ablevote process book

Find Your Voice.

Contents

Introduction 3

Welcome to election season 4

The Problem 6

Solution 8

The Project 11

Goals 12

Measurements of Success 13

Project Timeline 14

A young audience 15

Competition 16

Research 19

The expert opinion 20

Studies 22

Findings 23

User Research 24

Branding 27

Logo development 28

Final Logoset 29

Color 30

Typography 31

Iconography 32

Development 35

Sketches 36

Wireframes 38

Early Assumption Mockups 39

Mid-idelity Mockups 40

High Fidelity Mockups 42

Delivery 45

Deliverables 46

Redline setup 48

Design Statement 50

Works Cited 51

1Introduction

Welcome to election season

Background

Why did I choose this?It’s immensely diffi cult just to i nd basic

information on issues and candidates

during an election. Drudging through hours

of pundits, advertising campaigns, biased

opinion blogs, and conjecture news articles

turns out to be far more eff ort than should be

necessary for voting on what you agree with.

The entire process is time-consuming and

frustrating, eventually leaving people feeling

apathetic towards voting.

An Early SignI remember election season as a kid. What really sticks

out are those yard signs you see on the side of the road

with candidates’ names. “Vote ___ for ____”. I turned to

my mom and asked her why the signs just have names

on them. She replied, “If you see a person’s name on

the sign, then when you see the same name on the

ballot you’re going to say ‘Oh, I recognize that name! I’ll

vote for them’”. I wasn’t satisi ed. Shouldn’t people vote

for someone based on a lot more than just their name?

Many years later that thought has brewed and is now

culminating in this thesis for the Digital Design program at

CU Denver.

4 AbleVote

Vote!

Or don’t.We live in a time of electoral misinformation due to a

fundamental imbalance in the current means available for

people to gather information. Not only do people have

no incentive to educate themselves, but there is a cold

disconnect to the system that distances people further.

This in turn results in corruption, manipulation, and the

inability for democracy to function properly. It is apparent

that the rise of technology and information availability has

only compounded these problems further by creating

more frustration through information overload.

Turnout... for what?Why are people not becoming informed voters? Nearly

every study and debate on the issue agrees: There is a

fundamental and rational imbalance of cost to reward for

the voter to become educated. At an hourly wage, the

time spent becoming informed can become expensive

quickly.

There is such a wide diversity of people with diff erent

lives, careers, families and interests - they simply

cannot be expected to learn politics on the side. At the

end of the day it can become frustrating, confusing,

inconvenient, and at the very least time-consuming.

5INTRODUCTION

The Problem

The wider social / political implications of the

current lack of informed voters could be called

catastrophic. In 2010, the biggest issue was the

economy - and yet only one third of the public

didn’t know the economy had been on the rise. To

know that the public doesn’t even know the basics

of an issue they care about most is startling at the

least, and yet this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Even though Colorado off ers an objective

evaluations of judge performance, polls shows that

voters consistently know very little about judges on

the ballot. Ignorance in and of itself is problematic,

though when people vote on ignorance they are

highly likely to shoot themselves in the foot.

6 AbleVote

Americans have an extremely negative view

of Congress, yet we feel no need to take

action to change it. This apathy and lack

of information then leads to more terrible

politicians and corruption. Not only do we

hate the way things are and don’t do anything

to change it, but it leads to manipulation,

malpractice, and bad politicians in general.

This problem can’t simply be blamed

on people, but on the way we receive

information - studies have found that more

informed voters vote for better performing

politicians. It tends to make a real diff erence

in how politicians perform, since worse

performers tend to be penalized during

elections.

7INTRODUCTION

Solution

Overview

AbleVote is a new website that makes learning about election

issues and candidates more personal, interesting, and

effi cient. The website is based i rstly on your values, using

your viewpoints to suggest and make compare the issues and

candidates.

Issues of trust, semiotics, and user fl ow are explored through

rigorous research and testing. Illustrating the implications of

voting decisions in a non-biased and engaging way is one of the

largest design challenges.

Personally Trusted• Based around your values

• Guided experience to create a

seamless journey

• A refreshing new way to explore

change in the world around you

More for Less• Visual semiotics and make

understanding your vote easier

than ever

• Understand the implications

of your vote with illustrated

outcomes

• Non-biased sources gathered,

explained, and sourced out

for you

• Can be done within minutes

Informed & Ready• Have a greater understanding

of how government around

you works

• Fuli l the requirements for a

successful “Representation of

Popular Preference on Specii c

Issues”, in which a voter must:

- Know of the issue’s existence

- Have a position on the issue

- Know opposing positions

- Know its ultimate political goals

8 AbleVote

How can principles of UX and UI design be used to add transparency and empower people in the voting process?

The Design Problem

9INTRODUCTION

2The Project

Goals

Make it Personal

The primary goal for this project is to make voter

education into a more personal and relatable

experience for the user. In making the site engaging

by involving the user with information relating

directly to them, a user can set their political views

and then comparing themselves to the candidates.

To create interest in informing votes, the service

must use wording, content, analogies, imagery,

and scenarios that are widely relatable. Making

the process of learning fun and enjoyable can also

prove invaluable.

Make it Practical

To reverse the fundamental imbalance of work

to reward is no small design task. The most

obvious way to do this is to cut down on the time

a user spends becoming informed, which will be

accomplished through the streamlined system of

guiding a user through their personalized ballot,

creating an ideal user journey.

Other design goals will focus heavily on making

the content more understandable to users of 8th

grade reading level and above through the use

of information shortcuts, data visualization, and

visual semiotics to minimize text while maximizing

conceptual understanding.

12 AbleVote

Measurements of Success

Electorate

The broader goal of this project is to encourage a more

balanced and responsible electorate in the Denver

area. To measure this, the “Representation of Popular

Preference on Specii c Issues,” theory of representation

will be used, in which the majority of voters decide on

specii c policies and issues for the government to pursue.

This method requires that voters:

1. Know of the issue’s existence

2. Have a position on the issue

3. Know the positions of opposing candidates on the

issue

4. Have some understanding of how the opposing

candidates’ policy proposals relate to the advancement

of their ultimate goals.

User

• Reduced time to learn compared to

traditional means.

• Streamlined process to make the

experience easier and less frustrating.

• Quick understanding of candidates, issues,

and implications

• Engaging enough to encourage user to

share their results or recommend the site

to friends

• Wording, content, and features have a

focus on the user and relating to the user’s

personal life

• An interesting and fun experience with

graphics and factoids

13PROJECT

Project Timeline

Jan 25 - 31 Feb 1 - 7 Feb 8 - 14 Feb 15 - 21 Feb 22 - 28 Mar 1 - 7 Mar 8 - 14 Mar 15 - 21 Mar 22 - 28 Mar 29 - Apr 4 Apr 5 - 11 Apr 12 - 18 Apr 19 - 25 Apr 26 - May 2 May 3 - 9

S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S S M T W T F S

Find Subject Matter Expert X Spring Break

Interview Subject Matter Expert

Initial Research

Research Paper X

User Research

Persona Development

Wireframes X

User Testing

Logo Design

Branding Design

Development Iterations

Video Pitch

Process Book Sent to Printer by 4/2 -> Complete by 4/16 ->

Presentation Redline Visit Video Pitch Live Pitch Pitch to Faculty Live Pitch Install -> Critiques->

Research Concept Create Test

14 AbleVote

A Young Audience

The initial target audience of the project are young

people within the Denver area, though it has the potential

to expand. The purpose of this selection is that young

voters in metropolitan areas:

• Have a solid understanding and familiarity with

technology

• Tend to have lower turnout rates to vote

• Feel like they have no infl uence

• Have no “stake” in society such as children or homes.

• Are easily manipulated by charismatic candidates

• Tend to be switched off by campaign cynicism

• Have less time, knowledge, and patience to educate

themselves

15PROJECT

Competition

Project Vote Smart

Project Vote Smart is the closest in concept

to this project. While the elements of off ering

information on issues and candidates is there,

much of the site remains empty since the service

relies on candidates off ering information to them

directly rather than curating the information

themselves. In addition, the entire website

is a mess of buttons and information thrown

everywhere with needless features and a poor

user journey.

The Colorado Blue Book website used to link to

Vote Smart, but it was removed a few years ago

due to Vote Smart being “too biased”.

16 AbleVote

Vote411Vote411 requires going through

about 4-5 pages before you can

i nally i nd information on comparing

candidates or issues. Even when you

get there, the information is sparse

and presented in a non-personal,

uninteresting way.

BallotpediaBallotpedia is the most comprehensive

information source currently available.

However, as its name implies the site is

text upon text and can be diffi cult and

overwhelming to navigate. This is an

excellent source for someone looking

to spend a lot of time researching, but

not for the young casual audience of

AbleVote.

Smart VoterIt appears that this website is trying

to help convey unbiased election

information, but it’s diffi cult to say with

text and boxes of all diff erent colors

spewed across every page. The

information is nearly impossible to

parse, and even then it doesn’t off er

much insight beyond names and titles.

17PROJECT

3Research

The Expert Opinion

Cathy Eslinger / Susan LiddleColorado Legislative Council Staff for the Ballot Information Booklet

The Blue BookThe most important value of

assembling the election blue book

each year is to present the information

in a “factual, accurate, unbiased view

of the issues”. On average, 93% of

households report receiving the ballot

booklet, though there is no data on

actual usage.

Colorado is highly unique in that it

is the only state that off ers a ballot

booklet in its existing form. A few other

states have similar books, though

“a surprising number of them have

to accept comments from the public

verbatim.”

A World of FrustrationToday’s world is transforming at a

breakneck pace, and with that comes

new challenges and frustrations. The

way people gather information has

evolved. People get frustrated to the

point of saying, “I can’t take it anymore,

I don’t know what to believe” - and

some end up voting for things they

didn’t realize the implications of -

eff ectively losing their voice.

While there is an occasional member

of the public that contacts the offi ce

directly to complain about the blue

book’s readability, many simply give up

upon frustration.

Important to InformKnowing what the issues are is just the

beginning - an understanding of how

law works is equally important. For

example, “statewide issues impact our

constitution and our statutes. [...] When

something goes into the constitution,

that’s very important and can only

be changed by another vote of the

people.”

Suggestions off ered by Ms. Eslinger

and Ms. Liddle included a one-stop-

shop for candidates, a notes section,

the ability to email your list, links

to county election websites, and

government educational sections.

Marketing opportunity suggestions

included social media, news coverage,

and National Public Radio.

Cathy Eslinger & Susan Liddle are responsible for writing the Colorado Blue Book for each election, which

provides non-biased facts about the issues and was one of the basis of my thesis project. In our interview,

they outlined implications of how important a vote is and their process for reaching non-biased phrasing.

20 AbleVote

Educate the ElectoratePublic education is of top priority to

Lois Court, both in the legislature and

for the general public. She commonly

“tinkers with making the blue book

make more sense to people,” which

she considers to be very consequential.

Ms. Court highlighted the importance

of knowing what the responsibilities

and expectations are of the offi ce

you’re voting for. Her own words say

it best: “Voting is a right, but also a

responsibility. If you can’t make the eff ort

to learn just a tad, then is it appropriate

for you to exercise that right?”

People Aren’t AwareLois Court pointed out that she

understands that people are all “very

busy and all have lives to live,” and

as a result of media “people aren’t

aware of what’s going on” or who does

what. She suggested that some good

starting points would be to i nd out who

represents you and being aware that not

everyone is naturally corrupt. A typical

tendency is for people to become jaded

by the media and not seek information

elsewhere.

Why Inform?An important consideration when

approaching the “my vote doesn’t

matter” argument is your local issues

and candidates. A single seat change

in the Senate or House can shift the

entire balance: Colorado’s Senate was

recently swayed to Republican infl uence

by “only a couple hundred votes.” She

emphasized that legislatures are very

easy to contact directly, as well. While

the internet has increased access, we

now have information overload where

people prioritize more personal or

relatable topics. Overall, Lois Court

advised that this thesis should help

people understand who does what, have

cheat sheets, and links to informational

sites. She suggested schools and news

outlets as marketing tools.

Lois CourtColorado Representative & Legislator

Lois Court is a Colorado State Representative who is highly involved in getting people educated on politics and

democracy. During our meeting she placed a heavy emphasis on the fact that people need to have a basic

understanding of how government works before they can make an informed vote.

21RESEARCH

Studies

Research began with a subject matter expert

interview with two of the people responsible for

putting together the Colorado ballot blue book

each year at the state capitol. The process,

views, and advice they had to share was an

excellent place to begin.

The next step proceeded with 8 thorough user

interviews with a mostly young demographic

in the Denver area, with a couple of people in

an older demographic for comparison. Insights

gleaned from these interviews gave great

insight into the desires and frustrations of the

audience.

Upon completing initial user interviews, a

research paper was completed sourcing eight

articles and one book on political ignorance.

The bulk of scholarly research has shown

that the situation with uninformed voters is

much worse than previously assumed, and

that people tend to yearn for a personal

connection in an election. The primary causes

of uninformed voters and methods that can be

used to measure this project’s success were

also noted.

22 AbleVote

FindingsMany initial assumptions were coni rmed,

while other pieces of information have

been brought to light as a result of

research. User research coni rms that the

audience has a desire to be informed, but

have a hard time justifying the eff ort. They

are tired of ads and buzzwords. Opinions

of the existing blue book were varied but

mostly very negative.

Scholarly research indicates that low

information voting has been an ongoing

epidemic for many years, regardless of

technological and educational advances.

The problem is caused by an imbalance of

work to reward ratio and how impersonal

and uninteresting the process is to current

users.

Research also showed tangible means

of measuring the success values of this

project on many diff erent levels pertaining

to each goal, and summarized some

recent solution ideas, and how they have

fallen short or diff er from this project.

Image: learnliberty.org

23RESEARCH

User Research

Background / Quantitative

Do You Vote? Why or Why not?It’s my duty / responsibility / right - it means a lot, honors

the past. Gives me feelings of power / understanding.

Could aff ect my life. Gives me a right to complain.

Older users said voting does not aff ect their lives.

Are you an informed voter? Why?I like to understand, to know what a candidate will do,

what their background is, what they support and sign.

I read news and articles. Being blind is bad, need to

know pros and cons. It’s good to know the bottom line.

Commercials suck.

Are other people informed?Older people have more time to be informed. Younger

people focus on big issues, use gut instinct. People eat

up buzzwords, don’t seek info. There’s a lot of personal

bias that should be challenged.

How are younger people diff erent?Younger people are more passionate with less time. They

have less understanding of politics.

What’s important when voting?Policy and amendments. I look up layman’s summaries on

Google. Pay attention to overshadowed issues. Make a

good decision for my interests. The language is confusing,

so I don’t vote if I’m not informed.

How much time you spend preparing?I start when I start seeing ads. I spend a between 2-4 hours

or 6-8 hours over an afternoon or couple weeks. I watch

the news, try using the blue book, local papers, social

media, Google, editorials, and look at funding sources.

Sometimes I watch pundits, debates, or conventions. I

look for issues I care for. I avoid blogs, and tend to look at

independent news sources. I look at the arguments. There’s

a lot to biased and opinionated pieces to sift through.

Are you familiar with the election blue

book? Do you use it?It’s important, and a great place to start. It’s good for

skimming the issues, the for and against. It’s very exact. It

should list the implications and consequences. Otherwise

it just sits on the table. It needs supplementary information.

It’s badly written, dry, and too many syllables. Feels

like homework, obtuse. I feel like I need a dictionary,

deciphering it is hard. It feels like an IT book or a phone

book.

24 AbleVote

Current Experience

What’s the most annoying

political ad you’ve seen? Why?They use fear mongering, scare tactics, doom

saying. It feels like a conspiracy theorist.

They are deceptive, distasteful, and unfair.

It’s unconvincing, dishonest, absurd, and

full of fallacies. They are biased and don’t

show implications. They use red herrings and

blaming. They prey on your emotions. They

are hypocritical and off ensive. I feel pressured.

Some ads split hairs. They think I’m stupid. I feel

bitter and skeptical.

Do you feel like you make a

diff erence when voting? Not really. It feels important, and not voting

would be worse. It helps remind my friends to

vote. More eff ort makes it matter more. It gives

me a purpose in my community.

Sometimes I feel like it’s rigged, I don’t trust it.

The decision has already been made for me.

Midterms are less important.

Solutions

What in your current methods do you i nd

to be helpful? I like using local papers, editorials, arguments, local

news, the blue book, Google, articles, factcheck.org, and

discussion with others. I like things that are concise and

readable. I like seeing the diff erence between actions and

words. I like seeing diff erent perspectives.

What frustrates you when reading /

viewing election related materials? I dislike ads, propaganda, and emotional manipulation. It’s

all overwhelming. Mudslinging makes them look like high

school girls. I don’t like fear tactics. I don’t want phone

calls. I don’t like knowing that so much money goes into

campaigns. I don’t like sorting through opinions and blogs.

I just want straight facts. I want to know implications. I want

facts, i gures, and affi liations.

If you could change anything, what would

it be?I don’t want ads. I want to learn by my learning style. I want

more languages. Information needs to be easier to access

and understand. I want something I can use on my phone,

something that’s updated frequently. I want more context

and transparency.

25RESEARCH

4Branding

Logo Development

28 AbleVote

Final Logoset

29BRANDING

Color

#6e309c #166938 #3CE882#A98445#35114F

Purple is the color most associated with ambiguity, and

is also commonly used to designate regions that have

mixed loyalties.

Triadic color scheme is based on base purple color, with

a color pallet that still avoids most common United States

color associations: red and blue.

30 AbleVote

Typography

Proxima NovaThin / Light / Regular / Semibold /

Bold / Extrabold / Black

Proxima Nova off ers easy

readable with many font weight

options for diff erent emphasis

and hierarchy.

31BRANDING

Iconography

U.S.A. - Executive

White House

U.S.A. - Legislative

United States Capitol Building

U.S.A. - Judicial

United States Supreme Court Building

Colorado - Executive / Legislative

Colorado State Capitol

Denver - Executive / Legislative / Judicial

Denver City & County Building

Colorado - Judicial

Ralph L. Carr Colorado Judicial Center

32 AbleVote

Crime & Punishment

Education

Economy

Civil Rights

Energy & Environment

Health

33BRANDING

5Development

Sketches

Early Ideas

36 AbleVote

Conceptual Development

37DEVELOPMENT

Wireframes

[Logo]

Intro Text

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[Map]

Zip Code

Street Number

City State

Enter your address

[Map]

My Alignment Just show me the facts

Sounds good! You’re in Ward 5 of Aurora, CO, USA

icon

icon icon

icon

icon

icon

iconicon

icon

icon

Know your values

38 AbleVote

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

Ab

ort

ion

Econom

yC

ivil

Rig

hts

Corp

ora

tions

Crim

e

Envi

ronm

ent

Gov’

t R

efo

rm

Imm

igra

tion

Dru

gs

Fam

ilies

Gun C

ontr

ol

Infr

ast

ructu

re

Ed

ucation

Fore

ign P

olic

y

Health C

are

Job

s

Tax R

efo

rm

Energ

y &

Oil

Fre

e T

rad

e

Security

Socia

l Security

War

& P

eace

Welfare

Mark Udall

Cory Gardner

Jaime McMillan

Willoughby

Randy

Baumgardner

The CandidatesU.S. SENATE - COLORADO

NEXT

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

The Issues

Amendment

67

Proposition

104

Proposition

105

Amendment

68

SUMMARY OF BALLOT MEASURES

Definition of Person

Recognizes unborn children as persons in

the Colorado Criminal Code and Colorado

Wrongful Death Act.

School Board Meetings

Requires open school board meetings for

collective bargaining negotiations

Racetrack Gambling

Establishes a K-12 education fund to be

funded by expanded limited gaming at

horse racetracks

GMO Labeling

Mandates labeling of certain foodstuffs that

contain genetically modiied organisms

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

The IssuesAMENDMENT 67 - COLORADO

Amendment

67

Summary

Recognizes unborn children as

persons in the Colorado Criminal

Code and Colorado Wrongful

Death Act.

YES

NO

Against

• Amendment 67 is unnecessary and unclear.

There are already laws in place to protect

pregnant women endangered by the criminal

acts of others, while respecting the personal

medical decisions of a woman and her

health care provider. The term “unborn

human being” has no established legal or

medical deinition in Colorado law, and could

apply at the earliest stages of pregnancy.

The measure could have far-reaching

For

• One of government’s responsibilities is to

protect its citizens from harm. Amendment

67 protects pregnant women and unborn

children by making it illegal to kill or

otherwise harm an unborn human being and

holds perpetrators both criminally and civilly

liable. Crimes against unborn human beings

should be subject to the same legal penalties

as crimes against human beings who have

been born. Under Amendment 67, a person

Official Text

Shall there be an amendment

to the Colorado constitution

protecting pregnant women

and unborn children by defining

“person” and “child” in the

Colorado criminal code and the

Colorado wrongful death act to

include unborn human beings?

My Vote:

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

CANDIDATE SELECTION

BALLOT MEASURE CHOICES

Senate

House of

Representatives

A m e n d m e n t

67

Definition of Person

YES NO

KNOWVOTEY

OUR

CANDIDATE SELECTIONS

Senate

House of

Representatives

Governor of

Colorado Secretary of State

Early Assumption Mockups

39DEVELOPMENT

Mid-i delity Mockups

Introduction Text

Optassunt, cuptate eate sit plab int rem is eum et lacitatum

aut lit laborem fugit alis est, ute nonsequos eserupt iisciamus

conectam nus sae repedig natem.

To begin, find your vote by entering your address below.

Your Values

Optassunt, cuptate eate sit plab int rem is eum et lacitatum

aut lit laborem fugit alis est, ute nonsequos eserupt

iisciamus conectam nus sae repedig natem.

Military Religion Science

Crime

Economy Education

Energy Health

Civil Rights

YOUR POSITION:

Civil Rights

Abortion

Freedom

of Speech

Privacy

Discrimination

Gun Control

Gambling

Next

• Head of United States government

• Leader of Executive Branch

• Commander of Armed Forces

• Authority over world’s largest nuclear arsenal

• Appoints Supreme Court Justices

• Frequently called the most powerful person in the world

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

Crime

Economy

Economy

Education

Education

Energy

Health

Civil Rights

Civil Rights

Barack Obama

Mitt Romney

You

Executive Branch

... selects the

Judicial Branch

40 AbleVote

Denver has a strong mayor/weak city council government. The mayor can approve

or veto any ordinances or resolutions approved by the council, make sure all

contracts with the city are kept and performed, sign all bonds and contracts, is

responsible for the city budget, and can appoint people to various city departments,

organizations, and commissions.

DENVER MAYOR

Executive Branch

City

You

Paul Fiorino

ChairMan Seku

Marcus Giavanni

Michael Hancock

Issue IssueIssue

Issue IssueIssue Issue IssueIssue

Issue IssueIssue Issue IssueIssue

67

NO YES

Deinition of PersonhoodAmendment 67 creates a constitutional provision stating

that the terms “person” and “child” in the Colorado Criminal

Code and the state wrongful death statutes must include

unborn human beings. The measure does not deine the

term “unborn human beings.”

• Unnecessary and unclear.

• Laws exist protecting pregnant women

• “Unborn human being” has no legal or medical

deinition in Colorado.

• Intrusion of health privacy.

• Protects pregnant women and unborn children.

• Holds perpetrators fully liable.

• Same legal penalties for crimes against unborn and

born human beings.

Pregnant women and health care providers could

be criminally and civilly liable for a pregnancy

that does not result in a live birth, including a

miscarriage.

Could make abortion a crime, including those for

victims of rape or incest.

Could prevent accessibility to emergency

contraception, treatment for miscarriages, cancer,

or infertility.

A person who kills an unborn human being could

be charged with homicide.

Could lead to an end to abortion in Colorado:

Abortion could be charged as homicide or child

abuse.

Could limit the willingness of health care providers

to perform abortions in Colorado.

WHAT COULD HAPPEN?

AMENDMENT

Abortion

My Votes

Cory Gardner

Robin Kniech

Diana DeGette

Peggy Lehmann

John Hickenlooper

Brian Boatright

Barack Obama

Monica Márquez

Dan PabonMark Schefel

Michelle Amico

U.S. PRESIDENT

U.S. SENATOR

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE

COLORADO GOVERNOR

DENVER MAYOR

DENVER COUNCIL AT LARGE

DENVER COUNCIL DISTRICT 4

JUDGE RETAIN

JUDGE DON’T RETAIN

JUDGE RETAIN

COLORADO SENATOR

COLORADO REPRESENTATIVE

Michael Hancock

Print It Email It PDF It Share It

41DEVELOPMENT

POLICY

REFORM

CURRICULUM

REFORM

TECHNOLOGY

TESTING

STANDARDS

HEALTH

PUBLIC

SCHOOL

FUNDING

CHILD

DEVELOP-

MENT

HIGHER

ED.

FUNDING

High Fidelity Mockups

67

AGREE

Executive Branch

MAYOR

City of Denver

Denver has a strong mayor/weak city council government.

The mayor can approve or veto any ordinances or resolutions

approved by the council, make sure all contracts with the

city are kept and performed, sign all bonds and contracts, is

responsible for the city budget, and can appoint people to

various city departments, organizations, and commissions.

42 AbleVote

Remain the same

The Mother

Nobody

Down

The Unborn Human

Whoever is responsible.

Includes doctor, mother, or

any other person for any

cause of death.

Legal abortion rates...

Protects the human rights of...

Punishes...

Abortion

67COLORADO AMENDMENT

Choose carefully! Amendments are very diicult to undo.

Should it be a crime when an

unborn human dies?Details »

NO YES

67

Legal abortion rates remain the same

Protects the rights of the mother

Punishes nobody





Abortion

YESNO

Abortion

CONFIRM

67

Up Down

Legal abortion rates go...Abortion


Choose carefully! Amendments are v e r y d i i c u l t to undo.



Y E SN O

AbortionUp Down

Legal abortion rates go...Abortion





YESNO

Abortion

Amendment 67 creates a constitutional

provision stating that the terms “person” and

“child” in the Colorado Criminal Code and the

state wrongful death statutes must include

unborn human beings. The measure does not

deine the term “unborn human beings.”

67

43DEVELOPMENT

6Delivery

Deliverables

Digital Output• Live functional prototype of website

automatically loaded onto computer

• Invitation to try it out on your phone

• Email results

Physical Deliverables• Voting booth display with logo on curtains

• Printed Process Book

• Business Cards specii c to AbleVote /

AdamWittDesign (possibly double sided)

• Short pamphlet overview of project

• Branded yard sign

• Stickers (?)

• Connected printer (?)

Size reference

46 AbleVote

Note: Permission already granted! Voting booth curtain to be heat pressed with logo

47DELIVERY

Redline setup

Front

ProcessBook

Keyboard

Top Down

ProcessBook Keyboard

Mac Mini

Components• Mac Mini attached to rear of backboard

• Monitor attached to front of backboard

• Keyboard, mouse and process book on

shelf

• Also possible for backboard: Business

cards, pamphlets, stickers

System• Create automatic power

on / off cycle in system

preferences

• Automator used to run

browser full screen

when powered on

48 AbleVote

Voting Booth• Desk Area: 32” x 16”

• Back area: 32” wide x 29” tall

• Solid back wall: 32” wide x 16” tall

• Curtain depth: 40”

• 40” x 36” - Total fl oor space

Considerations• Placed by a wall to access power without blocking space for

other students

• Cables can be hidden below the “desktop” area of the booth

with additional white curtain, box, etc.

49DELIVERY

Design Statement

We live in a time of extreme electoral misinformation due to a fundamental imbalance

in the current means available for people to gather information. Not only do people

have no incentive to educate themselves, but there is a cold disconnect to the system

that distances people further. This in turn results in corruption, manipulation, and the

inability for democracy to function properly. It is apparent that the rise of technology

and information availability has only compounded these problems further by creating

more frustration when people have to sort through even more information. AbleVote

is a web platform that aims to empower users to vote, make voting a more personal

experience, and increase the percentage of informed voters according to the theory

of Representation of Popular Preference.

Works CitedBrennan, Jason. “How to Vote Well.” Learn Liberty. Last modiied October 25, 2012. http://www.

learnliberty.org/videos/how-to-vote-well/.

D.K. “Why Young People Don’t Vote.” The Economist. Last modiied October 29, 2014. http://www.

economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/10/economist-explains-24.

Kourlis, Rebecca L. “Be an Informed Voter when Deciding on Judges.” The Denver Post. Last

modiied October 24, 2014. http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_26793888/be-an-

informed-voter-when-deciding-judges.

Newport, Frank. “Why Are Americans Less Involved in This Year’s Election?” Gallup. Last modiied

October 22, 2014. http://www.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/178766/why-americans-less-

involved-year-election.aspx.

Pande, Rohini. 2011. Can informed voters enforce better governance? Experiments in low-income

democracies. Annu. Rev. Econ. 3, no. 1: 215-237.

Saad, Lydia. “Voters, Especially Independents, Lack Interest in Election.” Gallup. Last modiied

November 4, 2014. http://www.gallup.com/poll/179147/voters%ADespecially%ADindependents

%ADlack%ADinterest%ADelection.aspx.

Smalley, Suzanne. “Candidates: Using TV to Reach ‘Low-Info Voters’.” Newsweek. Last modiied May

31, 2008. http://www.newsweek.com/candidates-using-tv-reach-low-info-voters-89475.

Somin, Ilya. 2013. Democracy and political ignorance: Why smaller government is smarter. Stanford

University Press, October 2.

Thomas, Diana. “Why Are Voters So Uninformed?” Learn Liberty. Last modiied January 28, 2013.

http://www.learnliberty.org/videos/why-are-voters-so-uninformed/.

“Understanding Political Color Designations” ColorCombos.com.

http://www.colorcombos.com/understanding-political-color-designations-article.html

ablevote process book

Documents