A va-Claire, whose blond hair spiraled in pins on her head like crop circles, and whose gentle shining presence delighted the entire team sans myself, suggested we view the brief for what it was: a fun one-off that could actually spark real change. “Can we mention abortion?” I asked. “Et cetera?”

“It’s supposed to be issue neutral,” she said. “Just a positive social-forward campaign saying, Young people, make your voices heard, get out and vote.” She’d learned this from the PAC that had hired us, because she was not just a creative strategist, she was the accounts manager. I was a creative strategist and the HR department. And a copywriter. That’s just life.

“The iconic sticker,” said Ben, our designer, and a creative strategist. “Something with the iconic sticker . . . We could make the i voted sticker a collectible series.”

“Well, you can only vote once,” I said, “so you can only collect one.”

“Joan, keeping us honest,” Ben said, pointing to me like I would smile and point at him back.…