Michigan Radio Minutes

Feb 10

As a huge NPR enthusiast, I was delighted at the idea of working with Michigan Radio’s newest tool: Minutes. The goal of this new tool is to make information on local government meetings more accessible.

Nearly nine in 10 Americans say local government is important or interesting to follow, but less than a third of these people say it’s easy to stay informed. If you’ve ever tried to keep up with local government, you know the issues! Most places only have video recordings of their meetings, which can stretch on for hours. It’s impossible to easily find the parts of the meeting that apply to the topics you care about. And in a reality where at least 1,800 communities in the US no longer have a local news source, there is no easy way for residents and journalists to stay informed.

Minutes is filling a critical need in this space.

The site uses machine learning to automatically transcribe local government meetings into a searchable database. Users can log into the database and search for relevant keywords (like ‘climate change’ or ‘zoning’). Minutes delivers search results showing which spots that topic was discussed, along with a transcription and timestamped spots in the video recording. Magic, eh? Public policy folks rejoice!

Orso’s role in this project was developing the brand and user interface design for their desktop and mobile prototype. The brand needed to have a nod to Michigan Radio without looking the same. It also needed to look modern and tech-forward, but still accessible.

Through the discovery process, we landed on a brand that leverages Michigan Radio’s primary blues and adds warmer colors to differentiate the palette. The typeface, Loos by @cstm fonts, adds a unique, fun edge to Michigan Radio’s simple sans serif font.

The brand and website launch allowed the team to present their prototype at a conference and secure important partnerships for moving the tool forward to the public.