Turning community participation into a habit people want to keep
A civic platform that makes proposals, votes, and neighborhood discussion feel rewarding, visible, and easy to come back to.
- Client
- BoardSpeak
- Year
- 2024
- Role
- Product designer
- Duration
- 10 weeks
- Team
- Founding team of 4
- Concept
- Engagement design
- UI design
- Design system
Local decisions get made by the few people who show up to meetings. BoardSpeak set out to change that by giving neighbors a simple way to propose, discuss, and vote on what happens in their district.
The problem
The founding team had a working prototype but a retention problem. People voted once, then never came back. The platform felt like a form to fill in, not a place to belong.
What I did
I ran a two-week concept sprint with the founders, then designed the core loop: discover a proposal, understand it quickly, vote, and see your impact over time.
Proposals got a consistent structure with the cost, the hours, and the people affected up front. Discussions moved directly under each proposal, and a lightweight points system rewards the behaviors that make a community healthier, like thoughtful replies and showing up to town halls.
Key decisions
Clarity before persuasion. Each proposal shows the same three facts first, so neighbors compare ideas on substance rather than on who wrote the best pitch.
Reward participation, not volume. Points come from voting, attending, and replies other people find helpful, never from posting more.
Show the outcome. A visible timeline from proposal to council decision closes the loop, so people see that their vote went somewhere.
Outcome
- more neighbors returning within 30 days
- 3.1x
- votes cast in the first full month
- 8,900
- proposals funded by the city
- 14
The redesigned platform launched in two pilot districts. The city has since funded fourteen resident proposals, including the weekend library hours.