Project Overview
My team was selected to identify a platform that would address the issues related to the United States voter process during a pandemic.
Scope of Work
This project sought to create a responsive website, Myvotecounts.com, to help voters feel secure and self-assured about voting from home.
User
Research
Product
Prioritization
Iterative
Design
Product
Testing
Problem Statement
How might we find a way to make voters feel both secure and self-assured about voting from home?
Research
User Research
We set out to validate our hypothesis through user interviews to understand how participants feel about the voting process and if they anticipate changing their voting method due to the current pandemic.
Methodology: Screener Survey
Within a day, we distributed a screener survey via Google form to gather a pool of users who expressed interest/the possibility of voting from home during the upcoming election season.
Finding
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Over 70% of participants anticipated voting from home.
Methodology: User Interviews
For two days, our team moderated user interviews over Zoom.
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Five people: various ages, locations, and professions.
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Interview script used for all interviews.
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We recorded all interviews with user permission to collect insights.
Findings
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All interviewees were practicing social distancing.
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All interviewees participate in all levels of elections.
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80% of interviewees cited the Coronavirus as the reason for changing their voting method for the 2020 election season.
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Over 50% of interviewees stated that they received information regarding voter registration online.
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Overall Takeaways: User Research
United States citizens adapted their voting habits in response to the 2020 pandemic and were intentional about learning accurate information regarding the voting process and candidate viewpoints.
Synthesis
The responses from user interviews led to the synthesis of data that started with creating an affinity map, a tool used to identify trends/patterns in user feedback.
Methodology: Affinity Map
Through Miro, interviewees'/users' responses were placed on color-coded post-it notes then organized based on themes.
Findings
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Users are concerned about the risk associated with the voting process
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Research methods (preparing for election season) occurred mainly online.
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Users have a desire for an updated management system.
Trends included the purpose for voting, voting methods, research methods, level of participation in elections, perceived risk related to the elections, and a desire for an updated system of voting.
These findings and insights led to the creation of “I” statements, which helped form a persona.
Methodology: "I" statements
Finding
To start identifying our ideal user's wants and concerns, our team created "I" statements to build empathy for the problems faced by our ideal user.
Our ideal user wants peace of mind that their ballot arrives at the correct destination and is accurately counted in the election.
The trends and insights from affinity mapping and "I" statements led to the formation of a persona, meet Estella.
Methodology: Persona
To get a clear understanding of our ideal user's goals, needs, and pain points, we compiled all our data and personified it through Estella's formation.
Estella is a 28-year-old Nurse Practitioner living in Sacramento. Although she has always voted in-person in the past, she is currently quarantining and will be voting via a mail-in ballot this year due to the nature of her job.
Goals:
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To vote in the upcoming election.
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To be informed throughout the election process and stay up-to-date with information.
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To get involved and vote in not just federal, but local elections as well.
Needs:
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Register to vote at her new address.
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Know the deadlines for mail-in voting.
Pain Points:
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Receive a plethora of voting-related information from various sources.
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No tracking information regarding her mail-in ballot.
Finding
Our ideal user's aspirations, necessities, concerns, and emotional state focus on a desire to exercise the right to vote in all levels of elections, have a centralized source to receiving accurate voting information, and have a method to check the status of a ballot.
User Journey
Methodology
In order to create more empathy for our ideal user, we created a journey map that allowed our team to understand Estella’s emotions and behavior while trying to update her voter registration at a new address. This user journey allowed us to effectively identify how we can provide a solution to the problem(s) she is trying to manage.
The task: Update voter registration card to reflect new address.
Finding
Overall Finding: Synthesis
Estella's lack of knowledge regarding her new voter registration card's status and location and the lack of a notification method related to error management are conducive to her goal of being a prepared voter during the election session.
*We acknowledge that the wait times vary from state to state. For this user journey, the wait time was based in Texas.
The formation of a persona and the creation of a user journey allowed our team to reexamine our problem statement and revise it based on the insight from data synthesis.
After our team completed user research, we progressed to product prioritization.
Product Prioritization
Insights gained from user research, allowed us to identify which features should be essential to our design, Minimum Viable Product, based on our project timeframe.
Methodology: MoSCoW Map
Our team identified features that should appear in our MVP and what features should be present in future iterations by confirming the capabilities that Must, Should, Could, or Won't appear in the first launched iteration of our high-fidelity product.
Findings
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Essential: Tracking number, account management, FAQ webpage
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Great to have: Platform contact information, calendar to track voter deadlines, geo-targeted polling locations.
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Under Consideration: Recommended news sources, privacy check.
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Not a Priority: Reviews on polling places.
Insight: Essential features are components integral to a voter seeking to be well-informed about their candidate options and the voting process, in addition to CRUD capabilities based on our desired platform.
Methodology: Feature
Prioritization Matrix
Findings
Our team discussed how to clarify what features would be most realistic to accomplish within our project timeframe.
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Must and Should features occupied the most area of quadrants I and II.
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Could and Won't features were mainly considered high effort.
Insight: Design a solution to the problem statement on a platform which can support low effort, low expense and high effort, high expense essential and great to have features.
Insights gained from product prioritization allowed us to refine our problem statement based on features we considered essential for our MVP based on our project timeframe.
Revised Problem Statement
Our research concluded that most users are frustrated with the current mail-in voting process, desire consistent state-to-state policies, and an overall update for the 21st century. Users could benefit from a platform that centralized voting-related information and provided updated information to track a mail-in ballot.
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How might we provide tools for new voters and veteran voters alike to be informed of their mail-in ballot status and be able to update their information?
After our team revised the problem statement, we progressed to the design phase of the Agile process.
Iterative Design
The insight gained from user research and product prioritization led to the following insights, which motivated our team to create a responsive website to solve the revised problem statement.
Users face a large emotional challenge during the waiting period.
Users are often left in the dark after sending in their information.
Users are often given no protocol for error management.
A new responsive website will allow users to track their mail-in ballot and access voting information on one website that is available through mobile and desktop design.
Initial Actionable Insights
The insight gained from user research led to actionable insights that influenced the identification of three key features. These insights led to the creation of the previously mentioned persona and user journey.
Users are worried about the risks associated with mail-in voting and an inability or lack of knowledge to fix the issue. » Error Management
Users gather information to prepare for the voting season through various methods such as online, social media, and personal relationships. » To-Do List
Users would like to be more informed regarding their absentee ballot status, in addition to mail-in ballot pre and post voting. » Ballot Tracker
Users feel the mail-in voting system needs to be updated to incorporate more accessibility online. » Our Entire Website
Methodology: Design Studio
Our team and client stakeholders created low fidelity wireframes to ideate potential design solutions for the problem space while keeping the competitive analysis and user research in mind. This fidelity consisted of paper wireframes created through two rounds of a design studio. Each team member sketched for five minutes, followed by an explanation and critique by the team.
Findings
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Accessible webpages regardless of a user's login status.
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UVP includes the ability to track a ballot.
Insight: Design a responsive website that clearly identifies that itself as a resource to track ballots, NOT a website promising a faster delivery time for ballots.
Methodology: Mid-fi Wireframes
The actionable insights from user research led to the creation of mid-fidelity wireframes, which progressed to a mid-fi prototype. This fidelity differentiated from the lo-fi wireframe by being a purely digital iteration influenced by user interviews.
Findings
This fidelity was our team’s first digital design to showcase the influence of user research.
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The user flow of tasks fundamental to the website should clear and intuitive.
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The text should be easy to read.
Screen flow for a task within a Mid-fi wireframe.
Reiterated Actionable Insights
After the results of round 1 of product testing and the insight gained from such results, our team revised our responsive website's three essential features.
Users had difficulty navigating the website without context on whether or not they were logged in to an existing account or as a guest. » Sign Up Page
Users need a way to be informed on the differences between absentee ballot voting and mail-in voting. » Absentee Ballot Confirmation
Users often found themselves clicking on their polling place when attempting to edit their account profile. » Re-arrange Edit Button
Methodology: Hi-fi Wireframes
Findings
We reiterated wireframes for high fidelity based on the results of round 1 of product testing. This fidelity contained the key essential features identified through user research, a screen flow, and the prior round of product testing.
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The user flow of tasks fundamental to the website should still be clear and intuitive when accompanied by color and graphics.
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The text should be easy to read against images and colors.
Screen flow for a task within a Hi-fi wireframe.
Once we completed wireframes based on actionable insights and screen flows, we progressed our project's product testing phase.
Product Testing
Insights gained from user research, results of design sessions, and screen flows allowed our team to assess our responsive website through a mobile format for this cycle of the Agile process.
Methodology: Initial User Testing
Findings
Our team created three tasks to test based on insight gained through user interviews to access our app's navigability and intuitiveness.
Task 1: Update your current residence.
Task 2: Complete the steps to receive a voter ballot for your current situation.
Task 3: Find the current status of your ballot.
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Task 1: Users initially clicked on the provided address rather than the edit icon.
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Task 2: Users were conflicted between choosing “Absentee Ballot” and “Mail-In Ballot.”
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Users navigated through various methods to get back to the home page: back arrows, hamburger icons, and logo.
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Users spent more time on Task 2 but were still able to achieve success.
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Task 3 had the shorted average time of 16.2 seconds, while Task 1 had the longest average time of 44.8 seconds.
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Add additional screens to confirm actions taken by the user (Absentee Ballot Explained & Mail-In Explained).
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Rearrange edit icon next to sections where the user can edit information.
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Add functionalities to all logos and hamburger screens for easy access to the home page.
Insight: Redesign is necessary to increase the direct success of task 1 and increase the utility of the entire website.
Methodology: Final Round
After reiterations based on round 1 testing and revised actionable insights, our team assessed three tasks for a final product testing round. The tasks were the same as those used in the first round of testing.
Findings
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Users navigated through various methods to get back to the home page (back arrows, hamburger icons, and logo).
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Users initially clicked on the listed address rather than the edit icon.
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Users continued to hesitate during Task 2.
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Only two users achieved direct success for 1 out of 2 tasks fundamental to the website.​
Insight: The majority of calculated changes (deltas) represent a negative change, implying that the wireframes’ did not improve our website's intuitiveness for our ideal users.
DNF= Did not finish
Desktop Version
Desktop Hi-Fi Prototype
Not tested during this cycle of the Agile process.
Once we created the hi-fi prototypes, we provided the links and a Zeplin file to Software Engineers who created and deployed our responsive website (preferred browser: Chrome).
Final Recommendations
Based on results and insights from this cycle of the Agile process, we recommended:
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Re-evaluating or distinguishing between address changes in each feature.
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Removing the Ribbon icon for “Let’s Vote.”
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Clarifying “To-Do List” and the purpose possibly by changing to “Resources.”
Continued Product Testing
Overall Findings
For the next cycle of the agile process, we believe it will be necessary to reiterate wireframes to improve tasks' intuitiveness. Once this is achieved, the same tasks will need to be assessed through the website's desktop version.
In this special case scenario, many US citizens were permitted to request absentee ballots from home for reasons related to COVID and social distancing regulations. Our team’s goal was to empathize with our users as well as create a mobile and desktop website designed for our target audience and aid in their voting process.