At PSi, we believe the best digital tools for public engagement are built in partnership with the people who use them. Over the past few months, we had the opportunity to work closely with a UX Designer from a local council as they prepared to use PSi in a community project.
Their goal was simple: to understand exactly how residents would experience the platform, and how to ensure that experience felt smooth, intuitive, and welcoming.
They spent a month testing the platform in depth — trying different flows, exploring pages from a participant's point of view, and looking for moments that might create friction or confusion. They shared their findings with us as they went, raising small but important details that often only emerge through hands-on use.
This kind of collaboration is invaluable. It gives us a clear view of how PSi behaves in real projects, not just in controlled demos. And it helps make the platform more robust for every future discussion.
Turning Practical Insights into a Better Platform
The feedback highlighted the small moments that shape how confident people feel during a discussion:
- Whether the next step is clear
- Whether navigation feels natural
- Whether the experience is accessible
- Whether hosts can guide groups without friction
None of the points were about major features. Instead, they were about the things participants feel — moments that either support ease and clarity, or introduce doubt.
These are exactly the kinds of improvements that matter in public engagement, where residents join with different expectations, abilities, devices, and levels of digital comfort.
We worked through the feedback steadily, addressing bugs straight away so the council's upcoming sessions would run smoothly. The improvement requests were handled in parallel, and once the testing phase and project delivery window were complete, we released the full set of refinements together.
The result was not a single big change, but many small improvements that collectively make the platform clearer, more accessible, and more enjoyable to use.
Designing for Clarity, Confidence, and Accessibility
A key outcome of this partnership was strengthening the underlying design of the platform. The improvements touched on:
- Making it easier for participants to understand what to do next
- Improving the flow of discussions so groups can stay focused
- Enhancing accessibility so people using screen readers or keyboards have a smoother experience
- Giving hosts clearer tools to guide their sessions
- Refining visual details to reduce cognitive load
These types of enhancements don't often attract attention on their own, but together they make the platform feel more stable, thoughtful, and ready for large-scale public engagement.
Why This Approach Matters
For councils and public sector organisations, digital engagement tools must feel dependable. Community discussions often involve sensitive topics and diverse voices, and people need to feel secure and supported as they take part.
Working with the council's UX Designer showed again how powerful close collaboration can be. Their month-long exploration uncovered improvements that would be difficult to spot in isolated tests. And their feedback helped us refine the platform in ways that benefit every community we support.
This is how PSi grows: not through guesswork, but through real partnerships, real use, and careful attention to the small details that lift the whole experience.