▲ Photo with stakeholders of Election Aesthetics

▲ From left: Deputy Chairman Chao-Jian Chen of the Central Election Commission, President Chi-Yi Chang of the Taiwan Design Research Institute giving a speech

In the development of a democratic society, election is arguably the most important value manifestation of civil actions and personal consciousness. Election has always been a serious issue in many democratic countries, including Taiwan, and it is definitely not an easy feat to facilitate changes in various aspects. Nonetheless, the series of procedures prior to the revelation of election outcomes has remained unchanged for years, and the obvious cause for this is the high-degree sensitivity of election; all types of elections are strictly regulated by relevant laws and regulations, and for years, there has been little room for design intervention. Therefore, most printed materials are directly edited and distributed by the competent authority.

▲ Before: In Taiwan, various types of election projects are subject to different regulations, leaving little room for professional design involvement over the years.

“Taiwan Design Research Institute” (TDRI) has long been driving social changes through “design power,” and strives for collaboration with society to launch exciting projects of social service that pioneer new trends and keep pace with international mainstream. In as early as 2021, TDRI had already proactively approached Central Election Commission (CEC) with a proposal of first-stage cooperation on election bulletin, which is delivered to all households during election. At the same time, the two parties discussed the items and roadmap of ensuing optimization process, hoping to introduce greater design energy into Taiwan’s election to offer voters clearer and smoother election experiences and optimal polling stations.

New Election Bulletin Garnering Widespread Appraisal

TDRI has always had a well-defined scope when it comes to issues of public services; from national policy, universality, openness, collaborative co-creation, to joint maintenance, election is a highly public issue across the entire country, and thus, TDRI upholds the basic spirits of rationality, fairness, and objectivity. With such systematic integrated thinking, Taiwan’s election administration has gained a high level of trust of its people through over four decades of development, and this stable state marks the perfect timing for introduction of aesthetic thinking.

The first stage of the collaboration between CEC and TDRI was the Referendum Bulletin Redesign in December 2021. Ensuring legal and regulatory compliance and meeting the original budgetary limitations, the layout of the bulletin underwent a total transformation. Dedicating six months of time, the two sides, along with consultants and the design team, proposed an innovate bulletin design: the font of masthead was changed from traditional calligraphic characters to black font, presenting a clean and rational visual effect; leveraging the regulatory restrictions of only black and red colors, the new design highlighted important information in red; the layout featured several columns with horizontal lines of characters, and the number of characters in each line was reduced to enhance readability; the redesigned layout presented all referendum proposals on a single page, offering voters greater convenience to read the bulletin more comprehensively; moreover, a perspective drawing of the voting process from the view angle of a voter upon entering a polling station was added, which illustrated a clear traffic flow for citizens and helped to accelerate the voting process.

▲ Before: Previously, the bulletin with text arranged on both halves and accompanying illustrations were less accommodating to the public’s reading habits and needs.

▲ After: Featuring columns and modular blocks to control number of characters for ease of reading.

▲ After: Replacing layout diagram intended for election administration personnel with a drawing of the voting process

These bold innovations earned positive feedback from users at the time; in addition to the general perception of “election bulletin has become better looking,” the cooperation also successfully set an example. The project also won two awards at the 2022 Golden Pin Design Awards: “Best Design Award” and “Special Annual Award – Social Design,” which boosted both sides’ confidence to continually plan the targets of the three-stage optimization cooperation including the Bulletin Redesign.

Focusing on Onsite User Experience: Upgrade of Polling Station Signage System

There are many stakeholders when it comes to public services, including diverse users across departments and sectors; constant communication, complex execution, and adjustment on rolling basis are all required to achieve intuitive final presentation and application. In the second stage, the project continued to target transformation of election bulletin and related print materials (such as voter notice and ballot), with the addition of polling station signage system optimization.

As we turned our focus onto polling station most familiar to voters, we discovered that, in the past, it was filled with individual signs and posters of different sizes and colors that conveyed similar messages. Thus, the priority was to integrate the color scheme, size, and related information to enhance communication efficiency. The executive team formulated demonstrative setups for three main types of polling stations (schools, temples and shrines, and district/village activity centers), proposing comprehensive and clear signage system in accordance with citizen needs and providing polling stations clear SOP for election administration personnel to put up signs more efficiently.

▲ Before: The previous voting sites were cluttered with independent copies, posters of various sizes and colors (Photo source: Taipei City Election Commission).

▲ After: Demonstration of polling station setup at Neihu High School in Taipei City (as an example for the 2022 local elections).

Welcoming the Third Stage, Two-Pronged Implementation of Digital Optimization and Polling Station Setup

After the transformations of election bulletin and polling station signage system, the scope was expanded in the third stage and the team focused on items including policy presentation, Central Election Center, and the screens and ballot boxes in polling stations.

Policy Presentation

In the past, opening animations of related televised policy presentations were designed by individual TV stations. This optimization included the production of a universal opening animation, which adopted a neutral standpoint and perspective and avoided sensitive contents such as numbers, texts, or photos. At the same time, a set of templates and suggestions for broadcasting information design and stage decoration were proposed as references for TV stations, allowing policy presentation held by the government to present the consistent and professional brand image of Taiwan’s electoral aesthetics.

▲ Before: Previously, the opening animations were independently planned by various TV stations, often featuring character portraits and elements of the TV station (Image source: CTS).

▲ Before: Past political opinion presentations often featured vibrant colors and lively stage designs (Image source: CTV).

▲ After: The opening animation conveys the essence of democracy from a neutral and objective perspective, presenting a calm, modern, and professional look.

▲ After: The TV screen consolidates information and enriches the visual depth with dynamic backgrounds (Image source: FTV).

Central Election Center

Optimization of the information screen provided by the Central Election Center, which attracts the most attention during vote counting. The background of blue screen and yellow Regular-script font has now been replaced by neutral colors and texts, drawing audience focus onto important information. Also, site decoration suggestions have been proposed so that Central Election Center can make adjustments to give the site a neutral and rational tone.

▲ Before: Previously, the Central Information Center featured a variety of colors with strong contrasts on the vote counting screens (Image source: Central Election Commission).

▲ After: The color scheme of the Information Center has been streamlined to focus on the presentation of important vote counting information (conceptual illustration).

Polling Booths

It is worth mentioning that, in addition to the aforementioned visual communication, the execution team conducted extensive international case studies and aimed to optimize the design of the stamping area’s polling booths in voting stations. The design of the polling booths takes into account both the convenience, privacy, and overall image concerns of election staff, as well as the professionalism, reassurance, and user-specific size considerations expected by voters. The new polling booth design will first be introduced in a demonstration polling station for the upcoming 2024 Presidential Election (Classroom 804, Liu Gong Junior High School, Taipei City), gradually leading to a significant overall enhancement in the local election aesthetics and positively steering Taiwan’s overall democratic image.

▲ Before: Previously, election polling booths had a strong temporary feel and were difficult to assemble and store.

▲ After: The new-style election polling booths have been redesigned within the original budget to enhance stability, reassurance, and professionalism.

Election Design Innovation: Enhancing the Democratic Experience

“The Economist” in its 2022 Democracy Index report announced that Taiwan is ranked 10th in the world and is also the leader in Asia. As Taiwan is recognized internationally as a model of Asian democracy, the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI) is eager to further construct a more professional election environment through the introduction of design. President Chi-Yi Chang mentioned that we should be more confident in advancing democracy alongside design, thereby enhancing Taiwan’s electoral experience. The three-phase collaboration has helped to build institutional confidence and allowed for ongoing revisions, making all election-related projects more refined. TDRI will also compile the results of the past three years into a volume to be handed over to the Central Election Commission, facilitating future implementation and replicable application.

Note: The planning for the voter notification letter has been completed and will be introduced at an appropriate time.

Organizer | Industrial Development Administration, MOEA, Central Election Commission
Executive Organizer | Taiwan Design Research Institute
Project Consultant | Graphic Design, Feng Yu; Product Design Alain Lee; Service Experience Jessica Cheng; Motion Design Liu Keng-Ming; Digital Interface Design Simon Lin
Coordination and Service Design Research | Public Service Section, TDRI

Design Teams:

Election Bulletin, e-Book, Ballot, Voter Notice, and Central Election Center Screen | graphic room
Voting Process Drawing, Easy Voting Guide Animation | RE:LAB
Polling Station Signage and Sign Posting SOP | Public Service Section, TDRI, RE:LAB
2022 Televised Referendum Proposal Presentation Opening and Screen Design | Bito
Televised Policy Presentation Opening, Screen Design, and Stage Planning | 27Design
Screen, Cardboard Ballot Box | Afterain Design