The 2026 midterm elections open a two-year election season that will decide who controls Congress, who becomes the next President, and ultimately, the direction of the country. Over that long stretch, CNN aims to be the most trusted and consistent source of information.
To support that goal, the network asked for a design system to power its election coverage across every platform: broadcast, digital, social, and live events. Rather than a single campaign, CNN wanted a flexible design language that could evolve across multiple election moments, responding to the story as it unfolds.
Election coverage is about data, numbers and decision points. The design system is built around pathways as a unifying visual language, where lines represent movement, nodes mark decision points, and flows resolve into outcomes. This structure allows complex information to be organized into clear, directional narratives, guiding the viewer through evolving stories in a controlled and intuitive way.
Polling and real-time data act as the driving force within the system - shaping the direction, density, and intensity of the pathways. As data shifts, pathways adapt, converge, or diverge, turning abstract numbers into visible momentum and making the dynamics of the election legible at a glance.
