Not Too Young To Run
Brief
Not Too Young To Run (NTYT) is a non-profit, non-partisan youth politics organisation based in Australia. Founded in 2019, NTYT wanted to grow its digital presense to become the ‘go to’ place for young Australians to get involved with politics.
Client defined business needs
Increase young people’s engagement with Not Too Young To
Increase the number of young people engaging with politics in general
Provide young people with an easy way to learn about politics and get involved
Increase the credibility and reach of Not Too Young To amongst young people
Current users: Young people interested in or involved in politics
Future users: Young people who want to learn about politics or consider a career in politics
The Problem
Young people in Australia are underrepresented in politics.
Our problem statement
Young Australians (aged 18-35) who feel uninformed and disenfranchised with Australian politics need greater access to information and support, but don’t always know where to find it.
Did you know?
The average age of a political candidates in Australia is 45 years old.
Project Scope
I worked collaboratively with a team of 5 UX/UI designers across the four key stages of the design process.
“We want to be seen as young, credible and insightful”
Gul Khan, co-founder of Not Too Young To.
Discover
Research Objectives
Our research objectives were focused on gaining a deeper understanding of three key areas.
Knowledge
How knowledgeable are young people about politics? Where and how do they learn about politics?
Attitudes
What are young people's attitudes and associations with politics?
Engagement
How engaged are young people with politics? Do they believe young people can get involved and how desirable is it for them to get involved?
Survey (Quantitative)
We conducted an online survey for young Australians (age 18-35) and collected 53 responses. View survey here.
Would you consider getting involved in politics?
77% of respondants said they would not (or were unsure about) getting involved in politics.
Information I see and hear about politics is generally trustworthy
1 = Strongly agree / 5 = Strongly disagree.
70% of respondants were untrusting (or undecided) about the political information they consumed.
What would increase your engagement with politics?
87% of respondants said more information and education about politics and the political process would increase their engagement.
Interviews (Qualitative)
We conducted 5 interviews with young Australians (aged 18-35) to get a more in depth understanding about their preferences and attitudes.
Key Insights from Research
Participants strongly agreed that young people can make a difference in politics.
61% of participants said they would not consider a career in politics.
The majority of participants said they did not know how to get involved in politics.
Participants agreed that more education about politics would increase their engagement level.
Participants agreed that it was very important that informaiton about politics was non-partisan.
The top three social media platforms used were Instagram (66%), Facebook (64%) and Linkedin (45%).
Competitor Analysis
We analysed the strengths and weaknesses of NTYT’s digital presense
Define
Affinity Map
We mapped the data collected from our user interviews and surveys to help define our focus.
Empathy Map
We empathised with our audience to get a better understanding of how they see the world.
User Persona
Our user persona highlighted the goals, frustrations and motivations of the key users we identified in our research.
Customer Journey Map
We created a customer journey map focused on users who are passionate about social and environmental issues, seeking further information about politics online.
MVP for UX
We used an MVP matrix to help us sort through the solutions created during ideation and focused our attention on the top two quadrants.
“I wish I could say I’m policy driven, but I'm still human. I do need to like the people and feel that they 'get me.’”
— User
Introducing ‘Youthvote’
From our user research we uncovered trends related to the goals and frustrations of young people and how they engage with politics.
Goals:
Young people want to feel more engaged with politics.
Young people want to feel more trusting of politicians and political information.
Frustrations
Young people feel there is no easy way to learn about and compare different political candidates or their policies.
Young people feel that information about politics on social media and the news is untrustworthy.
How might NTYT extend their reach organically and maintain trust?
One answer: By giving young people an easy to use resource designed specifically for them (age 18-35), providing valuable and trustworthy information. It’s politics without the politics.
Youth focused
Non partisan
Non profit driven
Unaffiliated with third parties
Unbiased and anonymous
How it works: Candidates and users answer the same quiz and answers are matched.
Based on the success of Vote Compass (ABC)
The goal is for this resource to be shared on social media to increase organic reach
It’s also the hook to draw people to the NTYT site.
Candidates who want the youth vote have a natural incentive to participate
Features
Easily shareable
Simple, clear language
Aimed at young Australians
As it’s on NTYT site; it links to resources with information about getting involved.
No need to sign up to complete the quiz.
Use of humour
Gamification (it’s a quiz)
Bright colours and cartoon imagery
Policy areas targeted at young people’s interests (Environmental, Social, Education etc.)
Competitors
No youth-focused competitors in this space
I Side With (Aus) - non-youth targeted, in Beta mode, US founded
Vote Compass (ABC) - non-youth targeted
Smartvote - non-youth targeted, ACT only
Develop
Wireframing
Early sketches
Low fidelity wireframes
Home page
Quiz page 1
About You page
User Flow
We created a User Flow to get a better understanding about how users would interact with the website
User Testing
User testing of ‘Youthvote’ prototype - the only politically neutral voting resource for young Australians.
Protoype
High fidelty prototype for ‘Youthvote’
Home page
Attention grabbing banner.
“The only politically neutral voting resource for young Australians.”
Simple 3 step process.
About You page
Optional data gathering (user can skip)
Demographic data, non-identifying
Data used to give NTYT a view on who is using it, to help improve the experience of Youthvote over time.
Quiz pages
10 questions, not 30+ as per other resources.
Questions on areas of key interest for young people as per research (Social, Environmental, Education).
Drill down text for those who want more context
Results page
Search by postcode to find your electorate if you don’t know the name (young target audience)
Easily shareable
Call to action to learn more about NTYT
Quiz pages
Four simple options, plus a ‘No answer’ option.
Progress tracker (Qx of 10).
Buttons light up green when clicked on to show the user they have answered.
Candidate drill down page
Drill down to each candidate to learn more
Check how your answers matched up with theirs
Links to social media and candidate websites to learn more about them
Deliver
Client Presentation
A clip from the final client presenation of ‘Youthvote’
Check out the prototype here:
Final Prototype (Full website)
Final Prototype (Youthvote)
“Thank you so much. I absolutely love everything that you’ve presented. Everything you’ve spoken about is like music to my ears and is very illuminating.”
— Gul Khan, co-Founder of Not Too Young To