Strategy, BRANDING & SOCIAL

Elections & Candidate Branding - Human Rights Campaign

See the chronological evolution of the look and feel, from 2022 to 2024, utilizing authentic
storytelling and hand-drawn elements to energize more diverse voter and donor audiences.

2023–2024

Branding for Human Rights Campaign Endorsed Candidates

The endorsements look and feel evolved in 2023 with midterm elections bringing a number of wins for endorsed candidates. And HRC continued to endorse candidates for elections in 2024, culminating in the fall with Biden/Harris, then Harris/Walz.

Note: The PAC side of HRC conducts political activities and is able to endorse candidates. I worked with the in-house Legal team to maintain compliance in accordance with state, federal and local election laws.

ANIMATION

(above) Creative scenario planning/campaign development in the event of a history making
Vice President pick of Pete Buttigieg, which would have been a big win for HRC and the LGBTQ+ community, making him the first openly-LGBTQ major party nominee for Vice President.

(above) Graphic advertising “Out for Kamala” fundraising call that raised $400k for election-related efforts.

2024 ELECTION win scenarios:

with a focus on historic LGBTQ+ community wins

Though we had large losses in 2024 elections, there were some bright spots of history-making wins to celebrate as well.

2024 ELECTION loss scenarios

with a focus on resources and community-based messaging

Darker graphic direction inspired conceptually by quote from Harris’s concession speech (originally attributed to MLK, Jr.), “only when it’s dark enough can you see the stars” 🌟

↑ Part of a carousel that was shared 56,000 times on social along with a list of community resources!

The launch in early 2022

It’s always satisfying to see one’s work out in the real world, but I’m happy to report when we first launched the endorsements look and feel
publicly with the Warnock endorsement, it quickly became one of HRC’s top performing posts.

After the initial launch with the Warnock endorsement, we had a few learnings and tweaked the designs going forward. We realized full-color images of candidates (rather than black & white) could be a more inclusive approach. Also through an inclusive lens, we added in blue, white and pink trans colors as they weren’t initially represented in the rainbow in Warnock’s graphic. We didn’t want members of the community to feel left out in any way.

This work was created during my time at the Human Rights Campaign.
Many folks were involved, but the core project team included:

Kelli Stam, VP of Marketing

Bob Villaflor, Design Director

Carly Fox, Senior Designer

Geoff Wetrosky, Campaign Director

Jonathan Shields, Deputy Campaign Director

GO TEAM!

HRC President Kelley Robinson with staff at a campaign kickoff event for HRC-endorsed candidate Raphael Warnock in Georgia

initial concept development


The endorsement graphics I initially produced for the midterms election cycle in 2022 incorporated a collage style coupled with personalized elements (text & visuals) telling a candidate’s story. I utilized a more approachable, hand drawn feel, appealing to a more diverse and younger audience. Where possible, I incorporated candidate photos that felt more genuine than the previously used, sometimes stiff, official headshots, pulling photos from candidates’ events where they were meaningfully engaging with others.

DESIGN OBJECTIVES

  1. Focus on key audiences, including:

    • Donors & voters

    • Young people & first time voters

    • Communities of color

  2. Get endorsed candidates elected through:

  • Candidate awareness

  • Voter mobilization & turnout

  • In 6 key states

The tagline “Together we win” evokes a sense of unity, and we adapted it in materials closer to midterms to “Together we vote.”


DONOR AUDIENCE MATERIALS

I incorporated slightly more pared down and clean versions of the endorsements look & feel into materials for donors such as prospectuses or slide decks (below).