My goal was to understand how people engaged with their political representation.
most people knew little about their representation and for the most part couldn’t pick them out of a line up.
I believe that by creating a social platform that helps people better understand their political profile and compare it to their representatives, we can increase their engagement and understanding.
User interviews - High level findings
People have doubts about the system and how they are actually represented. This makes them concerned but changing it seems to hard.
People don’t feel personally connected to their representatives and this contributes to distrust.
People feel underinformed and know little about what actions their representatives are taking on a regular basis.
People seem confident that sharing a political party meant their representative was aligned with their values but few could site specific actions as evidence.
Wire frame
As I started to explore user flow I struggled to find a solid entry point for users. I had a clear concept of what information needed to me surfaced but couldn’t find a compelling reason for users to engage or return. So I started with simple exploration. I divided content into some clear categories with some interesting ways to drill down and find what the user found compelling.
Understanding how to Socialize getting engaged in politics.
Testing showed that users were finding personal interests however most people shared that it felt random, or like a “click hole”. They felt that unless they went to the app looking for something specific, it would feel random and it wouldn’t hold their interest for long. So I had to think about ways to level up the most compelling parts of the app and let the exploration take a back seat.
Using 8values
Having users assess their own political alignment allows the app to then contrast the users profile with that of a representative or bill.
Notifications
Once alignment is established the app can then call attention to representatives or legislation that might be important for the user to know about. This spawns an updating feed and created a sense or urgency.
exercising voice
Helping users share their thoughts about legislation, made them feel empowered and more likely to express their thoughts. It also shows them how many people who use the app had also expressed ideas. This reinforces their investment and creates new layers of information.