Website to Educate on Czech Municipal Elections

What I did
UX Research
Information Architecture
Wireframing
UI
Responsive design
time
August 2022
1 month
90 hours
Team
Me
Developer
Political Scientist
Tools
Figma/FigJam
Photoshop
Team
A collaborative effort by an independent group.
Drawing on my NGO background, a colleague invited me to join a project aimed at clarifying the municipal election process in the Czech Republic. My role extended beyond designing; I led the project from its initial concept through to its execution, working with a political scientist and a developer.
Goals
To educate citizens on the municipal election system
To provide clear voting instructions tailored to their goals
Problem Statement
The Czech Republic's municipal election system is quite different from the parliamentary one, leading to voter confusion. Voters often cast their votes based on incorrect assumptions, which can lead to unexpected results. This lack of knowledge about how votes are counted can cause voters to make mistakes and inadvertently support parties or candidates they didn't mean to.
A particular challenge in municipal elections is the lack of a clear way to vote for candidates who are not at the top of the list, especially in larger cities. There's also a widespread belief that checking off just a few candidates on the ballot gives them a better chance. However, this actually can result in fewer votes for the party.
Research strategy
Objective
Compare public perception with the actual workings of the municipal election system and pinpoint key misunderstandings.
Methodologies
Online Research
My initial step involved online research to find support for our assumptions, discovering several articles that discuss the complex nature of the Czech municipal election process and common voter mistakes.
Social Media Survey
As our target audience includes all eligible voters in the Czech Republic, I conducted a simple survey on my social media to assess my friends' knowledge of the municipal elections.
Expert Interviews
My political studies background notwithstanding, consulting with a political scientist was vital to understand the election system's nuances.
Analysis of Past Election Results
Together with the political scientist, I examined past election results, noting that voter preferences and the size of the district affected the outcomes.
Key findings
I identified the voters' goals and the strategies that could lead them to their desired outcomes.
I noted that the effectiveness of these strategies varied with the district size.
Defining Information Architecture
Analysis showed that voters often expect the municipal vote count to be similar to general elections. The research led to the conclusion that proper voting instructions must consider both voter preferences and district size.
Clarifying Voter Preferences:
To create accurate voting instructions, I organized the research findings into sections:
Possible election goals of voters.
Details of the voting and counting system.
Common misconceptions and errors.
This information was then turned into a flow chart bellow depicting every potential goal a voter might have, providing straightforward voting instructions.
Categories Based on District Size
Realizing that voting strategies vary with the district's size, we divided the information into three categories: small, medium, and large districts, with respective strategies for each.
We then built a database of voter preferences by district to serve as the foundation for personalized guidance.
Wireframes
Drawing from my marketing and communications background, I was aware that we were tackling a complex topic that demanded straightforward communication.
It was clear that delving into the general workings of the system would be less effective than highlighting the most striking and peculiar voting mishaps that would grasp visitor interest and prompt further reading.
The strategy was to guide users incrementally—from the arresting and simple to the intricate and complex—through the information on our site.
In the hero section, I strategically placed a provocative statement that not only captured the essence of the website but also set clear expectations for the visitor.
This was immediately followed by a rundown of the most prevalent errors voters make when filling out their ballots, a tactic designed to pique curiosity and motivate further engagement with the content.
Recognizing that the instructions for filling out the ballot paper had to be tailored to both the user's preferences and their geographical location, the user journey was carefully curated. We prompted users to first select their district, providing them with a preliminary understanding of the weight of their vote. This step also served to segment the information, allowing for customized guidance that aligns the number of available votes with their voting goals and preferences.
In the final part of our design, we displayed a set of instructions that are based on the region selection and further differentiated according to the user's individual preferences. This approach allows for a highly customized set of guidelines, catering to the unique voting strategy of each visitor.
Final designs
Thank you for reading