cuomo mayoral brand & campaign website

Description
The Cuomo Mayoral Brand & Campaign Website project was an end-to-end branding and website design initiative with a stringent 3-week deadline. The objective was to establish a compelling and cohesive brand identity for Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign and develop a user-friendly, visually engaging website optimized for rapid deployment. My responsibilities encompassed concept creation, branding, UI design, development of Figma components, collaboration with key stakeholders and developer, and quality assurance oversight.

Work Produced
Branding and Website Build

Role: Senior Visual Designer
Timeline: 3 Weeks
Tools: Figma, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, AI Tools (for workflow optimization)

Concept: Pragmatic
Typeface Used: Owners Text / Source Sans Pro

Problem / Challenge

The Cuomo campaign required a compelling brand identity and fully-developed website with a high degree of polish under an accelerated timeline. The project also involved:

• Competitive Landscape: In a crowded mayoral race, differentiating the Cuomo campaign from competitors such as Zohran Mamdani and incumbent Mayor Eric Adams was crucial.​

• Best Practices Integration: Implementing industry best practices for political campaign branding and website design to ensure effectiveness and voter engagement.​

• Stakeholder Collaboration: Coordinating with multiple stakeholders and a public affairs and consultancy firm to maintain alignment throughout the process.​

• Design System Development: Creating a scalable design system to ensure consistency across all visual elements.

• User-Centric Design: Ensuring the website was intuitive, accessible, and resonated with the target audience.

Process / Approach

1. Competitive Research & Best Practices Analysis

• Competitor Analysis: Conducted a thorough analysis of mayoral campaign websites, focusing on design elements, messaging strategies, and user engagement tactics. This analysis informed the development of a unique visual identity for the Cuomo campaign. 

• Best Practices Integration: Incorporated industry best practices, such as: 

• Simplicity: Ensuring a clean, minimalist logo design for immediate recognition.

• Clear Messaging: Presenting the candidate’s values and campaign promises through deliberate imagery and design choices.

• User Engagement: Implementing intuitive navigation and clear calls-to-action to facilitate voter interaction.

2. Research & Discovery

• Stakeholder Interviews: Engaged with key stakeholders to understand campaign goals, target demographics, and messaging priorities. 

• Mood Boards & Style Exploration: Developed mood boards and explored various styles to align on the visual direction. 

3. Concept Creation & Branding

• Logo Design: Utilized Adobe Illustrator to craft a simple yet impactful logo, ensuring scalability across various mediums. 

• Visual Identity Development: Established a cohesive color palette and typography that reflected the campaign’s message and values. 

4. Design System Development

• Figma Components: Built Figma components, styles, and UI states for interactive elements (hover, on-click, etc.) to enhance user engagement, consistency, and accessibility.

• Cohesive Design System: Established a cohesive design system to be applied across various touchpoints, ensuring efficiency in development and future updates. 

5. Collaboration & Implementation

• Cross-Functional Coordination: Worked closely with stakeholders, developer, and the public affairs and consultancy firm to ensure design feasibility and maintain project timelines. 

• Asset Handoff: Provided developers with ready-to-develop Figma files and assets, ensuring all designs were optimized for rapid implementation. 

6. User Testing & Feedback

• Final Review & QA: Conducted final design reviews and QA to ensure visual fidelity and consistency.

• Brand Guidelines Creation: Created comprehensive brand guidelines to maintain consistency across future assets and communications.

Solution / Execution

• Website Design Delivery: Delivered a high-fidelity, fully-developed website design featuring interactive components, streamlined navigation, and visually engaging layouts.

• Prototype Creation: Produced a high-fidelity, interactive prototype as part of the design package, providing stakeholders and developers with a clear vision of the intended user experience.

• Developer Handoff & Documentation: Provided the developer with clear, organized assets and detailed design documentation, allowing for seamless implementation within the tight deadline.

• Brand Identity Creation: Built a comprehensive brand identity including logos, typography, color palettes, and supporting graphics.

Outcome / Results

• Successful Launch: Successfully launched the Cuomo Mayoral Campaign Website within the 3-week deadline.

• Positive Feedback: Received stellar feedback from stakeholders and the public affairs and consultancy firm for creativity, professionalism, and efficiency.

• Scalable Design System: Established a scalable design system that allowed the developer to rapidly implement the designs with minimal revisions needed.

• Fundraising Success: Following the website launch, the Cuomo campaign reported raising over $1.5 million from approximately 2,700 donors within the first two weeks, demonstrating strong supporter engagement. ​

• Enhanced Visibility: The distinctive branding and user-friendly website contributed to increased media coverage and public awareness of the campaign.

Reflection / Learnings

This project underscored the importance of clear communication, adaptability, and rapid iteration while integrating competitive research and best practices to create an effective political campaign brand and website. Collaborating with a diverse team and incorporating user testing feedback ensured the final product resonated with the target audience. Utilizing Adobe Illustrator for logo creation allowed for precision and scalability, while building a scalable design system within Figma streamlined the development process. Successfully maintaining alignment across stakeholders, providing clear handoffs to developers, and delivering high-quality work within challenging timelines demonstrated my ability to balance creativity, efficiency, and collaboration.