Designed a text messaging service to inform and educate people throughout their court cases
CourtChat keeps defendants informed through simple, timely text messages explaining updates to their court cases.
Input from legal practitioners and defendants was a critical component of our design process, ensuring our solution aligned with the context of a defendant’s experience.
CourtChat- a court reminder and education texting service
Hypothesis
Informed defendants will navigate the system more effectively
How might we improve defendants’ feelings of preparation for their court cases?
Approach
Mapped the pretrial process to pinpoint challenges
Defined priorities for how information is presented
Heuristic evaluation: case information is available, but poorly designed
2. A wall of text, mostly legal jargon
3. No hierarchy, impossible for users to prioritize information
Timely information = notifications
Text message interaction > web app
Designed the content and interaction strategy
CourtChat - a texting service that informs defendants of case updates and helps them navigate the legal process.
Important case updates sent right to your phone
Dates and times of court hearings are sent using a recognizable date format. This reduces 🧠 Cognitive Load by allowing users to add events to their calendar in just a few taps.
Defendants are reminded a week, 3 days, and 1 day before court dates, using the 👉Nudge principle to encourage users to prepare for and attend court dates.
Quick answers to questions about your case from legal professionals.
Defendants have varying degrees of experience navigating the legal system. Flexible interactions provide users with information at the right level of depth. This avoids the 🌩️ Curse of Knowledge, which assumes all users have the same level of understanding.
Court-appointed attorneys, overwhelmed with other cases, often take weeks to respond to a defendant’s questions. Our team is primed to respond to all questions within 2 days. This reliability builds trust with users.
Prepare for upcoming court dates and learn about relevant topics.
Users choose what they want to learn about. These options are structured as open questions, using 💭 Curiosity Gaps to encourage engagement and retention.
Information is spaced to facilitate scanning. We use emojis as visual cues to separate and anchor each point. These are examples of 🍪 Chunking.