The Challenge

THOMAS.gov, named for Jefferson, was launched by the Library of Congress in 1995 at the request of the Congress to provide public access to legislative information. It is the definitive, authoritative source for the activities of the Congress of the United States. The site has averaged over 10 million visits each year but it's stale user experience and outdated infrastructure didn't provide the capabilities that today’s internet users have come to expect.  To meet these expectations and to provide better transparency into the work of the legislative branch, an entire new experience was required.  Enter, the new Congress.gov.  

Solutions

A new Brand

User research showed that most people didn't understand that Thomas.gov was a the source for legislative information in the United States. With this in mind we rebranded the site to be Congress.gov with the tag line, United States Legislative Information. I developed the idea and convinced Library executives and Congressional stakeholders that changing the name would increase awareness and usage. The response has been tremendous with many users telling us that it was a natural name that should have been used from the beginning. 

Explaining the Legislative Process

Congress.gov not only gives people access to legislation moving through the Congress, but it provides the opportunity to explain to process of how a bill becomes a law to interested citizens and civics students.  I proposed that the Congressional Research Service (CRS) and the Law Library of Congress develop a narrative that could be put to a set of animations that would explain the legislative process.  My team produced nine videos that explain everything from how a bill is introduced to how the House and Senate resolve their differences.  

A new architecture and powerful search 

Based on our strategy to improve finding, my UX team, along with legislative subject matter experts and software developers created a system which leverages existing meta data to drive a new, faceted search paradigm. Users can narrow their legislative searches by nine different categories. Additionally, we ensured that all of the new page templates had proper metadata to improve Search Engine Optimization. Congress.gov pages are already appearing in the top 10 Google results when a user searches for a bill by bill number.  

Designing information hierarchy

For each page template, I had my team work with subject matter experts to carefully consider which information was most important.  We developed and information and visual hierarchy that allows users to scan pages more conveniently.  For instance, on the details of a bill users can now understand where the bill is in the legislative process at a glance.

Introducing member profiles

Many citizens and researchers are interested in what legislation member's from their state are sponsoring or co-sponsoring.  My team developed the concept of having Congressional member profile pages that show exactly which bills the particular member is working on, has sponsored, or is co-sponsoring.  This feature tested very well with novice users in our user research. Web metrics also show that this feature is very popular.

Making it all responsive

For many users, a mobile device is there only access to the internet, especially in low income communities. Users should have a pleasant experience regardless of which device users are viewing the activities of their elected leaders.  To accommodate this, I encouraged our team to design templates that are responsive to various devices.  Congress.gov content is also accessible to those with disabilities. 

Testing and refining the design

Through out the entire development of Congress.gov we have performed user testing with a variety of user types.  Our findings and recommendations have been rolled back into the process to make Congress.gov a better product. The experience continues to improve with each iteration.

My Role

• Part of a select team that was asked to make this project happen after years of previous attempts.
• Developed initial concepts and requirements with a select team.
• Responsible for the brand, look, and feel of Congress.gov.
• Led the UX team in the redesign.
• Led all user research and testing efforts.
• Presented design, brand, and research findings to Library executives. 
• Responsible for UX integration with other LOC web properties.