Ask Away website, showing questions for candidates in the 2014 NZ General Election.

Ask Away

Ask Away was designed to increase youth engagement in the 2014 New Zealand General Election for my Master of Design thesis. Through a responsive web application, people could ask questions to the political candidates, vote for the questions they wanted answered and compare their answers.

16,000 votes were cast across 1000 questions, and the most popular were answered by candidates who provided over 1000 answers between them. The politicians who took part included the Deputy Prime Minister, and almost all party leaders.

Ask Away let young people set the political agenda and engage with politicians in their own words and on their own terms.

Tablet view of the Ask Away website showing popular questions.
The most voted for questions in 2014, including climate change, economic inequality and prisoners’ right to vote.
Young woman with her question: What are you doing to help Kiwi's with their saving habits?
A social media campaign featured pictures of young people with their questions for the candidates to model participation and raise visibility of issues important to youth.
Range of young people holding their questions on a chalkboard.
More questions from the campaign, including education, child poverty, urban planning, Maui dolphins and removing speed limits.