Govern
A tool for bridging the gap of information inequality in American government.
Role
Timeline
Product Design
User Research
Interviews
Interaction Design
Prototyping & Testing
Aug 2023 - Oct 2023
Project
Solo passion project for Google UX Design course
Tools
Figma
Illustrator
Procreate
1. Problem
47.8% of registered voters reported they did not vote in the due to indifference and time
With my own hesitations to admit my confusion surrounding politics, I began to reach out to friends about their knowledge of politics. The overall response was similar to my own: confusion and indifference. This hesitation often translated to many of them stating they didn’t vote in most elections.
I wanted to understand the impact of this ‘insecurity’ on voting within the U.S. Based on data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, 47.8% of registered voters reported they did not vote in the 2022 congressional elections. The 2 most common reasons for missing an election? Indifference and time.
With so little time in between work and life, how can one find space to care about something that often seems unimportant or ineffective? It has been noted that politicians tend to cater their efforts to the more informed, but general information concerning politics hasn’t always been accessible. As written in an article published by MIT discussing voters’ knowledge of political news, this information inequality “deprioritizes younger, lower-income minorities”.
I wanted to create a more empathetic learning experience for those with similar issues. I wanted to focus on creating a nonpartisan resource for underrepresented Americans to make government more accessible and easy to digest within their own lives.
1a. Solution Sneak Peek
A mobile app that provides accessible and digestible information about politics and government
Opening page with various CTA for navigation as well as access to current, popular political information.
Accented with friendly designs that encourage learning and exploring.
Profile pages for elected or running officials, including social media, voting history, and access to additional resources.
Educational guides and brief overviews of the structure of the United States government.
Search page with quick navigation to current representatives and additional nonpartisan, outside resources.
Indifference in voters can be attributed to the challenges associated with accessing and comprehending the intricacies of political regulations
2. Research & Empathy
Before starting any part of the design process, I wanted to define my target user and gain insight behind low voter turnouts. My goal is to simplify the process of learning about American politics for younger, lower-income minority voters.
Data from the 2022 U.S. Census stated the following of over 250,000 U.S. citizens surveyed:
18-24 year-olds
50.2%
25-34 year-olds
42.6%
35-44 year-olds
34.7%
% of eligible voters that reported they did not vote
Voter turnout tended to decrease as age and income lowered.
To gain a better understanding of the voting tendencies of registered voters, I asked 17 participants to fill out a user survey with the following questions.
Please select your age range (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+).
1.
Are you currently registered to vote in the state where you live now (only applicable to those residing in the US)?
2.
I am confident in my knowledge of current political news (Strongly agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree, Strongly disagree).
3.
4.
I am confident in my knowledge of my state's politicians and government representatives (Strongly agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree, Strongly disagree).
Do you have a reliable source you use for election and voting information?
5.
Age of participants
Age of those who replied they are not confident in their knowledge of state politicians
While most voters are aware of current political news, they tend to know less about their government representatives.
I found from further research that this can largely be attributed to the significant difference in media coverage within politics. The focus tends to be on larger characters in federal news, with less coverage on state and local government affairs.
I studied my competitors’ platforms by looking mainly for information on running or elected officials in government. In this case, I intend for my project to not serve as competition, but instead as an additional source to find the gaps that may not have been filled quite yet.
To further narrow down and identify stress points for voters, I created a user journey map for a young voter who is trying to find information on candidates in an upcoming election.
I found that common stress points most likely came from the overwhelming amount of information being presented.
While details do matter when it comes to politics, the scattered amount of resources, names, and policies could potentially scare away new voters. Based on this analysis, I aimed for my app design to display this information in an appealing and digestible manner. Indifference in voters can be attributed to the challenges associated with accessing and comprehending the intricacies of political regulations.
3. Ideation & Prototypes
Appealing to young and busy voters by balancing sustainable design and information
When deciding between designing a mobile app or website, I ultimately felt that a mobile app would appeal most to a younger voting demographic based on the data below. In a study done by the Pew Research Center in 2021, they found that about 95% participants between the ages of 18 and 49 owned a smartphone. For households with an income less than $30,000, 76% own smartphones.
An issue I faced early on in the design process was finding a balance between visual and informational design without overloading a screen with too many components.
Once deciding on a general structure of design, I wanted to go with softer colors and visuals to contrast the large amount of information. Shown below, I wanted to add playful visuals to make the experience a tad bit humorous and easy on the eyes.
The playfulness of the art was a key component to make the structure of information seem less intimidating and more inviting.
I struggled to balance presenting a large amount of information in a consumable way. As one can see in the many revisions above, I struggled most with calls-to-action. Since this app will provide many different resources, I wanted to present them in a cohesive way that didn’t oversaturate the pages.
4. User Testing
Receiving positive feedback to impact voting attendance by testing a high-fidelity prototype on users
I performed 6 usability tests with the high-fidelity prototype to gauge the app’s functionality and appeal. I asked participants to perform 5 tasks that required navigation throughout the app.
Test results showed 100% of participants completed these tasks with little difficulty. Before and after each usability test, I asked participants for feedback on the mobile app.
“ This was super easy to use, I actually would use this because I have no idea what’s going on.”
“ Wow, I really like this. I wish you could make this right now. I always have a million tabs open when I do any research for voting.”
These tests resulted in overall positive feedback with most users expressing their willingness to vote if they had access to a tool such as Govern.
However, I found that half of users commented on the “bareness” of some of the app pages (such as the federal, state, and local government representatives pages). I noticed hesitation from users when trying to move between the different pages of the government representatives.
5. Final Design & Remarks
Making final design adjustments based on extensive user research and feedback
To address inconsistency in visual designs within the mobile app, I worked through different typography and visual additions as seen below. I explored the idea of adding action items that allow for easier navigation between government representatives.
After performing a second round of tests on the same volunteers, 100% of users responded that they are more likely to vote in any U.S. election if they had access to this resource.
I strongly believe that the creation of mobile app such as Govern could act as a potential bridge to the gap in information inequality among voters. By decreasing the gap in information inequality, this could also lead to a rise in voter participation in U.S. elections.
6. Reflections
What I would do differently
I struggled most with finding a proper balance of design and information. If I could restart this design process, I would perform more user interviews and research with a much larger pool of participants. The purpose of this project was to create a solution to the gap in information inequality among younger, low-income voters. I would want my data and designs to be as accessible as possible, and I can only do so by making a greater effort to understand what may be lacking.
While I am proud with the designs and concepts I’ve presented in this case study, I believe this app has a lot of potential for growth. With proper work and management, this mobile app can also include voter and ballot guides that voters can use during active elections. Additionally, I would be very interested in incorporating more personalization throughout the application. This could include general color palettes or notifications on certain bills and issues that are important to the user.
The importance of spreading unbiased and up-to-date information can be accomplished through various mediums. Beyond a mobile application, this concept can be expanded into a functional website that can be accessed through any interface.
