Hallsville ISD Bond Campaign

In Brief

The Need: Hallsville ISD partnered with Huckabee Architects to campaign for and design new facilities for the school district. A bond campaign would have to be conducted to fund the projects and that campaign would need digital collateral and a brand to support it.

Skills In This Case Study:

  • Art Direction
  • Content Management
  • Website and UX Design

The Result: A successful bond campaign that provided funds for multiple facilities for the school district and its students.

Refined Requirements

In the state of Texas, bond campaigns are conducted to obtain funds for school district projects and are decided upon in bond elections that take place twice per year. The regulations for campaigns impose their own special requirements:

  • A bond campaign may only be conducted for a district once per year
  • The bond campaign must be presented without messaging for or against the campaign and must present factual information only

User Experience Needs:

  • A website platform that allowed for easy user management
  • User experiences that suited their goals, not roles
  • Training suitable to each user

Brand and Design Needs:

  • Brand design based on district colors and representative of its constituents
  • Design elements that could be used by internal partners with little guidance

Management Needs:

  • Art direction that could be developed and implemented across collateral in under 8 weeks
  • A website launched in the same time period, managed against simultaneous launch of other campaign sites
  • Content communicating the most relevant data to voters

Research

To help guarantee the success of the bond, the entirety of its campaign would be built from:

  • Input from the district leadership
  • Demographic studies examining growth trends, socio-economic backgrounds and the like
  • Examining existing district brand and marketing materials
  • User needs, preferences, and skill levels (when planning the website)

Synthesis and Direction

Research led to the following major directives:

  • Hone in on growth – the district’s population and student growth were on a steady, predictable climb and new facilities were needed for immediate and future growth
  • Provide clear and simple language about events leading to calling the vote in order to gain trust of voters, regardless of their choice
  • Provide clarity on the proposed design and construction of each project for the same reasons
  • Provide fast access to voting information to increase voter participation