Designing a Trustworthy Digital Voting Wallet

14/01/2026

The team created a design for an user-friendly digital wallet focused on local digital voting. They emphasised accessibility for users with language and motor skill challenges. They highlighted the importance of trust and simplicity in the voting process, incorporating user feedback to improve clarity and confirmation steps.

About the project

The project aims to create an accessible digital voting wallet catering to users with limited Dutch proficiency and motor disabilities, ensuring inclusivity .

Trust is a core focus, addressed by simplifying language to B1 level, minimizing complex terms, and providing clear, repeated confirmations during voting .

The app design includes multiple login options, but avoids confusing multi-step logins to reduce user frustration .

Visual aids and minimal text were considered to assist users with language difficulties, though fully language-free interaction remains challenging due to the need for trust-building information .

Feedback from usability tests led to removing unnecessary diagrams and percentages that confused users, enhancing overall clarity and confidence in the voting results .

Lessons Learned

Trust is layered and contextual.

The project showed that trust is not only about correct app behavior. It also depends on transparency about data use, a recognizable sender such as the municipality, and consistent communication around the app. When institutional context is missing, users may doubt the system, even if the interface itself is clear.

Simplicity increases accessibility, but has limits.

Lowering the language level to B1 and removing complex diagrams improved understanding and calm. At the same time, it proved difficult to remove text completely. In a sensitive process like voting, explanation remains necessary to build trust.

Confirmation and feedback are crucial in critical interactions.

Multiple confirmation moments, clear feedback, and visual confirmation after voting strongly supported user trust and sense of control.

Freedom versus guidance requires conscious choices.

Offering multiple routes and login moments increases autonomy, but can also create confusion. Test feedback showed that too much freedom can conflict with the need for structure, especially for vulnerable users.

Designing for inclusion goes beyond language choice.

In addition to multilingual support and simple language, questions arose about visual, auditory, and non text based interaction. This shows that inclusion is broader than text alone and requires multimodal design strategies.

The app does not stand alone.

It is easy to loose yourself in the app design only. Whereas, implementation, onboarding outside the app, physical or social context such as events or guidance, and a clear connection to existing structures are essential for trust and adoption to emerge. These should be taken into account too.

App Design for Inclusive Voting Participation

The team designed an app aimed at increasing voting participation among low-educated citizens by making the process more accessible and transparent. They conducted user research, developed prototypes, and iterated based on feedback to ensure the app is simple, trustworthy, and keeps users informed about voting outcomes.

About the project

The app targets low-educated users who often feel excluded from political participation, aiming to lower barriers and increase their engagement .

Research phases included discovering user needs, mapping user journeys, and identifying pain points to tailor the design accordingly .

The prototype was tested with users, revealing usability issues that informed further improvements, such as simplifying login and voting steps.

The app includes features like notifications about voting deadlines and results to build trust and keep users engaged .

Design choices focused on clarity, safety, and avoiding bureaucratic complexity, with a playful element like a ‘neighborhood cat‘ mascot to enhance user experience .

Reducing Distrust in Digital Voting Systems

The team designed an app on reducing distrust among voters in digital and social voting environments. They emphasized creating a simple, transparent app with minimal steps and clear onboarding to foster trust similar to physical voting. Feedback from user testing led to iterative improvements in onboarding, verification, and voting transparency.

About the project

Users expressed significant distrust in digital systems due to data breaches and fears of vote tampering, motivating the focus on trust-building in the app design .

The app design prioritized simplicity with minimal steps, ample white space, and clear, informal language to enhance user comfort and trust .

Onboarding was shortened from multiple pages to a concise introduction after testing showed users skipped lengthy explanations but still needed essential information upfront .

Verification processes were designed to maintain user control and transparency, linking digital verification to physical voting analogies to increase user confidence .

The voting interface included clear titles, explanations, and visual cues about the voting process, deadlines, and results to improve user understanding and transparency .