Springboard Certification Project
ActiveNow
A mobile civic engagement app targeting voters and developing political engagement in local and federal elections in the US.
PROJECT GOAL
Provide an aggregate resource for young voters and politically engaged users to learn more about their government, representatives, voting precincts, and media.
ROLE
This design was created for the Springboard User Experience Design certification. My role for the project was researcher and designer, with guidance from mentor Heiko Sacher.
User Research
A series of user interviews were conducted first to help understand the needs and desirability of a news source specific to politics. Most participants voiced interest in having a tool, but only if it was fact-checked. They also prioritized understanding details about candidates, their engagement with political action committees, and voting records to inform their decisions.
The site map on the right is reflective of the card sorting exercise conducted with a group of users representative of the target user population. This helped prioritize which content needed to live where within the application.
Mockups
The first round of mockups focused on placing sections of content and assessing the viability of information architecture. This was the foundation of the usability study in its first round.
Usability Testing
A usability study was conducted with 10 test users.
Each user was asked to complete basic tasks including accessing an article, finding an elected official, and locating their voting precinct.
9 out of 10 users said this application would be useful in future civic engagement.
All users were able to complete the tasks at 100% success rate.
Final (?) Product
The high fidelity version of the application submitted for certification is reflected on the left. This captures the needs of the users and would be the “MVP.”
The high fidelity version on the right reflects a version of the application designed 4 years later with refined navigation and a more familiar design pattern that reflects that of modern news applications for easier adoption.
