Dan Seals for Congress

This is a portfolio of my work for Dan Seals for Congress over a period of one year, three months, and six days between 2009 and 2010.

I had the privilege of being one of the first people to join Dan’s 2010 campaign at the beginning of an improbable primary, and served as a new media consultant through the last day of the general election.

Over 463 days, I created two complete websites and produced hundreds of designs including literature, fundraising emails, and iPhone backgrounds.

Original Proposal

When I first joined the campaign, I prepared some alternatives to the Dan Seals logo (although the campaign retained the classic Seals logo).

The Dan Seals Brand

The Dan Seals brand needed to balance the spirited, grassroots nature of his candidacy with a focus on serious issues.

I knew when I started the campaign that other people would need to be able to make things like event fliers and email blasts, as well as update the website, so I put together a style guide that used assets and fonts which were commonly available (so that anyone could work with them).

Sometimes this meant using creative solutions, such as basing the margins for Seals logo on the dimensions of the stars in the logo’s iconic flag. Not everyone uses a design program with rulers and margins, but everyone can eyeball the width of a star.

I thought that the “Impact” typeface used in the Seals logo dated the campaign, so I used Hoefler and Frere-Jones’ more contemporary Gotham Condensed for all other titles. Good old Georgia served as our web-safe font and our print serif as well.

I am proud to have enforced this style guide without making any substantial changes for entire life of the campaign, through the primary and the general election.

First Draft of the Website

This was the campaign’s website from 2008:

There were two main issues with this design. First, the site didn’t present a clear hierarchy of information. I addressed this problem by reworking the layout in wireframe:

Second, it was important that the Seals website demonstrate to voters that among a crowded field, Dan was still the most experienced and professional candidate.

I created several versions of the website. An early draft that was not used:

Website for the Primary Election

This was the version of the website that was launched in September of 2009.

As the website grew and more content was generated over time, I re-launched the site over January of 2010 to include drop-down menus, additional sidebar items including an interactive AJAX map of the district, and a redesigned footer.

By this time, the campaign’s social media operation had become much more prominent, and was featured in the website design.

Website for the General Election

After the primary, the campaign decided to revisit the Seals website design. Our goal was to showcase Dan’s credibility and seriousness of purpose. The campaign’s message was “focused on the economy.”

This version of the website also included a search feature. For my notes on implementation in WordPress, check out this post on my blog.

Website Slideshow

Both versions of the Seals website featured a prominent slideshow with the latest news from the campaign. This was a place to feature photos of the candidate and campaign, as well as strong design. I created dozens of slides which were rotated in and out of the slideshow. These are some of my favorites:

Website Splash Screens

I made sparing use of splash screens on the Seals website. One was to call attention to the release of the campaign’s first ad in the primary; the other to the release of a favorable poll.

Email Design

I occasionally assisted the campaign’s Finance Director with design for emails from the campaign. One successful email included an appeal to purchase specific equipment for the field team like handwarmers and clipboards:

Print Design

I created many fliers and signs for events throughout the campaign. These were each an opportunity to play with the Seals brand and suit it to the event in question.

My favorite flier from the campaign is the one (below) for the Carbon Footprint Event. The campaign copied this flier in-house on special paper that I ordered online, made from recycled banana peels. The total cost for those 1,000 memorable fliers was $14, and they were produced in one day.