Designing the Best Overall Campaign Website of 2016

When people think about Democratic Party dominance, they tend to think of states like Massachusetts or Maryland. But in reality, it's Washington State that's had the longest drought of Republican leadership in the nation. And if you're going to run for governor in the bluest of blue states, you need to bring your "A Game"-and that's exactly what we did.

In 2015, we partnered with Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant as he launched his campaign for Governor of Washington State, designing what Campaigns & Elections Magazine would recognize as "Best Website Overall" at the 2016 Reed Awards.

I'm particularly proud of this website because of how we used color, typography, and an array of small details to create an experience that's at once familiar and unexpected. The website feels appropriate to Washington State; it's not just another cookie-cutter campaign site.

Under the hood, the website was built on NationBuilder's software platform- allowing us to quickly deploy new content and capture relevant supporter data, then leverage those assets in our email and fundraising programs.

The lessons we learned from this website's design and development-its combination of beauty, simplicity, and functional power-have shaped how we've built and deployed client sites in the years since.