UC BerkeleyCS160 Spring 2013

User Interface Design

Billiterate Christina HangEric XiaoLinda Cai

Scott Stewart

Bringing local politics to the masses.

SolutionOur application provides a space for communities to discuss local bills being considered, and draw that who are unfamiliar with local politics to become more involved through social media and discussion. Billiterate allows users to find out more about what's happening in their local community and see what bill topics are particularly controversial.

ProblemOnly a very small percentage of the community are involved in local politics or attend City Council meetings. Consequently, many are unaware of what or how local political decisions will affect them. Action must be taken to make local politics more accessible to the masses.

The Trending tab shows the most popular and controversial bills in a user’s city.

Users can easily find their way to city meetings using the “Find Meeting Location” feature.

The bill information page gives users more details about the bill and provides a space for expressing their opinions.

Design EvolutionBilliterate’s design changed over time to become more accessible to those unfamiliar with local politics. Meetings and bills are now organized hierarchically by date and bill titles are written in user-friendly language. Bill information provide users with a convenient method of learning about bills and how these bills are perceived by their local communities.

Final PrototypeUsers are directed to the Agenda page which shows them recent and upcoming local city meetings. Tabs allow users to easily navigate between Agendas, Trending bills, and City Representatives. Through the app, users can read about and comment on a bill on the bill’s information page, contact local representatives, and see which bills are popular with other users.

The Agenda page lists city meetings by date. Here you can view a bill or find the meeting location on a map.

Target UserBoth politically uninformed and informed residents in any city can access local agenda bills for a variety of city meetings as well as voice their approval or disapproval through the application.

Users can post comments on a bill to voice their opinion.

In the representatives tab, you can view different city representatives, learn more about them on their webpage, or contact them directly.

Clicking “Get More Information” on the bill page sends the user to a google search of the bill.