Demystifying the election process for greater accessibility
Our work with Obama for America, Hillary for America, and Pew Charitable Trusts reimagined the election process, ultimately empowering citizens and promoting greater accessibility.
At thirteen23, we like to get involved in causes we believe in. Our expertise and contributions during the 2012 and 2016 U.S. presidential elections helped to create digital strategies that expanded the reach of voter information.
Obama for America
Few projects have access to the audience that a national election has to offer. To tap into that passion, our mobile strategy for Obama’s re-election campaign focused on the heart of the campaign—its grassroots supporters. Our goal was to bridge the gap between information, people, and communities.
Our design and development teams worked side-by-side to deliver an ambitious feature list in less than 60 days. Working directly with headquarters, we integrated with the campaign's massive infrastructure to create an application that was sophisticated, presidential, and easy to use.
By downloading the application, anyone could join the campaign, learn how to become a field volunteer, raise money, or register voters. It changed the nature of political campaigns by enabling instant communication, creating a network of highly engaged and empowered volunteers, and democratizing the political process so that anyone could get involved.
Hillary for America
Following the success of President Obama's re-election app, Hillary Clinton's campaign came to us in confidence, before the rest of the world even knew she was running for President. We were tasked with creating a digital campaign strategy that would ignite passion, inform voters, and make it easy to share and grow her support.
Our strategy focused on connecting with voters by telling the story as it unfolded, straight from the campaign trail. Users could stay up to date with short, daily bulletins that tracked the campaign and featured the best content of the day.
Working closely with the campaign, we helped extend the brand identity into the digital space. A bright and bold design language, paired with customizable content modules and animation elements, added personality to the app experience and evoked an overall sense of friendliness and relatability.
In addition to developing a series of mobile applications, we explored other digital means of engaging voters. These included on-the-go canvassing tools via Apple Watches, a notification strategy that could promote updates and suggest quick actions, and geolocation to increase engagement at live campaign events.
Pew Charitable Trusts
Outside of presidential campaigns, we contributed to the Voting Information Project (VIP), a joint venture between Pew Charitable Trusts, Google, and national election officials. Through this project, we helped create an innovative, open-source platform to connect people with the information they need to participate in elections.
To reach as many voters as possible, we developed iOS, Android, and SMS-based applications that supported 10 languages. Our apps allowed users to locate polling places, learn more about candidates, and explore the details of their local election process. In just one month after the March 2016 launch, the election information was accessed nearly two million times.
Reaching voters nationwide
Our work with Obama for America, Hillary for America, and Pew Charitable Trusts highlighted the importance and nuance of communication, especially as it relates to sharing election information and encouraging political participation.
Beyond the impact we had on connecting communities with critical tools and resources, our digital strategies paved the way for future political campaigns. By helping to demystify the election process and making access to information a goal, not just a feature, we were able to empower volunteers and reach millions of voters nationwide.
