Guide to build your campaign’s basic kit
Not all of us are designers, but we can make do with several free tools that help us produce quick pieces for the day-to-day work of a campaign.
This guide is designed to help awaken the designer that exists in all of us. It’s made up of two parts: Basic Kit – covering the materials you need to have on hand to produce campaign content; and Digital Tools – a list of online tools and apps that allow you to create campaign materials from anywhere. It’s worth saying that having a designer on your team is always a good idea, but if you don’t have one, there’s no reason not to produce strong, eye-catching materials quickly and get them out there.
One of the core ideas behind design is accessibility: making tools available so we can create things ourselves, in our own way, learning intuitively through experience. That’s how apps, social networks, and digital platforms are built, so people can learn and do things autonomously/intuitively. Today, there are many free and easy-to-use tools for editing images, text, video, and design. You can download them directly to your phone through Google Play, the Apple Store, and other platforms.
It’s important to stress that this guide is not meant to undervalue the role of a professional designer. The aesthetic quality of materials, speed of production, and in-depth knowledge of how best to present content are valuable skills. A designer can make your campaign more visually appealing, better balanced in terms of information layout, and more powerful in its overall language, especially when it comes to building a coherent visual identity across all materials. Still, if you don’t have access to a designer at this moment, there’s no reason not to roll up your sleeves and produce the everyday materials your campaign needs. That’s exactly why we created this guide, and we hope it helps awaken the designer inside all of us.
Basic Kit
Party logo
It’s very important to include the party logo and/or the campaign logo (if you’ve created one) across your campaign materials. We know that, given the rush of the electoral period, it’s not always easy to get hold of these files. A useful tip is to search on Google for the party name followed by “logo PNG transparent”. A lot of material is available this way, but be careful to check that you’re using the most up-to-date version of the logo. Also, always check the image size. In Google Images, you can filter by medium or large sizes, which helps avoid readability issues. If needed, we also include tips later on how to remove backgrounds from images.
Download your logo, clean it up if necessary, and keep it saved in an easy-to-access folder.
Candidate number
Your candidate number can be stylised to match your campaign’s visual identity by using the same fonts, colours, and graphic style. If you’ve already defined a standard way to use the number, it’s worth turning it into a background-free image so you can easily apply it across different materials.
If your campaign doesn’t yet have a visual identity, you can rely on your party’s identity instead. Look for a similar font to the one the party uses, adopt its colour palette, and use the party logo. That already gives you a consistent style standard to follow.
Make sure to save the font in the main programmes you’ll be using (if it’s not already included), note down the colour codes you’ve chosen, and keep your candidate number both as text and as an image. This will make it much easier to apply across different formats.
Official photo
It’s essential that people can quickly and easily recognise the candidate in campaign materials. This helps consolidate both the brand and the candidate’s identity.
It’s recommended not to use too many different photos (one per material) as this can confuse voters. Ideally, you should have one official campaign photo, the same one used on the ballot, and use it as consistently as possible across all pieces.
If you don’t have professionally shot photos, don’t worry. You can choose a neutral background (without patterns or visual distractions) and take several photos using your own phone.
Make sure to have portrait (vertical) photos and close-up shots, with at least two options: head-only and head-and-bust. Leave some empty space in the background so you can add information later in post-production. You can also remove the background and reuse the candidate image across different materials.
Have both versions ready: a photo with background and a cut-out version without background, saved in your campaign materials folder.
Campaign CNPJ
Never forget that all official campaign materials must include the campaign’s CNPJ. You can add it as text or save it as an image to quickly insert into different designs.
It’s essential to organize all materials; logos, photos, CNPJ images, candidate number images, and anything else you’ll need, in one single, easy-to-access online location. Choose a storage platform such as Google Drive, OneDrive, or another option you prefer, and share access with everyone involved in the campaign who may need to produce materials.
Practical tools
Below is a list of practical, easy-to-use, and free tools you can download to strengthen your campaign, visual identity, and communications.
Canva is one of the tools that has gained the most popularity in recent years. It’s practical, modern, and can be used both on a computer and on a mobile phone. Canva is ideal for creating digital communication materials and presentations. You can easily design an image with a strong message to share on social media, for example.
The app offers many ready-made templates, already sized correctly for Instagram (feed and stories), Facebook, X (Twitter), and more.
You can also use Canva to create presentations outlining your policy proposals, combining images, text, and even charts to help voters better understand why you decided to run.
Another great feature is print-ready materials. You simply select the print option, choose the format, organise the content, and download it as a PDF. Some print shops accept PNG or JPEG files, but PDF is usually the best option to ensure print quality.
Remove is a practical, easy-to-use website for removing image backgrounds. Just go to the site, upload your image, and in a few seconds it’ll remove the background automatically. This lets you make better use of photos taken on your phone against neutral backgrounds, giving them a more professional look. You can upload images directly from your online gallery.
ILoveImage is a website for simple, basic online image editing. It offers functions like compressing, cropping, rotating, resizing, and converting images to and from JPG format. You can upload images straight from your online gallery and even post directly from your phone.
Everyone uses WhatsApp, and an engaged campaign needs memes and stickers. Laugh at yourself and go all in on stickers! They’re fun and can reach people you’d never expect. Sticker Studio is an app that lets you create and use stickers directly from your phone. A nice bonus: images you design in Canva for campaign materials can also be reused as stickers.
