I foresee issues with implementing the app regarding free speech and internet safety. I want to avoid creating a platform that allows users to participate in political echo chambers that could lead to social and physical harm. This would require advanced machine learning techniques to detect harm such as misinformation and hate speech. Further research is necessary to address these issues surrounding public internet forums.
I would also like to improve upon the final design of the app. Given the time constrictions of the project, the final deliverable is intended to focus on the interactions and features of the product more than the aesthetic design.
I would also like to perform user tests on my final design to gain more insights into the user experience.
Project Summary
Voters do not have the technology to connect them with accurate information about nearby civic engagement opportunities to incentivize them to participate in politics on an ongoing basis.
THE PROBLEM
Existing platforms do not have event organization conducive to the social media environments familiar to younger generations. Current social media and political organization services have user experience issues specific to my target population.
PROJECT GOAL
Create a solution for information overload, facilitate community engagement, and provide scheduling and personal organization techniques to incentivize young voters to get active.
User Research
Current Experience
Key Features - Community
Key Features - Organization
Reflection
I foresee issues with implementing the app regarding free speech and internet safety. I want to avoid creating a platform that allows users to participate in political echo chambers that could lead to social and physical harm. This would require advanced machine learning techniques to detect harm such as misinformation and hate speech. Further research is necessary to address these issues surrounding public internet forums.
I would also like to improve upon the final design of the app. Given the time constrictions of the project, the final deliverable is intended to focus on the interactions and features of the product more than the aesthetic design.
I would also like to perform user tests on my final design to gain more insights into the user experience.
Preliminary research and / interviews with three users / in my target group helped me understand the existing resources for civic engagement facilitation. This led to my ideation process, which involved sketching potential solutions, / storyboarding environments /, / user personas /, and user research planning.
Twitter and Facebook are most commonly used by organizations to spread event information. Users enjoy the home feed to keep up to date on politics but the filtering option is not specific enough to learn about specific events near the user.
APPLICATIONS
Apps about civic engagement do not motivate users to participate in involvement. Users stated community pressure as a key reason for getting involved politically.
Instagram stories feature is used to share event information. These posts cannot be saved by viewers and is gone in 24hrs. Users wanted a place to organize specific political events.
NEWS SOURCES
News articles can only be shared via email, text, and other outlets where people read them once and forget about them. Users want more information organization.
Interviews with eight users (ages 18-37) allowed me to understand the issue at large and how to carry out my design according to the needs of my target audience. These interviews led to four key insights that influenced my final design principles.
INFORMATION OVERLOAD
With common social media apps, users get overwhelmed with a wide range of content categories unrelated to politics causing users to miss out on events they might be interested in attending. There is a need to consolidate resources with effective filtering.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Younger voters (18-28) use social media apps (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) for news. Users enjoy the UI of popular applications but dislike having different content mixed.
COMMUNITY
Users noted peer-pressure as a common reason for political involvement and are more likely to attend events with friends. Users appreciate community centered social media and information apps. Because of this, my design emphasizes social interaction.
ORGANIZATION
Time was a key factor in whether people engaged in politics. Users facing issues of time management wanted ways to organize their events. My design focuses on event organization for the user.
These interviews led me to design key features for Activote. I began by creating a / user flow diagram / based on the insights from user interviews. I / sketched / 15 screens and later turned them into low-fidelity wireframes. After doing three user tests with the wireframes, I created the screens for my final design focusing on organization and community engagement.
Users can access messages from the home screen to easily engage with their community.
The community page allows users to see what their friends are engaging with.
Users are prompted to share with friends upon adding an event to their personal calendar, promoting community engagement.
Users expressed enjoying social media apps for community engagement. They also noted community pressure as a critical reason for getting involved in political engagement. For this reason, my app has a page dedicated to community engagement where users can see all of the latest updates from their friends, directly engage with other users and events, and add and message friends. The message page also lets users have private conversations with other users to connect further.
DESIGN
Engaging design aimed at younger generations.
ORGANIZATION
Users can reflect on their upcoming and past actions from their homepage. This organizes their events and creates space for accountability and reflection.
FAMILIARTY
Similar principles and assets of popular social media platforms.
The personal page serves as a space for users to organize their upcoming and past events. Other users can browse through individuals' pages to learn more about their political involvement.
SPEED
Users can quickly like and add events to their calendars from the home page or click on events to learn more information.
CLARITY
Users can see clear, accurate information about an event without having to scroll through additional content.
Users can continue to engage with their community directly on event pages.
Users can access messages from the home screen to easily engage with their community.
The community page allows users to see what their friends are engaging with.
Users are prompted to share with friends upon adding an event to their personal calendar, promoting community engagement.
DESIGN
Engaging design aimed at younger generations.
ORGANIZATION
Users can reflect on their upcoming and past actions from their homepage. This organizes their events and creates space for accountability and reflection.
FAMILIARTY
Similar principles and assets of popular social media platforms.
SPEED
Users can quickly like and add events to their calendars from the home page or click on events to learn more information.
CLARITY
Users can see clear, accurate information about an event without having to scroll through additional content.
Users can continue to engage with their community directly on event pages.