Energizing First-Time Voters

Students in Civic Design: Systems Thinking in Service Design developed a first-time voter experience that encourages eager and informed participation in future elections. Sharon Vanorny

Students in the UW School of Human Ecology are helping translate complex election processes into intuitive, approachable experiences for first-time voters.

In partnership with the Madison City Clerk’s Office, students in a new course, Civic Design: Systems Thinking in Service Design, developed and implemented a first-time voter experience that encourages eager and informed participation in future elections. Their program, “Celebrate Your Vote,” debuted at a new early voting site at Nancy Nicholas Hall in March.

“It provided an opportunity to feel like my work was making a difference in my community and not simply restricted to the walls of my classroom,” says Kayla Johnson ’13, MS’22, an interior architecture major.

The field of civic design seeks to create accessible, effective, and high-quality public services by considering the experiences of both the users and providers of the service and by looking at systems as a whole. The new course is the school’s first civic design course offered in partnership with a government agency.

“The goal is to give them a taste of practitioner life in the public sector, unique insight into a designer’s experience in civic engagement, and a safe environment for experimentation,” says Esther Kang, assistant professor of design studies.

The student team’s design for “Celebrate Your Vote” outlined key touchpoints in the navigation of the polling place, from entering the building to making sense of directions. It also considered environmental factors that shape individual voting experiences, such as weather, trip hazards, and usage of nonpartisan language, and offered information hubs and other resources to support first-time voters in making confident, informed decisions.

“They brought a fresh, human-centered lens to voting, focusing on how the process is to navigate, not just how it functions,” says Bonnie Chang, senior elections expert at the Elections Group and then–interim deputy clerk with the City of Madison.

“Celebrate Your Vote” will be used at the Nancy Nicholas Hall voting site in the 2026 elections.

Published in the Fall 2026 issue