Case Study: Immigration Policy Tracking Project
The Immigration Policy Tracking Project (IPTP) is a comprehensive immigration policy database of the Trump administration’s actions, setting the stage for policymakers to roll back harmful policies.
Coforma helped redesign IPTP’s web interface with real users at the center of research, design, and development. The updated tool emphasizes immigration reform focus areas, allows policy pros to leverage the database to reveal key aspects of interconnected policies, and uses a familiar lexicon. This post details the background, methods, and outcomes of our work to deliver an updated tool ready to support the new administration’s initiatives and a more progressive future for the US.
“Coforma brought insight, creativity, and amazing expertise. From the initial assessment and conceptualization to the delivery of a final product, the Coforma team understood our goals, worked collaboratively, presented new and better approaches, and produced a remarkable website that has transformed our project. Throughout the entire process, I felt we had a true partner that shared our vision and helped us achieve it.” — Lucas Guttentag, IPTP Founder
Background
In October 2017, Professor Lucas Guttentag enlisted the help of subject matter experts as well as students from the law schools at both Yale and Stanford, to painstakingly research and catalog the Trump administration’s immigration actions. New policies have been made by the administration so frequently — sometimes on a daily basis — and compounded into such a large body of hostile motions over the past four years that no individual could feasibly keep track of them. At the time of this case study, the team had tracked 1,006 policies. Guttentag’s team wanted the IPTP to serve as a vehicle for parsing and repealing the harmful policies under the next administration.
They built a functional version of their immigration policy tracking database, then looked to Coforma to overhaul the interface and improve the design. Together we envisioned a policy reform database that was clear, usable, and accessible to both legal experts and policymakers. In its first iteration, components of the site were cumbersome to use and navigate, which meant it couldn’t be as effective as they’d hoped. It was also difficult for their contributors and curators to update. We set out to understand how their users would need to use the tracker, so we could develop the appropriate look and feel for a new design system and prioritize the right functions.
Methodology
The project was divided into two phases: discovery and development. The discovery phase leveraged human-centered design (HCD) methodologies to understand the users’ needs and pain points. Interviews with project stakeholders gave us insights into their processes. Based on our research, we developed user personas, user journeys, proposed taxonomies, and proposed conceptual designs.
A synthesized report of these research findings, a list of use cases, and a voice and visual style guide were created to unify the product image over the development of the improved tool. Both documents were presented over several rounds of Design Workshops with the client and improved upon iteratively as design and development progressed.
These deliverables provided a blueprint for developing the taxonomy that would power the database, content management system (CMS), and user experience design, all of which were completed during the development phase, which consisted of four lean-agile sprints.
Coforma produced for us all we could want in a CMS. They took the trouble to understand our site, and the needs of both our front-end and back-end users. When the inevitable blips happened, the Coforma team addressed them effectively and realistically, often adding an extra touch to make the system even better than we’d hoped. Both the design and the development teams were pleasures to work with.
— Crystal Williams, IPTP Project Team and formerly Executive Director, American Immigration Lawyers Association
Human-Centered Design
Coforma utilizes HCD as a creative process for solving problems. It’s an iterative, collaborative, inclusive approach that places people at the center of any issue. We apply HCD principles because they generate adoptable, adaptable solutions that have been co-created with the people who are directly affected. We collaborated closely with IPTP’s users to make sure we got it right.
Search and Tagging in a Common Language
We implemented a search function and tagging system based on the taxonomies developed from interviews with site stakeholders and users, so they can find the policies that matter to them by searching for the keywords they’re accustomed to using.
Related Policies and a Timeline View
We created a centralized page where users can see recent actions on policies and read about related current events. We also developed a timeline view that shows every action on a given policy, noted and linked in chronological order. Users can scroll from a given policy’s enactment to its most recent action. These features provide a more comprehensive picture of the evolution of immigration policies, which helps users understand what’s most important to address.
Document Management and Integrated Feedback
Underlying every policy are the official documents — executive orders, departmental memos, court cases, etc.—which provide the keys for understanding their history and implementation. To view these documents, we integrated a PDF viewer into each policy’s page, and we incorporated a feedback tool, so external users could make contextually relevant suggestions or updates.
Admin Functionality
The new CMS allows the IPTP to publish updates as needed, rather than pushing updates in batches, making the new site far more up-to-date and easy to manage. It was also customized for the convenience of the law students, lawyers, and subject matter experts who add new information to the database on an ongoing basis.
Moderation and Screening Access
We created a streamlined user registration and moderation feature to help IPTP manage data access and ensure it serves its intended audience.
Outcomes
As a result of this project, policymakers and those who are positioned to assist with a smooth transition of power from the old administration to the new one can now easily find and analyze policies passed by an anti-immigration administration and recommend strategies for addressing them in support of a more progressive agenda. As the country readies for a change in administration, we now have a new tool prepared to serve changing national priorities.
