Halloween is a season of transformation, disguise, and storytelling—but what happens when we look beyond the costumes and consider the cultural meanings beneath them? In the latest installment of her ongoing PRINT series, design anthropologist Dr. Dori Tunstall, author of Decolonizing Design: A Cultural Justice Guidebook, brings her distinctive perspective to the season. Through just 100 words and one image each month, Tunstall explores how design shapes what we see, what we believe, and whose stories are told—inviting readers to uncover the deeper meanings hiding in plain sight.
Figure 1 Screenshot of LAist’s Candidate Match Up Quiz feature for its Voter Game Plan+
Through AIGA’s Design for Democracy, I helped map the voting experience – Registering, Getting Information, Voting, and Monitoring Choices. In California, getting information is overwhelming. I vote for government officials, but also for 22 State and LA City ballot measures. LAist’s Voter Game Plan+ reduces the overwhelm. Their Buzzfeed Quiz-fication of the LA Mayor and State Governor races brought fun, as I picked between two statements on nine topics to find my candidate match. I want more digital tools of democracy, Candidate Match 2026 tries, that solicit your views on topics and match them with the candidates and measures that align.
