Engage

A location-based civic engagement app that empowers young voters by connecting them with personalized information

Engage was created from a personal desire to better understand the city of Boston's local politics. The app seeks to give people all the information they need to know to civically engage with their community.

The target demographic of Engage is 18-24 year olds- the demographic least likely to vote.

In order to onboard, users need to simply create an account and add their address.

The app is designed to be informative- all information fields include descriptors explaining how one’s local government works.

Client

Personal Project

Team

UX Designer

Tools

Figma

The Problem

Students and young adults want to be engaged in local government, but often don't know how to due to barriers to entry and time constraints.

In the United States and worldwide, youth voters (18-24) are least likely to turn up for elections, with 51% showing up for the 2020 Presidential Elections. This number becomes even smaller on a local level, where 16% of the city of Boston showed up for the Boston 2021 mayoral election.

Give new designers a collaborative opportunity

Provide nonprofits with UX problem solving they wouldn't access otherwise

Grow nonprofit awareness among the Boston UX community

Faculty had low awareness
of the process

Faculty had low awareness of the process

30% of faculty members contacted were aware of the Innovation Pipeline process, while 80% were aware of the Academic Toolbox/ Faculty Portal.

Faculty prefer person-to-person contact for technology questions.

Faculty members with technology questions use trial and error, ask colleagues, Google, or call the help desk with technology-related questions. Interviewed faculty preferred talking to a staff member.

Faculty need more transparency into how technology is adopted.

Faculty members were curious about how long phases of the pipeline take, and how priority is allocated to certain projects

The Solution

What if a civic engagement app were designed with youth voters in mind? One where simply adding your address gave you access to your city counselors, elections, and events impacting your community.