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Agora
French Government App
UX / UI refont and update
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Designing and incorporating new features for a mobile application offers the opportunity to facilitate continuous democratic dialogue between citizens and the Government.
My role: UX & UI Designer
Duration: June - August 2024
Tools: Figma, Jira, Confluence
Project overview
The app allows users to access government updates, ask questions, and review politicians' responses. However, users often feel overwhelmed by the mass of information and the lack of regional and local content, making the experience feel less personalized.
Problem
How can the app improve information organization and include more filtering options for personalized content to reduce user overwhelm and enhance inclusivity for better citizen engagement?
Opportunity
The design opportunity includes adding filters and search options, regional customization, clear navigation, and interactive features to create a more intuitive, personalized, and engaging experience.
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Design process
My role
This project provided a real opportunity to dive deep, from analyzing the current product to managing and coordinating efforts between stakeholders and developers. With the Lead Designer's full trust, it became an invaluable learning experience.
I set out to explore how users interact with the current product, focusing on their specific motivations, frustrations, and emotional responses during key touchpoints in the experience.
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Empathise:
User research summary
Following the initial phase of the project, I needed to analyze the first round of test results conducted after the app launch. I gathered and organized the data to identify user needs and pain points.
Insights & Pain points
Based on research, tree pain points were discovered:​​​​​​​
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Define:
Define & understand user
Based on the research findings, I concentrated on designing a product tailored to target groups, drawing insights from interviews and user research.
Problem statement
Eric is a busy neurodivergent chef and father who needs easy access his local political information, especially given his frequent work-related relocations.
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Ideate:
Storyboards
With a deeper understanding of the users and their needs, we began developing potential app solutions.
Scenario: A government app that helps citizens easily and effectively find the right political information based on their chosen level of interest.
The app offers Eric more context and information, enabling him to select the political content he wants by filtering the national information based on his preferences.
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Prototype:
Digital prototype
I designed an initial prototype with key screens, adjusting features like moving the profile button to the bottom navigation bar. I also added a search button for easier navigation and a switch to toggle between national and regional modes.
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Added Search bar always accessible
02
Profile moved in bottom nav bar
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Added Switch toggle
I sketched a range of screens and interaction options, exploring different features, opportunities, and color schemes to enhance the user experience.
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Visual identity:
Style guide
A unique and specific Marianne typography has been created. The State now has a unique typography that is specific and adapted for all communication mediums.
This principle ensures the harmonization of all communications, making them more recognizable to citizens.
The Marianne block, created in 1999, remains a key symbol of the State but has been optimized to better highlight Marianne's profile and humanity, reaffirming its importance to the French.
French governement design system
The Government Information Service (SIG) has been developing this tool since 2020, with the support of an engaged community of developers and designers from the public sector.
The challenge in developing Agora was aligning with the Government Design System. I collaborated with the French Digital Service to adapt assets for the app, ensuring graphic consistency and enhancing the user experience across government products.
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Test:
Moderated usability study
The usability studies assessed the updated digital prototype and user flow, focusing on identifying major pain points with the new features and updates during the user journey. I developed a high-fidelity prototype from the existing version and conducted a moderated usability study with 5 participants.
First round insights
01
The National/Regional toggle was replaced with filter badges and tag labels to make geolocation info self-explanatory.
02
We prioritized the "Ask Your Question" button over Search to boost user engagement.
After another round of testing, the Agora prototype allowed users to search for national, regional, and local political information by filtering based on location. User engagement data highlighted that prioritizing participation feature was more important.
Final prototype
I aimed to simplify navigating the large and diverse content by managing location settings, while still allowing users to easily change their preferred location in the profile. To enhance the user experience, I streamlined key features like the profile, search, and "Ask Your Question" buttons, creating a cleaner, more intuitive interface.
"The Agora app finally lets me check out what politicians are doing in my city and even my hometown! I might actually jump into some debates that catch my interest!" Julie, 32 years old - Paris
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Take away
Impacts
The app addresses user needs by moving beyond general national politics, offering an easy and efficient way to filter by location and engage in democratic debates.
This governmental project underscored the practical value of design thinking, emphasizing the need for ongoing user research and consideration of stakeholder expectations and the challenges of large-scale design systems.
What I learn
Designing the Agora app for French citizens to communicate with the government showed that initial ideas are just the beginning. Understanding users involves interviews, empathy, and thorough testing.
This project offered a genuine opportunity to impact many users, making it rewarding to know our work can truly touch or change lives, no matter how small.
