They Vote For You’s Design Persona

Overview

What is the character of the project in relation to it’s users?

These are not dry, “parliamentary” records. This is useful information about how your elected representatives act on your behalf.

Citizens should feel empowered and energised that they are acting to involve themselves in the shaping of their society; learning about or documenting Parliament. They are building a shared record of democratic decision making and shared infrastructure for communicating and analysing what goes on in parliament.

The citizens who contribute to the vote tracker are interested and self-motivated. They understand (at least beneath the surface) that each small action contributes to a big community across space and through time.

The vote tracker is a distinctly refreshing experience of parliamentary information. It is a clear surface for citizens to enjoy and produce valuable work in. If it isn't rewarding to contribute to the project then little contribution will be made.

Without stuffing around, the vote tracker lets them know that they are appreciated and rewards them. The site supports them in getting on with the job, respecting their time and effort.

It is a surface to scratch their contribution—not a destination but a tool for discovering and documenting what happens in Parliament—a small part of their bigger lives and communities.

Character Traits

• clear and inclusive
• respectful but not boring
• friendly but not assuming
• simple but not patronising
• accurate but not academic or jargony
• distinctly non-government & not corporate

This section inspired by Mailchimp’s helpful writing style guide.

Voice

The voice of They Vote For You is helpful, clear and human. Citizens’ know they are dealing with a tool made for them by people who respect them and empathise with their situation: trying to understand and document parliamentary process-hard work.

The website is refreshingly non-government and non-corporate. It‘s not trying to sell you anything and knows you've got other things to get to. It knows that the value in the project comes from your reading, sharing and writing.

When describing itself They Vote For You uses a brief story to explain why it could be relevant to you and why you might contribute. The story makes the goals clear and relatable.

In interface and explanatory text it moves straight to the answer the citizen looking for.

It doesn’t bury the lede. It uses ‘front loading’ to save citizens’ time, helping them naturally scan for the information they need. Headings, lists, short sentences and paragraphs create a clear structure that citizens can navigate.

There is an awareness, to be felt when appropriate, that this is about more than ‘information service delivery’. There is something emotional about tools made by citizens for citizens to equip themselves with knowledge of the system.

Login Greeting :

Successful contribution Feedback :

Error Feedback :

Data range explanation copy :

Critical Failure :

Visual Lexicon

Colour

Overall the system feels spacious, comfortable, light and friendly. The interface is not dominated by colour but a bold, spot colour identifies navigation and sets the project apart from government and corporate websites.

We use solid blocks of colour without gradients or other artificial shine used in government design.

More towards:

• Mailchimp
• Wikipedia Mobile
• Travis
• frankchimero.com

Not like:

• GovHack
• Heroku
• Mapbox
• Getup

Typography

The project is clear, precise and humanist; the typeface and typesetting reflects this. A humanist sans-serif, set with comfortable line-lengths and spacing sets it apart from densely-set government and corporate tools. Unambiguous hierarchy in weight and scale give structure to the interface.

The interface is more typographic than illustrative.

More towards:

• Detention Logs
• The Grauniad

Not like:

• About Google
• Wikipedia
• SMH