UI Design

Elevate Application

Spring 2021

Concept: Improve gender parity in political representation through a mobile application and associated physical device.

Target Audience: Women interested in pursuing a career in politics and women who are running for office

Research

In my initial research I found that women are 51% of the U.S. population but that percentage is not reflected in elected positions. Women make up 27% of congress, 0% of U.S. presidents, and 30% of statewide elected officials. For certain demographics these percentages are even smaller. I also found that women are much less likely than men to decide to run for political office for two reasons: (1) Women are significantly less likely to view themselves as qualified to run for office, and (2) Women are less likely to receive encouragement to run from party leaders and elected officials.

I conducted an expert interview to do user research for my final project. My project relates to increased representation in elected leadership, and in high school, I completed a program with an organization related to that cause. I spoke to an individual who works at Running Start, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that trains young women to run for office. The individual I interviewed serves as program director at Running Start and has worked with the organization for nearly ten years. The interview method was a phone interview. I asked questions like: Describe a typical participant of one of your programs, How have people from your programs stayed connected to each other, How do young women seek out opportunities (for mentorship for example). The interview lasted 15 minutes.