White House: We the People Redesign

First launched in 2011, the White House petitions platform, We the People (no longer run by the Obama administration), is the first digital method for the public to petition the White House in alignment with the First Amendment. Between 2011 and 2016, the Office of Digital Strategy paid close attention as millions of people have created and signed petitions — taking feedback and looking for opportunities to improve the experience. In late 2015, Ashleigh and team were given the green light to redesign the platform to improve the user experience and help ensure the platforms existence into future administrations.

Made it simpler to create and sign petitions from any device. Created mobile and desktop breakpoints, allowing the site to scale-to-fit a variety of devices. Shifted elements, like the “sign petition” form, to fit screens, making it easier to create and sign petitions from a phone.

Built more guidance into the process of creating a petition to make each petition its best version. Made the petition creation flow more guided. Now, petition creators can choose between five different types, each items that the federal government can take action on.

Went back to the basics. Noticed that users almost universally only took two actions: created a petition or signed one. Removed unnecessary features, to bring We the People back to the bare essentials, streamlining the experience to be more user-friendly and human-centered.

Realigned the brand. Adjusted the old tagline from “Your voice in our government” to “Your voice in the White House” to empathize to remove ownership and lean into the community aspects of the We the People brand. Took away unnecessary White House brand components.

View the platform

This website is no longer controlled by the Obama administration.

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