One detail of last week’s Presidential debates that I nearly missed was the Democrat’s swag-bags they handed out to journalists before the event. Included in each of the bags was a pair of “W’s Amazing Rose-Colored Glasses”, which would enable the wearer to:

“See progress being made everyday!”

“Watch as outsourced American jobs turn into profits for your big donors!”

“Block out those pesky 45 million Americans without health care!”

The kicker: “Why bother changing your policies when you can just change your outlook.”

Many designers are talking about design in politics lately, but without any specific applications beyond poster design. Producing kitchy artifacts seems like a good way to apply design creativity to the campaign of your choice. Other ideas that come immediately to mind:

• Halliburton no-bid contracts a la Monopoly
• Maps of all the 60-odd countries aiding Al Queda in the 9/11 attacks, or countries possessing WMDs (with Iraq noticably absent from each)
• An image-rich booklet showing graphs of American troops in Iraq vs. the rest of the Coalition of the willing, who received the bulk of the tax cuts, workforce trends, and the reversal of the 5.6 trillion surplus in 2000 to current 5.2 trillion deficit, etc.
• and [cringing at the idea] Kerry-customized flip-flops

Time to get started, we only have 21 days until the election.

At last week’s AIGA: GAIN conference, David Brancaccio mentioned a new design-based reality TV series. Taking Care of Business is scheduled to begin October 16th on The Learning Channel, where a team of designers make-over a struggling business with a new look, advertising, and more.

Taking Care of Business tackles small business troubles in a big way, and sends a team of gurus — equipped with fresh ideas and plenty of inspiration — to identify problems, turn things around and help businesses live up to their best potential, and let their owners realize their dreams. Together, the “dream team” examines all aspects, from location and product offering to marketing and customer service. They present concrete ideas to help businesses be their best.

The four designers according to this press release are:

Richard Laermer, a former journalist turned public relations guru whose specialty is building a buzz and creating hype; Laermer is CEO of RLM Public Relations and bestselling author of five books, including Full Frontal PR.

Christina Manca, a veteran retailer and designer whose sense for merchandising and penchant for creating eye-catching visuals helped drive sales at Macy’s and Victoria’s Secret among others.

Mitch Kates, a management maven, strategic consultant and principal at Kurt Salmon Associates in New York, who helped bring brand strategy techniques and discipline to many major U.S. and global corporations including Procter & Gamble, AT&T, Levi Strauss and Co. and Calvin Klein.

Mark Becker, whose “go with your gut” philosophy helped him make the company he founded, Max and Mina’s Ice Cream into a nationally distributed brand of exotic gourmet ice cream and a multimillion dollar ice cream empire.