WE THE PEOPLE

An effort to digitize in app form, the information provided from paper-based sample ballots that are distributed by California counties in preparation for elections.  In early studies, it was found that a majority of those polled did not even use the paper sample ballots and often were disposed of as "junk mail". It was hoped that this application project would ultimately save paper, money, and time of both voters and government.  

Techniques: research, workflows, wireframes, mockups, assets, prototype.

Research

Initial research indicated that the most mentioned reason for not voting was because voters were "too busy". Also it was found that the biggest hurdle for even the most active voters was finding enough "clear" information in one place for the voter to make an informed and confident vote.

An emphasis was placed on progression tracking in order to help the user know how far they were, and to hopefully motivate them to finish the basics they already knew quickly. Then, it was important to have enough information to make comparisons and find out about candidates and issues.

Use Cases and Flows

As asked from potential users, making the steps as easy to follow while educating the voter were important objectives in plotting out the workflow of By The People. Simple menu options, and prompting voters to determine their views helped to then offer suggestions for choices in voting.

Iterations

Low fidelity mockups were painstakingly tested and reiterated upon. The first attempt still left the user a bit overwhelmed with having to decide where to begin. Finally it was decided to start them off with asking how the user feels about different issues, but still allowing them to go to the main menu to browse.

Prototype

Designing the higher fidelity prototype took several iterations and polishing in order to create a guided experience that is entertaining, simple, but also informative.