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WeVote.
WeVote is an app prototype created to solve the problem of blind trust in an unreliable, inequitable political system. It is unrealistic for every voter in the United States to be thoroughly versed on every candidate running for office. Thus, WeVote 1) compiles an extensive database of information taken directly from campaign websites, government sites, and actual policy decisions, 2) matches the user with candidates through the use of a purposefully non-partisan, unbiased questionnaire, and 3) clearly, plainly shows the user both their results and extra resources without emphasis on party lines. WeVote is a compact, unbiased, easily navigable space made for everyone.
05.2023
As a relatively new voter, I have only participated in a few elections. What few elections I have participated in have been sharply tense, riddled with scandal and misinformation, and increasingly polarized with the added pressure of a pandemic (among other things). Although not as politically active as some, I would consider myself one of the more competent voters — one who stays up to date on news from several sources, one who now has a college degree, one who does basic research on my party’s endorsed candidates, and one who, at the very least, votes at all. However, I, and many other people who I would consider competent, educated voters, still resort to checking off only those boxes on the ballot that are also checked off on the one-page pamphlet distributed by their party of choice, doing no further research and feeling no more responsibility than that. This, in my opinion, is a grave problem. In a democracy, the people should have an immense amount of power and an extensive capability to create change; yet, by voting according to other people’s opinions, we desecrate that power, that capability.
WeVote is an app prototype created to solve this problem of blind trust in an unreliable, inequitable political system. It is not realistic for every single person in the United States to be thoroughly versed on every single candidate’s past policy decisions and stated beliefs; people have jobs, families, school, etc., and even without any external stressors, doing political research is… not fun. Even when the research is done, the additional influences of misinformation and echo chambers and ambiguous algorithms call into question almost every piece of information gathered. The goal of WeVote is to solve all of these problems by 1) compiling an extensive database of information taken directly from campaign websites, government sites, and actual policy decisions, 2) matching the user with candidates through the use of a purposefully non-partisan, unbiased questionnaire, and 3) clearly, plainly showing the user both their results and extra resources without emphasis on party lines.
WeVote is meant for everyone. Everyone. Although functionally for voting citizens, the purpose of WeVote is to educate without the fear of lobbying, of corruption, and of general misinformation. The app is decisively non-partisan, with red and blue as theme colors that signify only the fact that the information on the app is focused around candidates running for elections in the United States — not the party system in which each candidate is running. In efforts to steer away from the shades of red and blue that one would see on an American flag or an official White House logo, I chose a blue that leans toward purple and a red that could be mistaken for orange. Thus, the colors still signify the United States of America; they don’t, however, scream Republican and Democrat. As for the design style, I went as minimalistic as possible. As aforementioned, this app is for everyone. That includes people who are not as technologically literate as, for example, a wealthy young person who uses an iPhone and a MacBook every day. The design is simple and intuitive — both in terms of visuals and in terms of what you can actually do with the app: one screen, one action. This makes the app easier to navigate and it allows for a smoother flow.
The choice of making an app rather than a booklet or a website was a result of several factors. Political opinions and candidates are constantly fluctuating; thus, any sort of printed publication would be rendered obsolete within a few years at the very most and a few seconds at the very least. The functionality of a print publication also restricts the amount of people who can take the quiz, in addition to making the user do the work as far as matching with certain candidates. I contemplated making a WeVote website for the main purpose of the site being usable on essentially any digital device. This is the main difference that I see between an app and a website format. However, an app was more attractive than a website, first, for selfish purposes. As an early-career graphic designer, I want a diverse portfolio with app and web design in addition to the publication design experience that I have. Thus the app concept was immediately what I gravitated towards. However, the medium of an app also allows for things like savable results, a gamified process, a compact space that doesn’t keep a website tab open, a profile, etc. Aside from these reasons, there was also the fact that political content makes up a huge part of media like journalism, television news, social media, and print media. WeVote is a compact, unbiased, easily navigable space. The choice was clear.
The research that I conducted on each candidate was not necessarily difficult, but it was incredibly time consuming. For the purpose of the prototype, I ended up only using a small chunk of my research that I collected. However, conducting it in the first place did show me how involved the expansion of WeVote would be. I based my app on the 2020 presidential general election so that 1) the candidates were already well-known and well-researched, 2) so that there were only four candidate options for simplicity’s sake, and 3) so that anyone who uses the prototype is at least minimally familiar with the candidates already. Even conducting research on only four candidates took an incredible amount of time — further still, the information must be organized in the form of an app.
Ideally, this app would be usable in any city and in any election in the entirety of the United States. Although I knew this was far from feasible at the beginning of the semester, I now know that it would take years and years of work. I am, however, just as confident in the concept as I was about a year ago when I went to vote in a local election and became quite stunned when I realized that none of the candidates on the ballot in front of me were the candidates that I had researched. I had clicked on the wrong voting district link on a government website, and I hadn’t thought twice about it (embarrassing… I know). I hold firm in my belief that the voting system as well as politics as a whole are looking grim. WeVote is my attempt at a very small start at changing the system, in providing a reliable place for education, at making people realize that they have so much power.
View the prototype below.
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