Project Overview
The Problem
Users who are in higher institutions, and users whose occupation calls for legal research often want a handy version of the Nigerian Constitution. The need is to cut moving around with the text version because it does not help for quick references or research. Mobile phones are on users at almost all the time, and as such, it can be used to serve as a reference tool that contains a digital version of the country’s Constitution.
The Goal
To design an app using the design process of (empathy, define, ideate, create a prototype and test) that serves as the digital version of Nigeria’s Constitution which is small in size, loaded with up-to-date amendments and with functionalities for quick referencing.
The Product
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 app is a referencing mobile application that provides users with highly accessible and easy to functions for research purposes. As the supreme law of the land, it is also an important product to have for quick check of citizens right on mobile devices.
My Role and Responsibilities
I am a UX researcher and designer, tasked with designing the app that gives end users the ability use the Constitution of Nigeria in an intuitive way on mobile devices. I conducted researches, interviews, and usability studies. In addition, I created paper and digital wireframes, low and high fidelity prototypes. I also carried out testings to ensure that the app meets accessibility standards and finally iterated on the design.
Project Duration
The duration of this project is from June 2017 to September 20170-
Understanding the User
I conducted interviews and created empathy maps to understand the users. Through these, I discovered the uniform user pain point which is accessibility. Users are unable to quickly check and reference the Constitution of Nigeria for research purposes, legal purposes or in classrooms often because they have to rely on the text which sometimes is not on them, or because it has no keyword search function to quickly get results.
Low Fidelity Mockup
High Fidelity Mockup
Usability Studies
The usability study conducted for this app was done with moderated method. It included 10 university students and 5 university researchers as participants. The duration was for 5 minutes each.
The findings from the usability study revealed the following:
1. Users need a way to quickly perform searches in the app.
2. Users who are visually impaired need a function of increasing the sizes of texts in the app.
3. Users need a way to quickly share Sections of the Constitution to the next users.
Impact
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 app has seen a good growth because it is in need as a citizen of Nigeria. It has become a product that is on most Nigerians at all times by way of mobile devices. After its success, it became a series for deploying digital versions of Constitution for other countries.
One of the quotes from peer feedback is:
”I am able to quickly check on Sections of the Constitution for in-class participation and for my research papers.”
What I Learned
It was an enlightening moment working on this project with the aid of researches and interviews to get. Quite a lot has been learnt in terms of user needs and solving a problem that users may not know that they have, which is what has currently given rise to a new upcoming iteration of the app.
Accessibility Considerations
1. High contrast design to aid users with visual impairment.
2. Zoom in and out buttons for easy to read texts.
3. Upcoming in the new iteration will be a voice reader option for persons with visual disabilities to enjoy the contents of the app.
Next Step?
After some years of release, a new iteration of the Nigerian Constitution mobile app is currently in the works with features from new research and testings.