Populus

Access poll place details, candidate summaries, and election notifications all in one spot.
Team
Me and myself
Duration
1 Month, October 2022
Tools
Figma
Overview
Populus was a public service app design to help voters vote by providing them with the most updated election information. For the existing voter experience, information on poll place locations, candidate summaries, and election deadline are all disjointed and unreliable. Addressing those pain points, Populus aims to bridge the gap between voter preparation and active involvement in our democracy.
Role
Populus was a passion project. I performed research, product strategy, testing, wire-framing, branding, and prototyping.
Core Problem
Preparing for voting can be inconvenient, confusing, and even stressful.
Starting With My Own Experience...
During this past mid-term election, my voting experience felt complex at times. From registering, learning what to bring, finding out who to vote for, to determining where to vote, the information was dispersed and hard to navigate. I took an approach of to gain context, narrow down key questions, and obtain insights about voter needs.
Young Voters Struggle A Little More
Upon examining research literature, I found that there is a significant number of younger voters that are negatively impacted by logistical problems. I proceeded with the idea of creating a smart phone app to address the voting logistical challenges because most young people own smart phones and bring it with them to the polling places.
50%Of adults younger than 30 say voting is inconvenient.
20%
Out of the 15% of voters who found the process difficult mention logistical concerns.
Young Voters Experience Logistical Difficulties
I proceed to determine the scope of my solution by conducting semi structured interviews with 4 adult voters who voted in the 2022 midterm election. I identified 6 major themes through affinity mapping.
Actionable Insights
The qualitative data from the affinity mapping can be translated into insights about the major areas of focus for this application.
Minimize Wait Time
Voters want to minimize the time waiting in line to vote at the polling places.
Help Find Poll Places
Voters want to find poll places according to their own unique criteria.
Centralize Info Sources
Voters, especially first-time voters, hope to find all the needed information to vote in one place.
Optimize For Schedule
Older voters hope to find a time to vote that fits their busy schedule.
Provide Candidate Info
Voters, especially younger ones, hope to learn more about the candidates aside from their party affiliation.
Appeal To Motivations
Voters hope for an engaging and enjoyable voting experience, such as voting with their friends.
Design Opportunity
Young voters need a one-stop place to obtain all voting info, from candidate summary to location and voting steps.
Populus Will Help Voters With...
With the baseline user research and competitive analysis findings, I extracted three core design requirements to prioritize building in this sprint.
📍

Poll Place Discovery

Find the most convenient polling places with the lowest wait time

🧐

Candidate Summary

Easily view and learn about candidate's profile, background, and policies.

🔔

Voting Procedures

Stay up-to-date on deadlines such as registering and early voting.

Designing For An All-In-One Platform
Dedicating a separate flow for the Voting Procedure design requirement is not intuitive because voting procedures would prompt action in other flows.

One potential approach is that the Voting Procedure experience can be part of the home screen. I compiled a list of actions belonging to the requirements and conducted card sorting.

The results from the card sorting helped confirm the need to place most of Voting Procedure features in the home page. For instance on interviewee ordered the card like this:
Core Features
🔍

Polling place search with travel distance and wait time filters
🏫

Polling place details page with info such as address and open hours
🕺🏽

Sample ballot that includes direct candidate search and expandable info
🚀

Onboarding that leads to a home screen with election information
📴

Customizable notifications for key voting events and updates
📜

Voter sheet tool to see starred polling places, candidates, and what to bring
Testing and Feedback
After prototyping some P&P wireframes, I conducted usability tests and gathered feedback from my design peers. Below are some of the most significant improvements and learnings.
Emphasis on the New
Current Election Display
Users prefer to have more interactions with the most relevant or recent event. They hope to immediately see crucial information about the newest election without digging.
More FlexibilityShortcuts and Map View
Users prefer less taps for the most essential tasks. Many want to favorite an option without tapping into the location. Shortcuts for important filters such as time and proximity are added close to the search bar. Layout is adjusted for greater visibility. Map functionality added to aid more visual voters.
Supporting Edge CasesDynamic Cards & Sections
While most voters care about party-affiliation, non-partisan voters value experience and education. The new details section is expandable.
Because some candidates have more than 5 campaign profiles across various social platforms, the new socials section is able to hold more icon links.
Hi-Fi Prototype
Explore Polling Places
Now, no more digging through the web for details about polling places. Find the best place to vote near you that fits your schedule and preferences.
Discover Current Candidates
Have access to the most comprehensive set of information on the latest candidates and be able to save your favorites.
Stay Updated On Everything Election
View the most relevant updates to the current election, personalized for your specific address. Receive notifications about things that matter to you.
Reflection
Learnings
This was the first time that I designed and created interactive prototypes for an entire app experience that spaned multiple different flows. Despite me believing that 4 weeks is a long time, iterating on design takes a lot of time and dedication. Some of the key challenges and learnings include:
  • Making significant changes and additions based on user feedback and peer critique
  • Considering all potential edge cases
  • Applying product and design thinking to an area that is traditionally disconnected from technology
In the Future
One of the most beautiful things about being a designer is that you can be idealistic and design a solution that is solely focused on the user experience. Now that a prototype of the experience is created. I hope to build on this idea in the future. I also acknowledge that there are certain hurdles to overcome to create Populus App.
  • Technical obstacles : There are technical backend challenges to pulling and calculating data about voting centers, voting results, and wait time.
  • Partnership obstacles : The success of an app like this would definitely depend on local promotion and partnership with local government, non-profits, and voting centers.
  • Political obstacles : The implications of this app would mean that there could be more involvement of the young voter population, thus there may be political groups out there who do not benefit from young voters that will not support the promotion of this app.
Nonetheless, creating an enjoyable voting experience is highly beneficial and impactful to our future as a country. I hope that this project can inspire other people to think about how we can use design to shape the development of our society.