Civic Design with Intention and Service at the Core

Episode 020 • 47 min

Design impacts everything around us, and so does government.

Think of all the services you use and experience within local, state, and federal government. Everything from the DMV to elections to unemployment to city streets, government plays a significant role in our lives. Government is, in essence, a service provider. Like any service provider, these services and experiences are designed, either designed well or designed poorly — too often, our interactions with government are not great. On this episode to have two experts, civic designers who are working at different scales and levels of government. We talk about applying design within government, using creative problem solving and innovation to improve service, digital, and physical experiences. We speak with Sabrina Dorsaninvil, Director of Civic Design for the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics about their work in the urban environment. And we interview Anne Petersen, Director of Experience Design at 18F, an office of federal employees that collaborates with other agencies to improve how government serves the public through technology and more. Plus, we share our weekly dose of good design.

Weekly Dose of Good Design

• Liz: Steelcase Series 1 Chair
• Sam: 507 Mechanical Movements By Sam Schmitz
• Sabrina: Designing the We’s Undesign the Redline (undesign) / Creative Reaction Lab (redesign) / Design Studio for Social Intervention’s new book “Ideas, Arrangements Effects”

Links

• Department: Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics
• Initiative: Imagine Boston 2030
• Initiative: Housing Innovation Lab
• Organization: Asian Community Development Corporation
• Organization: Zumix
• Department: Resilience and Racial Equity
• Resource: 18F User Experience Design Guide
• Resource: 18F Methods
• Resource: 18F Guides
• Project: U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division
• Project: Buying Christmas tree permits online with Open Forest
• Resource: U.S. Web Design System
• Resource: 18F Github