Citizen Interaction Design
Skills Applied: Customer Discovery, Contextual Inquiry, Wireframing, Interaction Design, Pitching
Length: Jan 2014 - April 2014
The Problem: The City of Jackson government lacked an effective means to communicate information regarding distressed property. This lack of transparency left citizens uninformed as to what urban blight is and how policies were being shaped to address it. Ultimately, this led to mistaken citizen purchases of condemned properties during county auctions. People believed that they were buying a house, when in fact those houses had already been slated for demolition.
The Solution: Together with my team, we designed both a new interactive map interface for the city's web portal and re-designed existing condemnation notices. In doing so, we hoped to increase process transparency around city condemnation practices, increase awareness around urban blight, and streamline citizen feedback for distressed properties.
Requirements Gathering: Over the course of two months, our team conducted weekly stakeholder interviews with both local city officials and citizens to understand current condemnation practices and behaviors. These interviews were carried out by attending local town hall meetings, going door-to-door to gather responses, and via scheduled meetings with local city officials.
Concept Design: From our research, we learned that most citizens were either unaware of what urban blight was or did not find the effects of urban blight tangible on a day-to-day basis. This was the exact opposite for city officials who were acutely aware of urban blight because they viewed the issue from a macro city level.
In order to bridge this gap in understanding and create a stronger understanding between city officials and citizens, we did five things during the design process:
1. We put the summary statistics front and center. In doing so, we wanted to provide the macro-perspective city officials were working with to the average citizen.
2. We pinned all the distressed properties in Jackson, Michigan on an interactive map interface. By visualizing the condemned properties on a map in junction with providing summary statistics, we were able to make the problem of urban blight tangible.
3. We designed a detailed information page that expands when you click on any individual property. This detailed information page warns the user if the property is condemned, where it is in the condemnation process, and what violations it has been cited for. Providing this information will enable users to avoid mistaken purchases and better understand the condemnation process.
4. We incorporated a report function into the site. Interviews with the clerks of the City Development Office showed that a lot of time and resources was being allocated towards data entry. Citizens would often report condemned and distressed properties for investigation to city officials by both calling in or sending emails. Unfortunately, every citizen did this in their own way and the lack of a one specific data entry format meant that clerks had to spend a significant portion of their time reformatting citizen reports to fit into the city's system. By incorporating a report function into the interactive web portal, we are able to streamline citizen feedback for city government in a standardized format.
5. We redesigned the condemnation notices posted on the front-doors of distressed properties. Door-to-door inquiries revealed that many citizens utilized physical condemnation notices as a primary resource for obtaining information about distressed properties in their neighborhood. By incorporating a graphical timeline into the condemnation notice, we are able to increase process transparency and provide neighboring citizens more meaningful information regarding distressed properties in their area.
Citizen Interaction Design
Skills Applied: Customer Discovery, Contextual Inquiry, Wireframing, Interaction Design, Pitching
Length: Jan 2014 - April 2014
The Problem: The City of Jackson government lacked an effective means to communicate information regarding distressed property. This lack of transparency left citizens uninformed as to what urban blight is and how policies were being shaped to address it. Ultimately, this led to mistaken citizen purchases of condemned properties during county auctions. People believed that they were buying a house, when in fact those houses had already been slated for demolition.
The Solution: Together with my team, we designed both a new interactive map interface for the city's web portal and re-designed existing condemnation notices. In doing so, we hoped to increase process transparency around city condemnation practices, increase awareness around urban blight, and streamline citizen feedback for distressed properties.
Requirements Gathering: Over the course of two months, our team conducted weekly stakeholder interviews with both local city officials and citizens to understand current condemnation practices and behaviors. These interviews were carried out by attending local town hall meetings, going door-to-door to gather responses, and via scheduled meetings with local city officials.
Concept Design: From our research, we learned that most citizens were either unaware of what urban blight was or did not find the effects of urban blight tangible on a day-to-day basis. This was the exact opposite for city officials who were acutely aware of urban blight because they viewed the issue from a macro city level.
In order to bridge this gap in understanding and create a stronger understanding between city officials and citizens, we did five things during the design process:
1. We put the summary statistics front and center. In doing so, we wanted to provide the macro-perspective city officials were working with to the average citizen.
2. We pinned all the distressed properties in Jackson, Michigan on an interactive map interface. By visualizing the condemned properties on a map in junction with providing summary statistics, we were able to make the problem of urban blight tangible.
3. We designed a detailed information page that expands when you click on any individual property. This detailed information page warns the user if the property is condemned, where it is in the condemnation process, and what violations it has been cited for. Providing this information will enable users to avoid mistaken purchases and better understand the condemnation process.
4. We incorporated a report function into the site. Interviews with the clerks of the City Development Office showed that a lot of time and resources was being allocated towards data entry. Citizens would often report condemned and distressed properties for investigation to city officials by both calling in or sending emails. Unfortunately, every citizen did this in their own way and the lack of a one specific data entry format meant that clerks had to spend a significant portion of their time reformatting citizen reports to fit into the city's system. By incorporating a report function into the interactive web portal, we are able to streamline citizen feedback for city government in a standardized format.
5. We redesigned the condemnation notices posted on the front-doors of distressed properties. Door-to-door inquiries revealed that many citizens utilized physical condemnation notices as a primary resource for obtaining information about distressed properties in their neighborhood. By incorporating a graphical timeline into the condemnation notice, we are able to increase process transparency and provide neighboring citizens more meaningful information regarding distressed properties in their area.