materials.
Campaign Materials
The identity system came to life across campaign materials, most notably the street posters that became ubiquitous across Queens during the campaign. I designed variations including a Pride-specific poster that celebrated Tiffany's identity as a queer Latina candidate.
Outcome
The Cabán campaign became a national story, with Tiffany coming within 1,100 votes of winning the primary—a result that sent shockwaves through New York politics. The bold visual identity helped establish her as a serious candidate from day one and became an instantly recognizable symbol of the progressive movement in Queens.
Seeing the designs on street corners, storefronts, and in the hands of volunteers across the borough remains one of the most meaningful experiences of my design career.