My Devon
Helping to forge close communities and engage residents in council matters. A public app and backend council admin dashboard.
OUTCOME Community App and Council Dashboard prototypes
SCOPE 15 Week Solo UX/UI Project for MA Course (February-May 2022)
TOOLS Figma, Miro, Photoshop, Illustrator
01 Context
The Problem
Councils are notorious for poorly designed websites that frustrate users and make finding information and contacting the council needlessly difficult. Beyond digital media, residents often feel that their voices are not listened by council members, they lack motivation to engage with the council and lack easy access to local community groups and events.
The Goal
Improve the link between the council and the community, as well as inter-community connections. Ensure that residents have easy access to regularly updated information, channels to provide opinions to the council, local events, and news to increase council transparency.
02 Initial Research
Initial research consisted of user interviews to establish the key pain points that users experience with the current crop of council websites and other interaction methods. The interviewees ranged in age from 25-70 and have a range of backgrounds. The interviews brought a range of issues to the fore, as well as many potential features for a solution.
Residents need to be able to easily provide feedback and opinions on local matters, contact the council and know, undisputedly, that their voice is being heard in the council. Local events, groups, news and information need to be advertised and easily accessible to all age groups, without the need for additional/external accounts, and people of all ages need to be encouraged to interact with the council and one another to create stronger community bonds.
The initial research lead to the reframing of the problem statement to the following:
Who are our users?
From the user interviews, it was established that there are two main types of potential user for this app:
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The Community focused, looking for community engagement, local events and news
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The Council focused, looking for council engagement, quick access to information and ways to give feedback and opinions.
To display these themes and allow them to be addressed in the forthcoming design work with empathy, the personas of Eddie and Phoebe were created based on traits discovered in the user interviews.
Based on the persona of ‘Eddie’ I looked into current route of finding local events through the internet. This 'current state' journey allowed potential pain points and opportunities to be understood, setting up avenues for further exploration.
Key Findings:-
• Users do not want to be forced to create an account to view everything – allow key info to be viewed without one
• Comments and/or reviews by other users aids decision making
• Filtering of large amount of info is essential
• Regular updates and/or user generated content are required to keep users informed
03 Information Architecture (IA)
User Flows
To kickstart the design work, users flows were created to establish the key happy paths that users would take to achieve the main tasks. The user flows focused on three main journeys related to the personas of Phoebe and Eddie. The app will consist of a main home screen, off of which will be the 4 main groups of functions - 'Feedback' 'Council Info' 'Community/Noticeboard' and 'News'.
Sitemap and Cardsort
A card sorting exercise with members of the target group allowed the wording of the navigation to be refined. This was an essential step to ensure the IA made sense to the users, and was eye-opening, showing just how differently people view the world.
The resulting groups from the interviewees was similar, and so slight changes were made to the wording and grouping of content before being implemented into the final sitemap.
Sketching and Wireframing
The initial sketches looked at the main home screen and feedback section of the app. As the interviews had suggested there are multiple types of users, customisation was a key driver. To ensure a personalised experience, the home screen consists of space for shortcuts chosen by the user from a list all of the apps functions. These can be chosen on first use of the app, and changed whenever the user may wish to.
Hotspot Prototype and Usability Testing
Following initial design work, a hotspot prototype was created to be used in usability testing. The test was a moderated in-person test with 3 separate participants, with the talk aloud method used to draw out pain points and thoughts as they used the app. The tasks focused on completing sign up, accessing your account and discount section, providing feedback in a poll and finding a local craft event. Feedback led to a redesign of certain aspects such as button sizes, onboarding positioning and certain page layouts, as well as the inclusion of a home screen walkthrough.
04 Visual Design & Accessibility
The final design scheme is the product of multiple iterations aimed at producing a look and feel that would appeal to all age groups. The final scheme utilises a primary green (a colour synonymous with the county) and simple typography. The design system will allow future iterations and expansion of the prototype simple and efficient.
The design was designed to reach AA standard (WCAG2) , with a minimum font size of 13pt . Additional testing will take place for each section of the app, and for checking against Gov.uk guidelines on local government digital media.
High Fidelity Prototype
Please view the final output from the design process, the My Devon interactive prototype.
Future development will also focus on the design of the dashboard function. This is a key backend feature that will allow for admin customisation of the app, as well as quick contact between users and the council.
05 Key Learnings
1. Carry out user research or gain user input often: User and peer feedback shows just how differently we all see the world, and by being receptive, you will end up with a much better product.
2. Experimentation and Iteration are key: In order to be innovative and overcome key issues, change is essential. Iterations, no matter how small and frequent, will lead to an improved design.
3. Do not jump to design work too quickly: There is always the temptation to jump to designing too early, when ideas and thoughts have not been fully nailed down. Carrying out in-depth and targeted research will make designing easier, with less back -tracking later on.