Lasting Impact

Helping people find the power in their truth.

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Inspiration

Our team includes two teachers and three politically active women of color, so we definitely understand the importance of wielding political power. But we’re adults who have put in the work to get there and to process all that goes with political and social awareness. We thought about how important it is for BIPOC youth to feel supported and understood, and how challenging it is for them to find reliable information from reliable sources. We also thought about parents who are seeing their children be their authentic selves, and who want to learn and unlearn perspectives. We thought about a politically aware youth who is overwhelmed and burnt out from all the negative political noise. This youth is looking for a way to channel all that frustration and stress into something productive. Though our prototype is geared towards US residents, we hope to adapt and adjust for global audiences. We also focused on older teens and adults, but the content is relevant to all.

What it does

In our prototype, two personas go on different journeys with the same goals - to connect and learn. A mom is exploring fun ways to participate in local political events with her kid. She finds the events page and signs up to paint a mural in the community. The other persona is a young BIPOC soon-to-be voter who wants help processing trauma in a productive, creative way. They go to the site’s Create page, where they find information about artivism, reflection prompts + a journal where they can reflect on events in their preferred medium, and different ways to check in and reset after a draining event.

In short, it helps people by giving them language and methods to express them to themselves and to others. In doing so, they become more comfortable with who they are and present themselves with authenticity and confidence.

How we built it

We ideated using a design sprint template in Miro, then storyboarded and sketched on paper/iPads before jumping into Figma for prototyping. We also completed several competitive audits for apps and sites that serve a similar purpose to find our MVP and see what works well for them. We also researched youth voting stats for 2018 and 2020 as well as where youth get their news AND how they’re learning media literacy and navigating big feelings.

We had a third persona who influenced our choice to go with a responsive website versus an app: a curious teen who is in the beginning stages of political awareness and learning (and unlearning) different values from their strict family. This teen accesses the site on the phone or in a computer lab at school.

Challenges we ran into

Time! We knew we were heading into a project with a limited timeframe, and we’re familiar with project constraints, but it took us some time to adjust to the accelerated project timeline. We had so many features and ideas in our site map, but we were encouraged to step back and see what’s really important for people to see right now. We looked at the unique features and ideas that would showcase our thinking and research. Our mentors, Rohail and Emma, were incredible and gave us thoughtful, important feedback as we moved forward.

We recently completed an app redesign project, but we wanted to challenge ourselves to design a website. And it was definitely a valuable growth opportunity. This entire experience was a fun growth opportunity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We finished our first designathon project! That’s a huge accomplishment. We’re also very proud of the work we created.

What we learned

We learned, with support from our mentors, how to be economical and effective with design choices. This experience reinforced our beliefs that we make an INCREDIBLE team under unique circumstances.

What's next for Lasting Impact

We hope to further develop the site with the other ideas we had in our site map, including a brief onboarding survey to personalize the site experience.

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