Designers
Ashley Nicodemus, Sarah Field, Celeste Alcon, Danielle Panigall, Alice Phipps
Year
2025
Category
Concept
Country
United States
Design Studio / Department
UEGroup
Three questions to the project team
What was the particular challenge of the project from a UX point of view?
One of the biggest UX challenges was balancing personalization with exposing users to a diverse range of political topics. Political complexity often overwhelms users, leading them to disengage entirely. We aimed to tailor content to users’ interests, helping them stay informed on topics they care about across local, national, and global levels, without the heavy lift. The challenge was achieving this level of personalization while avoiding echo chambers that limit perspectives. Through prioritization, content hierarchy, and iterative testing, we created an intuitive, streamlined tool that empowers users to explore topics they care about, actively discover a broader range of political topics & neutral views into what all sides are saying.
What was your personal highlight in the development process? Was there an aha!-moment, was there a low point?
The aha! moment was how critical it was to design for the emotional journey of engaging with political content. Politics is inherently emotional, it’s tied to our daily lives and comes with overwhelm, fear, skepticism, discouragement, and even guilt from endless scrolling or feeling powerless. Rather than focusing solely on delivering information, we leaned into creating an experience that supported users through these emotions. By designing for trust, clarity, and empowerment, we positioned the tool as a partner guiding users along their journey, offering key interactions and actionable steps to help them feel connected, informed, and capable of making a difference. Poli provides clear ways to take action & the impact of decisions.
Where do you see yourself and the project in the next five years?
We see Poli becoming a globally adopted platform that fosters healthier, more inclusive communities by providing access to neutral, trustworthy political content. We hope for it to empower people around the world to make informed, impactful decisions, strengthening democracies, connecting societies, and contributing to a better world. By reducing misinformation, encouraging thoughtful participation, and simplifying complex political topics, Poli helps people feel confident and engaged. It saves people time and makes politics easier to follow encouraging engagement beyond voting years. Ultimately, it’s about bringing people together, building understanding across different perspectives, and working toward a more united and inclusive future.
