Open Up! campaign website - neat design
Check out OpenUpNow,org, a non-partisan political movement in the UK (a little like our GetUp! but focused on one issue).
The movement (and website) is in response to the scandal in the UK some months ago regarding MPs essentially rorting their expenses system to reimburse themselves for things like mortgages they’d already paid off, adult videos and a £1,600 ornamental duck house.
The videos on the site are emotionally packed and highly amusing, but the site design also impresses me greatly. It features muted, “plain paper” colours and textures, all lines, buttons and icons have a “sketched” or drawn kind of style. It could have been overwhelming or too kitschy, but the consistent application of the style (right down to the RSS feed icon), warm colours and simple design mean that it doesn’t annoy or distract.
This style is really closely aligned with their message: they are a grass-roots, no frills movement powered by the people. A slick and professional “web 2.0” look and feel would be all wrong here, and probably make people feel like this group was wasting money on web design- precisely the wrong message for their campaign!