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CoDesign Conversations: Voter Empowerment

Name: CoDesign Conversations: Voter Empowerment
Start: 2025-12-03T13:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-12-03T13:45:00-05:00

Join us on December 3 for our LinkedIn Live conversation series that explores the dynamic intersection of public and private sector innovation.

Closeup of the columsn of a government building

How does design shape the health of our democracy? In episode 6 of CoDesign Conversations, we explore how design can be a tool for voter empowerment at a moment when democratic participation is increasingly fragile. From ballot layouts to redistricting maps, panelists will examine the ways design decisions directly influence accessibility, clarity, trust, and equity in the voting experience.

Together, we’ll discuss how design processes are being used to protect access to the ballot box, reduce friction in civic participation, and support fair and representative systems—whether through thoughtful service design, usability testing, visual communication, or the application of human-centered practices in election administration.

This episode brings together leaders working at the intersection of design and democracy:

Drew Davies is the Founder of Oxide, a civic-minded brand and design consultancy established
in 2001. Under his leadership, Oxide has designed internationally award-winning brands, logos,
posters, packaging, and books. Drew has designed ballots, voter registration forms, and voter information materials for states across the U.S., from California to New York. He developed national ballot design standards for the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and collaborated with the Federal Voting Assistance
Program to enhance the registration and voting process for U.S. citizens abroad. In partnership with the Center for Civic Design, Drew designed the Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent, which were featured in the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. He also testified before President Obama’s Presidential Commission on Election Administration, and remains actively involved in implementing best practices for election and ballot design nationwide.
Christopher Patten is a Program Manager at the Center for Civic Design (CCD), where he focuses on supporting, scoping, and growing projects across the organization and with our partners. He returned to CCD after working in the federal government to build and staff human-centered design offices, teach classes on design, and provide coaching to agencies so they could practice design skills like usability testing on their own. Christopher also brings experience as a civil servant in Detroit, where he worked as Director of Strategy for Detroit Public Schools Community District.
Whitney Quesenbery is the Co-founder and Chief Program Officer of the Center for Civic Design. Back in 2000, someone asked Whitney, “How hard can it be to design a checkbox on a ballot, anyway?” That was the beginning of 25 years of working with election offices and good elections groups, solving democracy as a design problem and creating a voter experience that invites everyone to participate, based on research into best practices in election design. An authority on gathering user insights to design products where people matter, Whitney has written 3 books — “A Web for Everyone: Designing accessible user experiences”, “Storytelling for User Experience”, and “Global UX” — to help keep users in mind throughout the creative process.

December 3, 2025, 1:00-1:45 pm ET / 10:00-10:45 am PT | Live on LinkedIn

Join us for a timely and solution-forward conversation, presented in partnership with Coforma, about the ways design can strengthen democratic access and empower voters.