CIVIC ENGAGEMENT TOOL

A web tool to help New York residents participate in local government

PROJECT NAME

Civic Engagement Tool


TEAM

4 UX designers


ROLE

UX research

UX design

Usability Testing


TOOLS

Sketch

InVision

Figma


DURATION

4 Weeks


How might we connect proactive New Yorkers with concerns in their local communities to each other and to their Community Boards?


Problem

New Yorkers need an easier way to navigate the civic process. The current landscape is far too confusing and deters participation.


Solution

A web tool on each community board website to streamline the way New Yorkers voice their concerns and gather support.


We started off our research by focusing on:


• Why do people participate in local government?


• How do people get information on local issues?


• What are the barriers to participation?


GOING GRASSROOTS

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has."

 

Margaret Mead

 


Our group was inspired by these words, and wanted to focus on the grassroots level of local government.

 

We focused our research on community boards.

“BUT

WHAT’S A ‘COMMUNITY BOARD’?”

Community boards are meant to play the advisory role in any neighborhood planning. Back in the day, community boards were the original 311! If any NYC resident needed help navigating the civic process, their first step was the community boards.

 

The community board makes decisions in land use, community planning, permits, district financial needs and any traffic discrepancies (such as street closings).

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM USER RESEARCH

Alt Text: Communication us a reflection of the culture of the area.

Alt Text: Residents become frustrated when they cannot easily find what they are looking for online.

Alt Text: Residents need a supportive space to discuss issues.

Alt Text: Something triggered most residents to become involved.

CREATING A STORY TELLING PLATFORM

“I imagine a storytelling platform to show what your neighbors are doing, and the power of a story can show the results of someone taking an idea that they want to activate and be like, you can activate it too."

 

Carlos- Council Member

We needed to create a product that is:

Alt Text:

Conversational


Like talking to your neighbor,

we wanted our tool to be focused on being inclusive in conversation.

 

Complex concepts should be explained at a level comprehensible to most.

Alt Text: Approachable


Our tool should help create a safe space for discussion for all users. Discussions are accessible through language and include other users to voice their input.

Alt Text: Empowering Motivates individuals and inspires trust in the civic process.

 

Users are empowered through success stories and support from other community members.

We were stumped. To get our ideas flowing, we had a group brainstorming session.

During our group discussions, we found that we were most inspired by popular, existing platforms. In order to create a conversational, approachable and empowering product, we wanted to model our concepts after interfaces that were comfortable and familiar to our users.

Explore our Government Participation Tool here

FUTURE STEPS

Building trust

& accountability

 Our users were concerned with who can use the product and who can post initiatives in their communities. We want to find a way to moderate all activity within the product to prevent malicious behavior.


Conducting more Community Board website research

 After designing our first iteration of our final concept, we felt more research needs to be done on community board websites to fully understand how we can integrate this product seamlessly into the websites for easy access.



Transcending platforms

 To cast a wider audience, we want to transcend platforms beyond desktop. Our research findings have shown us there are various methods of communication, depending on the community.