Politician website - good design

dahayeser

I have been asked about with developing a website for a canidate in the next election. I would like to show a couple of sites this potential client to get him thinking about what sort of design he would like, what he would like to display most prominantly on the front page of the site etc.

I'm in need of a bit of inspiration here.. When I went googling politcians websites I found little or nothing that really impressed me ..

Anyone know of a politician with what they would consider a very impressive site?

Dean820

Didn't really find any good Irish ones. Perhaps have a look at the ones in the States for inspiration? I thought Linda McMahon's from America was done well - http://www.linda2010.com/

Liam Byrne

Can I ask which party ?

My conscience refuses to let me give advice if it's an FF member, but I could be on for offering assistance if it's someone worth backing.

p

I think the biggest aim for a politicians website is making it easy to communicate with the electorate. A longer term strategy should be made and planned. If you setup a twitter accunt, make sure it's actually updated.

There's very few in Ireland that are any good.

mikemac

Tell your client to get a twitter account and you can add a link to the website.
I can think of one candidate who makes excellent use of this tool, and it is a tool after all.

There are only a handful of elected politicians and candidates who make full use of it

was.deevey

Get signups and polls going, this will actually help with gaining votes if certain policys' are trending that he are not addressed...promoting it will probably be one of the hardest things to do i'd imagine.

Facebook links / Twitter obviously, You might think of automating the updates with the site integration to make life easy e.g. if someone can write a piece every few days on the site it gets tweeted and facebooked ...means only needing to update one source too.

SMS might be an option if you can manage to get a database and should not cost the earth.

I'd agree with looking at some of the US sites rather than local for inspiration normally their budgets on political marketing are though the roof so the formula is ready made.

CptSternn

If they are a member of a party then you need to use the party's colours and logo.

If you don't, then people notice and will blast you and your customer.

http://www.politics.ie/fianna-fail/145894-fianna-fail-politicians-drop-toxic-fianna-fail-logo.html

http://www.politics.ie/limerick/139446-no-mention-fianna-fail-willie-odeas-clinic-advertisements.html

http://www.politics.ie/clare/145381-timmy-dooley-independent.html

All of the FF candidates are stripping the colours and logos from their website and adverts, and people are taking notice.

I have done a few websites for politicians - stick with a design that looks a bit like the parties website. If you try and cleanse the website of a party affiliation all you will succeed in doing is drawing attention to this fact.

dahayeser

Thanks guys,

It's not a fianna failer so minimising / hiding completely the logo isn't something I need to worry about thank god. Don't think I could stomach doing one of them tbh! That is gas though, had a look a Noel Dempsey's site (which actually isn't bad at all) and he has the FF logo stripped from his website !!

I actually have a fair idea what I'd propose to put on it. I plan on doing something with wordpress. Integrating with twitter and facebook, maybe auto post to facebook as suggested by @was.deevey. Adding Blog, News and Events, policies, issues etc.

What I am looking for is a design that would inspire me a bit. Trying to decide what to put on the front page, use a tab folder or go for a longer front page. What to carry through out the whole site on the sidebar and footer .. that sort of thing..

Trawling through a few US sites now, good plan, the standard over here is terrible by and large ..

skelliser

post up a few of the good ones you find, i might be building a similar sight for a guy whos going to run as well!!

mikemac

Dean820 wrote: »

I thought Linda McMahon's from America was done well - http://www.linda2010.com/

I agree, looks to be a very good website.
I haven't seen a candidate in Ireland with one as good as this.

A good template for your research OP
However, on first impression I'm not sure which party Linda is in. You need to make this clear for your client and use the party logo, whichever logo that may be
Edit, seems to be the Republican party and the website has the three stars but again, it's not that clear. I don't see Republican party prominent in the banner.

Maybe something to look at OP

Liam Byrne

That Linda site looks woeful on mobile - loads of text overlapping

cormee

Smashing Magazine run some great inspiration articles - here's one for government & political sites http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/13/showcase-of-government-and-political-websites/

Seth Brundle

@OP - maybe look at http://bertieahernoffice.org/ for some inspiration.

(Unrelated to Bertie's site obviously) don't forget that several lies thrown into your website won't hurt at all.

Liam Byrne

kbannon wrote: »

@OP - maybe look at http://bertieahernoffice.org/ for some inspiration.

(Unrelated to Bertie's site obviously) don't forget that several lies thrown into your website won't hurt at all.

Photo caption / aside :

Bertie Ahern retired as Taoiseach (Prime Minister) in May 2008 having enjoyed the unique distinction in modern Irish politics of being the first person in over sixty years.

That's not even a sentence!!!! What's with the full-stop after "sixty years" ?

Are they waiting on the Mahon Tribunal results to give him a full sentence ?

EggDesign

Joans isnt bad! http://www.joanburton.ie/