Design for policy
Applies design methods to creating and improving public policy: researching with citizens, prototyping measures and testing them before rolling them out.
What it deals with
Policies are often designed in offices, and their flaws only come to light once they already apply to millions of people.
Principles
From experience
See how people experience the problem.
Prototype the policy
Test on a small scale before legislating.
Collaborate
Bring together government bodies, experts and citizens.
Applications in design
Use it like this
Test a measure with a small group before extending it.
Avoid
Using design only to make the communication of a policy look nicer.
Don’t fall for it
Policies have effects you can't see in a workshop: measure in the real world.
Especialidad
Civic design
Designs the touchpoints between citizens and democracy: voting, paperwork, getting informed.
Methods and tools
- MethodCharretteAn intensive multi-day workshop where design teams and affected people propose and review together.
- ApproachParticipatory designDesigning with the people affected as full partners, not just as informants.
- MethodUsability testingWatching real people attempt tasks with the product to find out where they get stuck.
Connections
Builds on
Authors and works
- 2014
Christian Bason
Collected experiences of collaborative design applied to public policy innovation.
- 2015
Lucy Kimbell
Studied the UK Government's Policy Lab from the inside and what design brings to policy.
Sources
Original sources
- Kimbell, L. (2015). Applying design approaches to policy making: Discovering Policy Lab (Working paper). University of Brighton. View source: Kimbell, L. (2015)
Secondary sources
- Bason, C. (Ed.) (2014). Design for policy. Gower.
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