Yesterday was election day here in Canada and while our elections are not as sensational as those south of the border, I nonetheless followed it closely. This year’s election was significant to me not because of the result, but because of the process; I followed the election almost entirely online.
In the past, I would read the paper regularly and watch the coverage on TV. However this year I didn’t do either of these things, because I don’t get the paper delivered and I no longer have cable. So last night when the polls closed I jumped online to try and follow along. I went to the local city blogs as well as the websites for the national papers and the major TV networks. Some kudos is owed to CBC for their interactive election map. While some sites featured live blogging, it just wasn’t the same experience as the visual stimuli and furious live action that you get from watching the election results on TV. I even turned on my alarm clock radio to try and see how the audio only experience measured up. In the end, I just ignored the election in frustration (the results weren’t helping).
So besides my dissatisfaction with the online coverage of the election, I also thought about the role of design in elections. I was thinking specifically about design beyond graphics, something closer to information architecture and experience design. Logging onto the parties’ websites you realize how little this kind of thing is thought about and this is kind of shocking in the age of PR and spin. Why wouldn’t the political parties want to consider the way their information is absorbed by citizens and the experience accompanying it? While I do believe their PR people think of this, it is in a way that is out of sync with reality. What would happen if a designer sat down to organize a party’s communication and design a series of interactions that create an enriched and positive experience? I would certainly throw my hat into the ring.
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