State of Michigan
Voter Website
Role: UX Researcher | Team: Civic User Testing Group | Duration: March - April 2023 | Tools: Miro
Background
This project was an intensive three week session where I worked as part of a team of five to partner with stakeholders working in the Bureau of Elections branch within the Michigan Department of State. With a recently updated Michigan Voter Website, they were interested in gauging how voters experienced the site while also . New voters need a clear, easy-to-use tool to register to vote, find information for voting both absentee and in-person, and locating the nearest polling place. My team's purpose was to evaluate users' engagement with the website and
Research
How easily can first-time voters find/navigate to key information?
How intuitive is the presentation and organization
of information for first-time voters?
Usability Testing Script
While our script included pre-questions concerning the general impression of the website, such as "What initial thoughts do you have about this page?" We mainly focused on simple guidance for three main tasks.
Findings & Considerations
Consideration 1
Rearrange the homepage so that the most essential sections appear first.
Consideration 2
Ensure that the bottom row of elements on the home page is visible on landing on the page.
Consideration 3
Consider having a single navigation bar, with consistent language to match main landing sections.
Learnings
This project was a true testament of "You are not the user." I have routinely found it difficult to navigate civil websites, namely the DMV as did others in the group. We had many conversations about feeling guilty about bringing our own biases. Personally, I found it exciting to uncover deeper issues of users who are not within a niche group of people but instead the common among us as we all have some level of engagement with government agencies. It truly showed the power behind not only information as a whole, but also highlighted the essentialness of structure and architecture within it.