GEN VOS.
Mobile app to raise awareness to vote in El Salvador.
2020
ABOUT THE PRODUCT
Gen Vos, a non-profit, fosters youth political engagement via accessible platforms, aiming for an inclusive and transparent voting culture.
MY ROLE
UI Designer
UX Researcher
UI Copywriter
MAIN PROJECT GOAL
Empower youth engagement by seamlessly presenting detailed profiles of candidates in the upcoming elections
DISCOVERY
BACKGROUND
Generacion Vos was a non-profit organization created in 2020, with the objective of encouraging young people to take an interest in politics in El Salvador. The main goal of the organization was to create an easily accessible place where young people could see in a transparent way the curriculum of the candidates to the elections within the department of San Salvador, so they could vote under their own criteria in the legislative and municipal elections of February 2021.
CHALLENGES
Lack of transparency:
Voters lack information about the candidates, of which there are more than 100 in total with respect to all elections.
Dense information:
Even if voters have access to candidate information, there are too many candidates to see them all.
Declining trend in voter engagement: Young Salvadorans are interested in voting but lack the means to find out which candidates are qualified to run for office.
PROJECT GOALS
Candidate Information Accessibility:
Create a user-friendly interface for voters to easily access comprehensive profiles of all the candidates.
Democratic State Understanding:
Design intuitive features to provide users with clear insights into the workings of the democratic state.
Youth Engagement Enhancement:
Develop engaging UI elements specifically tailored to increase participation and interest among the youth demographic.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
SECONDARY RESEARCH:
To understand what was the behavior of young people regarding politics in El Salvador and how they are informed about it, we first decided to see if others had researched this issue, since we had a limited budget. We researched the document "La población salvadoreña en las elecciones presidenciales 2019" by FundaUngo. The insights we collected are the following:
The voter turnout rate in the 2019 presidential elections was 51.88 % of the electoral roll
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Young people between 18 and 29 years old reported a participation rate of 52.03 %. This rate increases as the level of schooling increases.
49.8% of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 used social networks and electronic media to inform themselves about politics and the candidates for the elections.
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THE SOLUTION
Based on the research results and stakeholder meetings, we decided to create a new mobile product that would be a library housing all the resumes of candidates for legislative assembly and municipal council members.
To narrow down the scope for the pilot, I conducted a series of workshops with relevant stakeholders:
We only included candidates from the department of San Salvador.
We would add the following sections to the application: Welcome page Homepage
Profile page Searchpage About the initiative Candidates CV
EXPLORATION
OPTION 1:
The first option we came up with was to create an application that focused more on the GenVos organization, with the idea that if voters were not encouraged to look at the candidates, they would have a source of information with which to educate themselves. In this option, the central part of the application is not the candidate library section, but rather the education.
OPTION 2:
The second option was to make an application that instead of showing the candidates by political party, would show them according to the interests of the voters, making them pass through a filter.
OPTION 3:
The third option resembled the second one with respect to interests, but this time, trying to show the profiles in cards in a condensed way, swiping right or left to save it or not in your favorites.
FLOWMAP
Alongside the team, we ended up opting for a blend of options 2 and 3, allowing voters to search more efficiently within the application.
To comprehend how each page within the application would interact with one another, I created a flowmap.
DESIGN SOLUTION
LOW AND MID FIDELITY WIREFRAMES
We employed low-fidelity and medium-fidelity wireframes to facilitate continuous iteration between our development team and stakeholders. This ensured that all screens and features could be implemented on time.
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THE PROTOTYPE
DESIGN SPRING
After iterating through low and medium-fidelity wireframes, the final prototype was created within a week. This phase involved defining design components, establishing a comprehensive style guide, and implementing corresponding animations.
USABILITY TEST
After user testing with 6 participants, key insights emerged:
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Interest in a bias-free version without preferences.
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Users found search filters valuable but desired keyword search alongside names.
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Request for a future feature to compare candidates.
EXECUTION
During usability testing, users expressed a preference for a version without personal preferences. Despite time constraints, we opted to retain the original flow, offering users the choice to eliminate preferences in the profile menu. This adjustment resulted in the main page being organized alphabetically by party, with each party having a dedicated page featuring all its candidates.
FINAL DESIGNS
