Designing election dashboards that inform and build trust

April 18, 2025

Here are a few tips and ideas from the Michigan Voting Dashboard that can help you decide how to display election data you’re working with.

Birthday reflections

September 28, 2021

As we celebrate our 8th birthday, we're looking back at 8 of our favorite projects.

Number 8 candle on top of a cartoon cake

Short stories from overseas voters

June 25, 2021

17 Americans living—and voting—abroad and their challenges figuring out how to vote from wherever they live.

Center for Civic Design Research Report - Updates from the front line of civic design research

Attention-grabbing style: typography to grab (and hold) your reader’s attention

April 15, 2021

Typography can help - or hurt - your desire to convey important information to voters. We reviewed the available research on 4 typography choices. Here's what we found about bold, underline, italics, and all caps.

Now is the time to update your forms

March 25, 2021

Improve forms and other notices to voters during the off-cycle by making them official yet friendly, highlighting time-sensitive information, and using plain language

3 strategies to improve vote-by-mail signature forms

January 27, 2021

3 strategies to simplify signature forms and create a more successful experience voting by mail.

2020, the year of decades

January 20, 2021

In a chaotic year, we designed envelopes voting by mail, and so much more.

What to do about results: set expectations with explanations

October 26, 2020

Communications tips to help voters understand election results reporting

Designing ballot cure forms that invite voters to act

October 22, 2020

What we learned from testing different styles of cure forms with voters.

Tips for the home stretch: Communicating with voters

October 20, 2020

3 tips for easy ways to answer voter questions: voting location maps, email auto-responses, drop box checklists

Helping voters make healthy choices

October 12, 2020

Election information plus guidance from public health experts helps voters make healthy voting choices.

An invitation to certainty, in an uncertain time

October 1, 2020

Communications tips for helping voters cure a problem with their mail-in or absentee ballot.

Designing restoration of rights information

August 17, 2020

Information about voting rights after prison is a key to returning citizens voting.

Language access helps with acculturation

April 27, 2020

Getting access to the ballot and being an informed voter takes more than translation.

Preparing to mail ballots

April 21, 2020

Design tips for making vote-by-mail envelopes U.S. Postal Service friendly.

Scaling-up voting by mail for the 2020 elections

April 8, 2020

Seven questions to ask to help you make critical decisions (and a tool kit to help you get started)

An invitation to redistricting

March 23, 2020

What happens when citizens lead the design of an application for their own effort to redraw district lines.

Small changes make a big difference in vote-by-mail

February 5, 2020

Easy ways to make vote-at-home envelopes work better for voters (and the post office.)

Questions to ask while designing a ballot: A checklist for usable ballots

January 28, 2020

8 questions to ask when reviewing a ballot with a downloadable checklist

Experiences of new citizens in American civic life

January 13, 2020

There’s a wide gap between what it takes to pass a civics test and what you need to know to be an informed voter.

Using your website to fight misinformation

January 10, 2020

Quick ways to make your website the source of trustworthy, accurate, and useful information about voting and elections.