Shaping the Story of Politics Through Data-Driven Discourse
Services
Product strategy
UX and UI design
Design system definition
Front-end development
Back-end development
Ad-tech integrations: Vercel, Contentful, React and Storybook
RealClearPolitics has been a trusted source for U.S. political news, opinions, and polling data for 20 years — personified by their widely cited “RCP Average.” With the pace of data accelerating, the political landscape ever-changing, and the digital media space evolving, RealClearPolitics recognized they also had to evolve to maintain their competitive advantage while creating new revenue opportunities. Having existed on legacy technical and design architectures — and with the 2024 election season looming — the time was right to give their polling content, brand, and experience a modern refresh.
Code and Theory had already completely redesigned the RealClearPolitics digital ecosystem, and next, our team split their polling data off into a stand-alone site called RealClearPolling. This site visualizes politics for engaged discourse, rooted in a bold, refreshed design system centering data clarity and impact.
Building the Tools for Speed and Scale
We launched RealClearPolling in January 2024, just as the presidential election kicked into high gear. While the site felt new, the transition was seamless, shifting users to the refreshed experience with little effort and easily meeting their existing polling needs.
It was critical to migrate their hosting, data and content management into new services that expedited their ability to publish new polls, content and perspectives to keep pace with the shifting political scene. All together, the new look and reactive content was embraced by longtime readers and polling rookies.
Crafting the Future of News
Internally, RealClearPolitics praised the decision to move to more modern content and data management, seeing the improvements almost immediately and making the rest of their media ecosystem open to improvements that weren’t possible before RealClearPolling was brought to life.
For the future, we’re introducing AI elements to help users access data more easily. An updated look will enhance the RealClearPolitics platform, supporting a new subscription model and richer content.