Every 10 years, the Washington State Redistricting Commission is established to redraw the lines of the legislative and congressional voting districts in our state. As the communications partner for the 2021 Redistricting Commission, August Creative designed a full brand suite including logos and use guide, built a robust public facing website with inclusive content strategy, the online public comment database, social media assets, styled legislative reports, and designed posters for the final congressional and legislative maps. We are proud to have partnered with Commission staff and leadership on an outreach campaign that resulted in historic and unprecedented participation in the 2021 redistricting process.
Meet our valued partner, the Washington State Redistricting Commission. Every decade, this bipartisan commission, undertakes the task of redrawing legislative and congressional district boundaries. Working with Comission staff, we helped design a historic public outreach campaign! Grateful for this unprecedented public involvement, we thank the Commission and all who contributed, bringing immense value and insight to the redistricting process.
The 2021 redistricting cycle faced the unique challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and delays from the 2020 Census. The Washington Redistricting Commission received redistricting data four and a half months late, meaning their outreach and engagement was months behind as well. Needing to conduct most of its meetings and public outreach virtually added another layer of challenge to the project.
We coordinated the public engagement strategy, creating opportunities for people throughout the state to participate in online meetings. We touched every piece of engagement with the commission creating zoom backgrounds and providing testimony as well.
As the communications partner for the Commission, August Creative conceptualized and designed the branding and identity for the 2021 Commission outreach campaign, titled #DrawyourWA. This included providing custom illustrations and creative direction for outreach videos.
We coordinated the public engagement strategy, emphasizing accessibility and removing barriers so the public could provide online feedback. We organized public outreach information including videos on how to participate and a social media campaign.
#DrawyourWA raised awareness of the process and informed people how to participate and share what made their communities unique.
Our full-suite content strategy development included providing GIS and platform consulting. The full service web design was a hub for anyone participating in providing feedback on proposed districts. We created public comment forms for input, a secure archive, and a custom content management system.
We also designed all printed products including the proposed legislative and congressional map books, the final map book, and the 2022 Washington State District Road map.
Under the leadership of the most diverse Commission ever appointed, staff executed an outreach campaign with new tools including a Tribal consultation policy and was the first to provide public online mapping tools. This led to historic and unprecedented participation in the 2021 redistricting process. Thousands of Washington residents provided feedback and shaped how their communities are represented in Olympia and Washington, DC.