Government accountability through open data
“Choose a charitable cause, and design a product that works to strengthen it”
As part of my second year studying Design Management (Hons) at University of the Arts London, I designed and developed “Middleground,” a mobile application that aims to strengthen democracy through government accountability, and accessible data.
My Roles
01 / Brand Design
02 / UX Design
03 / UI Design
04 / Mobile App Development
In the U.S, voters rarely know what their elected officials are doing while in office.
Background
Before starting the project, I had to find out how bad the problem was.
I conducted a series of secondary background research to understand the key demographics affected and define them as a target audience. Then I conducted user interviews to empathize and understand the problem through their perspective.
01 / Target Audience
Information inequality deprioritizes younger voters.
A 2022 survey by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) found that only 50% of individuals aged 18-29 felt “as well-informed as most people” about politics.
02 / Conduct Interviews
”It’s really complicated, and I feel like I don’t have a say”
I conducted 3 user interviews of voters aged 18-25 to understand their struggles with understanding congressional legislation, how they consume news / information, and their personal backgrounds.
03 / Create Personas
Meet Sally, aged 23.
I created a key user persona based on the information gathered from my interviews. Sally Newton, aged 23, is a student working at a coffee shop with a history of political action. She is inspired to stay informed, but struggles to keep up with her elected official’s actions due to the national bias of mainstream media. When needed, she will inform herself using social media, as it offers a curated feed of topics interesting to her.
Main Findings
Young voters feel overwhelmed by an abundance of data.
Government platforms that service it seem daunting and hard to use.
Mainstream media tends to focus on a set of curated national issues.
Polarization and distrust in traditional news sources is driving young voters to social media, where interests are personally curated and synthesized.
Key Theme
A complex legislative system in a polarized media climate is driving young voters to social media for synthesis of legislative action.
How Might We
How might we make congressional actions accessible for digitally native young voters so that we can boost civic engagement and hold lawmakers accountable?
Branding that brings people together.
Focused on bridging political polarization, the branding resembles unity.
As a platform built on reputable and open-sourced government data, this app is meant to be used and trusted by everybody. Simplicity and minimalism in branding was key to unbiased public perception.
Track and follow your lawmakers and interests.
Using public-access data consolidated by ProPublica’s Congress API, the app serves a detailed abundance of data into a simple and recognizable interface.
