The Briefing

High schoolers often struggle to engage with politics due to the disconnect between traditional civic education and current events. While existing resources focus on historical facts and government structures, they rarely show how politics impacts students' daily lives. Next Vote bridges this gap by helping high schoolers see politics as relevant and engaging, rather than just another school subject. Our goal is to empower young people to actively participate in shaping their futures.

Next Vote is a service concept developed by three NYU students at Tandon IDM: Heloise Wu, Peter Onuzulike, and Katherine Li. Inspired by post-election discussions about new voter participation, the project addresses a critical gap in civic education.

The Process

Gaining the Big Picture Through User Interviews

We conducted 5 in-depth interviews with 4 current high schoolers and 1 college freshman to understand their views on politics. Our questions focused on their current knowledge, struggles in staying informed, and preferred learning methods.

Interview guide

Discovering Key Insights Through Affinity Mapping and User Empathy

"As a pre-voter/teenager, I need ________ to help me understand and engage with political content."

• What do they need?

  • information that's engaging and holds my attention

  • information that's new but not overwhelming

  • friends who discuss politics so I can join the conversation

Key Insights from Our Research

• Motivation

💡 Teenagers become engaged when they feel connected to meaningful causes.

• Preferred Learning Style

💡 They gravitate toward bite-sized, engaging content and peer discussions rather than conventional teaching methods.

• Core Need

💡 Teens seek information that connects to their daily lives, beyond abstract concepts and historical context.

Prototype Mapping

Through prototype mapping, we developed and refined our service concept.

Core Features

• Onboarding Quiz: Personalizes content based on each user's interests and knowledge level.

• Dashboard: Offers tailored learning experiences and interactive games.

• Credibility Indicators: Helps users verify the reliability of information sources.

The Design

We created a concept prototype of our platform.

Click here to play around with the interactive prototype

The Results

Pitching the service

We pitched the final concept as a scalable service for integration into school curricula and extracurricular activities. Initial feedback showed strong potential for enhancing political awareness, and student testing demonstrated increased engagement with political topics.

Slide Deck

Challenges and Iterations

• Differentiating NextVote:

  • Solution: We conducted a competitive analysis comparing NextVote to platforms like Khan Academy—which focus on exam prep—and discovered our unique opportunity to build a platform dedicated to high school students, emphasizing real-time political awareness and engagement.

• Service or product?

  • Solution: We reimagined NextVote as a continuously engaging system. Envisioned for use in student-led clubs, competitive debates between schools, and as an after-school news hub, it shifts away from one-off exam preparation to ongoing engagement.

• Defining fair moderation:

  • Solution: To ensure unbiased, constructive discussions, we pivoted from a solely online marketing strategy to engaging school boards and integrating NextVote through schools. This approach guarantees proper content moderation and mitigates potential teacher bias.

• How to avoid the top-down, homework-like feeling:

  • Solution: Integrate NextVote into student-led clubs and activities to foster organic peer-to-peer interaction instead of mandating it as a classroom assignment.

  • Solution: We incorported the “So What?” feature that explains why teens should care, sparking natural curiosity and engagement.