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VOTE SMART
Helping voters make informed
choices and prepare for Election Day
THE PROBLEM
Voters find their ballot confusing and need help understanding what will be on their ballot.
In my Introduction to Interaction Design class we were tasked with finding an issue in our community we wanted to help solve with technology. I chose to focus on the affordable housing crisis in Ann Arbor.
The people who suffer the most from this issue are a vulnerable population. In order to ethically access stakeholders I focused on the influence of local politics as it pertains to affordable housing.
By helping voters understand the proposals on the ballot and the influence of members of city council I hope to empower them to make informed decisions on election day.
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HIGH LEVEL TIMELINE
MAKE OF THE TEAM
KEY GOAL
This project took 3 months to execute
This was an individual project and I completed every step myself
Design a beautiful site that is a helpful tool for voters
SYSTEMS USED
Adobe XD
SCOPING AND IDEATING
Since this was an independent project I was responsible for each step of the process from researching to scoping, ideating, sketching and prototyping.
After identifying the issue, I researched it further in order to substantiate my problem statement with data and historical evidence. I sketched 8 solutions (pictured below) to the problem while keeping an open mind. Once I created some potential solutions I sketched a story board (also pictured below) for each one.
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I realized that my ideas were mostly framed around people looking for affordable housing in Ann Arbor. As I searched for key stakeholders to get feedback from, I struggled to find people willing to speak with me.
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Pivoting to a different stakeholder group, I interviewed Public Policy students interested in affordable housing and realized it would be most beneficial to design a mobile website which helped voters understand their ballot prior to election day.
On the left are some initial ideas I sketched to start ideating. On the right are storyboards for each of the potential solutions.
PROTOTYPING
Once I landed on the idea for creating a responsive site I used card sorting and paper prototyping to hone the design.
To better understand the breadth of information that needed to be organized on the site I used card sorting to visualize how the information might be best grouped together.
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I quickly started paper prototyping the site using note cards and sharpies since I envisioned this being used primarily on mobile devices. I was apprehensive to design an app because I didn't want downloading an app to be a barrier to entry.
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Testing the paper prototype with users, I made adjustments based on the feedback I received. It included changing the verbiage used on buttons and eliminating an initial log in page so users can discover what is on the site before being forced to create an account.
This video shows me using the paper prototype I designed.
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPE
I created the hifi prototype in Adobe XD and tested it with users. Click HERE to try the prototype.
Learning a new software for this project was a difficult but rewarding process. Testing it with users I continued to make adjustments up until the deadline.
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I chose a color theme around the color purple because it is a combination of the colors red, white and blue. My aim is to avoid association with one party affiliation for this app because I don't want that to detract from the main goal which is to help all voters, no matter their party affiliation, make an informed decision.
TITLE OF THE CALLOUT BLOCK
OUTCOME AND LESSONS LEARNED
I presented this project by giving a lighting talk to my peers in class. This process was incredibly valuable because it pushed me to further develop each of my design skills.
I learned the most about scoping during this process. Initially I struggled to see how this issue could be solved with technology, because I assumed the issue would be best addressed via policy changes.
Forcing myself to change the key stakeholders was key because it allowed me to diverge my ideas in a productive way.
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Next steps include working on ways to engage the user on the app so it can be used more than once a year or so around election day. Considering ways to keep people active in the community is also of high importance when looking at the future of this tool.