Polvote

A Web app for politics, E-Voting, and Social Interaction

Polvote is a web application designed to provide users with a platform to explore politics, participate in e-voting, and engage in social interactions related to political topics. The goal of the product was to create an intuitive and engaging user experience that encourages active participation, knowledge-sharing, and political informed decision-making.

Roles

  • Joined the research team to Concduct the user research
  • Created user personas
  • Develoed user flow
  • Designed high-fidelity mockups
  • Conducted usability testing
  • Iterated based on user feedback
  • Collaborated with developers for implementation

Problem Statement

In today’s fast-paced digital landscape, citizens lack a dedicated platform that seamlessly integrates political exploration, informed discourse, and secure e-voting. The absence of a comprehensive web application hampers citizens’ ability to stay well-informed, engage in meaningful political discussions, and participate confidently in online voting. As traditional methods of political engagement struggle to adapt to the digital age, there is a pressing need for an innovative and user-friendly app that addresses these gaps and empowers citizens to actively contribute to informed political discourse and decision-making.

Design Process

In order to concentrate on the users and their demands during each stage of the design process, I had to approach this project using an iterative design process. The user-centered design (UCD) approached was considered. In order to designa asolution that is incredibly useable and accessible for users, myself and the development team involved users throughout the design process using a number of research and design methodologies.

Discovery

I joined the research team to conduct interviews and understand the underlying problems

Definition

After the research analyze my observations to define the core problem

Ideaton

I was able to look at the problems from different perspectives and ideate innovative solutions

Prototyping

I identified the best possible solution for each of the problems and I designed the hi-fi prototype

Testing

After designing the prototype, I engaged a number of users to test the prototype to ensure that the design is understood

Design Strategy

In order to foster educated political dialogue, civic engagement, and usability, the design strategy for Polvote is based on creating an inclusive, user-centered, and visually captivating experience. While catering to users with various degrees of political awareness and technical ability, the strategy is focused on establishing a sense of digital community.

Product Goal

To Provide a user-friendly platform for users to explore political topics, news, and opinions, Enable users to participate in secure and transparent e-voting for various political matters.

Target Audience

General Citizens, Young Voters, Political Enthusiasts, Civic Minded Individuals, Informed Professionals, Educational Institutions

Sucess Factor

User Engagement, Informed Citizenship, Community Building

Landing Page

The landing page was designed to be engaging while it mocked the behavior of a common social media app; endless scroll, suggested posts, comments, shares among others. Giving users the advantage to Immerse themselves in a thought provoking discussions, debates and conversations.

Users can a well read how other members of the communities reflect their diverse voices as stories.

Poll Screen

The Poll Page allows user to navigate between active polls and concluded
and also have variety of other ongoing poll choices to participate in.

Stories Screen

The Stories page was designed intuitively to allow users contribute thoughtful political discourse and vibrant debate.

Features like dynamic discussion threads, exchange of constructive conversation and replies, upvote and downvote were introduced to keep the page engaging and a bit addictive.

Course Screen

I created the design such that professionals in politics and governance
can offer their knowledge as courses on Polvote for people to learn from
after contents are being vetted by the administrators

Result and Impact

Polvote successfully addressed the pain points identified during the research phase. Key outcomes and impacts include

  1. Increased User Engagement: The intuitive interface and engaging social features led to a significant increase in user engagement and participation within the community.

  2. Enhanced Political Awareness: Users reported feeling more informed about political issues and events through the app’s curated news feeds and discussions, leading to more meaningful conversations and interactions.

  3. Improved E-Voting Adoption: The simplified e-voting process and clear presentation of candidates’ information encouraged users to participate in online voting, resulting in higher voter turnout and engagement.

  4. Positive User Feedback: User feedback indicated high satisfaction with the app’s user experience, highlighting its ease of use, visually appealing design, and sense of community

Key Learnings

  1. User-Centered Design: Prioritizing user needs and expectations throughout the design process is crucial for creating a successful web app.

  2. Simplicity and Clarity: Simplifying complex political information and processes is essential to ensure usability and engagement among a diverse user base.

  3. Iterative Design: Regular usability testing and feedback loops are valuable for identifying and addressing user pain points, ultimately improving the user experience.

Conclusion

Polvote successfully provided a user-friendly platform for exploring politics, participating in e-voting, and engaging in social interactions. The project highlighted the importance of user-centered design, iterative development, and seamless collaboration between UX designers and developers. The positive user feedback and measurable impact validate the effectiveness of the design decisions made throughout the project