The Perils of Explaining Politics

In the US, it's painfully obvious that political debates have become more distinctly partisan in recent years. Nearly every event or message can be seen as favoring one side over the other. This represents a real challenge for journalists and there is a lot of debate about the role of balance in the news. 

It's no different for explainers. If we want to increase understanding for everyone, we must present information in a form that avoids political persuasion. This means taking partisanship out of the equation and finding ways to explain ideas that focus not on politics, but meaning. Only by doing this can an idea teach its full potential.

This was our challenge with the video on Electing a US President. We spent a lot of time making sure that our colors, words and visuals did not appear to favor one side. That's why we chose to represent the process with three parties appearing as circles, triangles and squares.  

Buzzfeed recently published a short video that uses a similar approach. It's about redistricting in US states and how different states approach the process. For visuals, they use pizza. Check it out: 

Reading in email? Watch it here.