How user-centered design principles transformed a grassroots political movement into a viral phenomenon and what it means for design practice.
The year is 2025, and New York City, “The Greatest City in The World” has a 34-year-old, democratic socialist and Muslim mayor! Mamdani’s campaign has inspired millions, many of whom not New Yorkers and, most impressively, not even American or located in America.
His campaign didn’t just change politics, it offered a masterclass in user-centered design.
A Parks and Recreation campaign come to life
Mamdani’s campaign seemed (and continues to seem) something out of a Parks and Recreations episode. When Leslie Knope (played by Amy Poehler) decided to run for City council in season 4, she does so with her friends running every aspect of her campaign (after being let go by “official” campaign managers), this gives her campaign an approachable, friendly and personal aspect that eventually led to her victory.
Although specific names of the entire Mamdani’s campaign team are not extensively detailed in publicly available sources, it is known that the campaign operated with a community-driven approach characterized by deep community roots, and a decentralized yet well-coordinated volunteer network, with digital and field teams working closely to listen, test, and refine the outreach based on real-time input from voters.
The team behind the viral success
The collaborators frequently mentioned in media coverage are Debbie Saslaw and Anthony DiMieri (for us Parks and Rec fans, that’s our Ben played by Adam Scott), co-founders and executive producers of Melted Solids, the firm behind many of the campaign’s viral videos, they played a key role in shaping Mamdani’s message and managing his social media engagement, making this campaign the most viral political campaign in the past 50 years.
This lean, agile setup helped Mamdani’s campaign stay responsive and connected in a way that resonated broadly both locally and globally.
Why design thinking matters in political campaigns
Why did Mamdani’s campaign resonate globally while better-funded opponents failed? The answer lies in principles every UX designer should understand but while keeping in mind questions of power, authenticity, and manipulation in digital spaces.
Brad O’Conner who transitioned into UX design after 15 years in political consulting, discovered that he had been practicing UX design principles in political campaigns long before transitioning into the field, writes “The voters whom you are trying to reach are the users. The goal is to provide the voter with relevant information so that their decision to vote for your candidate or cause is made more accessible.”
One key difference is that politics is also a lot more “manipulative” than UX.
A study carried out by the Oxford Internet Institute that documented organized social media manipulation campaigns in 81 countries, found that “governments and political parties “produced misinformation on an industrial scale.” So as designers we must ask, where does authentic transparency end and performance begin?
1. Active listening as user testing
Mamdani’s campaign broke from the traditional political playbook by engaging directly with both supporters and critics on social media.
The “ultimately” moment: iteration made visible
Alt text: Video of Zohran Mamdani catching himself mid-sentence about to say “ultimately” and self-correcting with humor Video credit: Zohran Mamdani Instagram / Original creator
In one instance from July 2025, Zohran Mamdani, prompted by feedback from his communications team and voters, makes a conscious effort to stop himself from overusing the word “ultimately” during interviews and public appearances. In this light-hearted video, Mamdani acknowledges the feedback, shares clips illustrating his habit, and includes a segment where — mid-sentence — he catches himself about to say “ultimately” and quickly redirects his phrasing.
“I am listening, I am learning. Please keep sending me your feedback because ultimately, I will get better.”
“In response to my team and supporters pointing out that I say ‘ultimately’ a lot, I caught myself on camera correcting the habit. Keep holding me accountable. This is how we improve, together.” (Zohran Mamdani)
This approach mirrors what the Nielsen Norman Group teaches about design thinking: empathy mapping helps “distill and categorize your knowledge of the user into one place” and “discover gaps in your current knowledge.” Mamdani essentially created a public empathy map of his own communication style, inviting collective feedback.
2. Building trust through transparency
Mamdani’s response embraced feedback as a tool for self-improvement much like designers should seek out feedback and build on it in order to inspire trust in their designs. Furthermore, the transparency in documenting the process of listening and acknowledging the feedback is what inspired people’s trust in him. This moment, in equal parts humorous and earnest, embodies the essence of user-driven iteration.
However, a question we, as designers, must ask ourselves is, how do we distinguish genuine transparency from performed authenticity? The Mamdani campaign appears to represent authentic engagement, and although their strategies are effective, they can also easily be replicated by good actors with bad intentions.
Lessons for designers: Find the line between authentic iteration and manipulative performance and listen to your users, show them you’re paying attention, and let the process of improvement happen in public view.