F.Y. Eye is a New York nonprofit advertising group that works exclusively with other nonprofits, social enterprises, and government agencies to build public awareness about the wealth of social, civic, educational, legal, financial and health-related resources available to people in need. Since 2005, they have helped more than 95 mission-driven organizations distribute over 175 campaigns that generate attention and action on issues of public concern. F.Y. Eye is building an Impact Artist Collective of creative people who want to use their skills for the public good. The Impact Artist Collective provides members access to exciting and meaningful creative projects for nonprofits and government agencies as well as networking and professional development opportunities.

Once every ten years, the United States Census takes a count of every person (citizen and non-citizen) residing in the United States. The taking of the census is mandated by the United States Constitution and has occurred every 10 years since 1790. But the census is so much more than just a population count. Census information is used to determine how federal funds for public education, infrastructure, and critical services are allocated, as well as how many congressional seats every state gets in the House of Representatives, and how legislative districts are drawn.  

The stakes are high for the 2020 Census. The Trump administration’s politically motivated attempt to add a citizenship question to the census questionnaire aimed to discourage noncitizens from completing the census and subsequently reduce the political and economic power of immigrant-friendly states like New York and California. Even though the Supreme Court blocked the citizenship question, the scare tactics worked and the damage has been done. Many people are afraid to fill out the Census form, even without the citizenship question, increasing the likelihood of an undercount in blue states with large immigrant populations. 

Now, New York’s fair share of funding and political representation is at risk. A population undercount is predicted to reduce New York’s political representation in Washington by two congressional seats, reduce the number of federal dollars allocated for public and nonprofit services, and reinforce partisan gerrymandering. 

How Your Art Can Help 

We can use the power of art and design to educate New Yorkers on how the results of the 2020 Census will impact their communities for the next ten years and motivate historically undercounted populations to fill out the census questionnaire. 

F.Y. Eye is seeking print and digital designs that visualize the importance of participating in the 2020 Census. The design should be simple and feature one of the three key messages listed below. 

Select designs will be displayed on indoor and outdoor digital billboards (“The F.Y. Eye PSA Network”) located in high-visibility community and nonprofit spaces throughout New York. You can learn more about the locations of the digital billboards on the F.Y. Eye PSA Network Map. Your art could be seen all over the city by over 1 million New Yorkers! 

What’s more? F.Y. Eye will be printing and displaying select designs on high-visibility windows in hard-to-count neighborhoods. To complement the window posters, F.Y. Eye will be dropping 2020 Census postcards featuring your art to community based organizations to be placed in takeout and delivery food packages being provided to New Yorkers in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, F.Y. Eye will also share submissions with NY Counts 2020—a broad-based statewide coalition composed of racial, ethnic, immigrant, religious, health, education, labor housing, social services, and business groups working to ensure every New Yorker is counted. We will encourage members to display posters at their locations and disseminate your work through influential social media channels. 

Design Guidelines: 

The design should include one of the three 2020 Census Slogans below and motivate one or several of the listed hard-to-count populations to fill out the 2020 Census questionnaire. 

F.Y. Eye developed these slogans based on behavioral design principles and tested their effectiveness through surveys and focus groups in collaboration with the Association for a Better New York (ABNY), Count All Kids and other community partners. 

• Your community is counting on you—Get counted! Complete the 2020 Census.
• 10 Minutes of your time. 10 years of funding. Complete the 2020 Census.
• Make sure your community gets its fair share of government funding. Fill out the Census.

In addition to the slogan, the following must be integrated into the visual design:

• Census questionnaire website – www.2020census.gov 
• Census phone number – (844) 333-2020 
• F.Y. Eye logo (Download the logo here)

 
Your design can be a big text phrase illustrated in a cool way or it can include a graphic and have the slogan as the headline.

 

Once the designs are complete, we will be working with translators to get the text translated into Spanish, Chinese, French, and Korean.

Your Poster and Postcard Design Should:  
 

• Be a vertically oriented
• Poster Spec: 12" by 16" RGB image at a resolution of 300dpi (3600 by 4800 pixels)
• Postcard Spec: 5" x 7" RGB image (630 x 450 pixels).
• Keep a safe area of at least 1/8" on all sides. Do not place text too close to the edge.
• Be simple: the average viewer will only spend 5 to 10 seconds viewing the design, read any text and digest the message;
• Feature one large dynamic image: we suggest artists include one bold image instead of a handful of images to improve visual impact;
• Be colorful and try not to use more than 3 colors: use bright and contrasting RGB colors within the design to attract eyes to the message (see best combinations below). The inks used will be 4/0 UV fade resistant inks; 

 

• Include a solid background to ensure the foreground image stands out; 
• Have a large font size and use simple fonts that are legible from a distance;
• Be delivered as PDF, PNG, and JPEG files. 

 

 Your Design Should Not:
 

• Be partisan or mention any political group or candidate 
• Include any other urls or logos (small artist signatures are fine)
• Use copyrighted images like brand logos, editorial photography of celebrities or politicians, or someone else’s artwork. All images you use should be your own, or available under a creative commons or other similar license.

 

Optional: Additional Products
If you think your F.Y. Eye GOTC Census poster design would make a cool button or t-shirt, please consider submitting designs for those products as well! There’s no guarantee we’ll be able to print them all, but we think there could be a demand for buttons and apparel and we’d love to try some designs!


In addition to the Poster requirements, your Apparel Design Should (optional):
 

• Be free-floating (not compositionally reliant on the frame of the image)
• Be a vertically oriented, 15" by 19" RGB image at a resolution of 300dpi (4500 by 5700 pixels)
• Be a transparent or layered file with a solid background color (TIFF, PNG, PSD, or AI)

 

In addition to the Poster requirements, your Button Design Should (optional):
 

• Be a square, RGB image at 1035 by 1035 pixels that is a JPG or PNG
• Fill the entire square canvas but content should crop to a circle.
• Keep a safe area of at least 100 pixels on all sides (don’t place text or important objects too close to the edge).