Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Perspectives on Civic Design

Thursday, September 23, 2021 • Civic Design Community
Share the love for this talk
Perspectives on Civic Design
Speakers: Chris Govias , Mai-Ling Garcia and Emily Lessard
Link:

Summary

For our first gathering of the Civic Design Community, we hear a few different perspectives on civic design and how the practice changes and stays the same in different contexts. We explore how designers inside and outside government build alliances with policymakers, program managers, electeds and more in order to change how services are delivered, improve outcomes, and create longer term capacity for design-informed ways of working across different roles and levels of government.

Key Insights

  • Civic design unites diverse practitioners from all government levels and design disciplines under an inclusive 'vanilla' term.

  • Designers in government increasingly work at the intersection of design, policy, and strategy rather than just craft.

  • Following policy as rigorously as following money helps identify real constraints and change opportunities in civic design.

  • Embedding subject matter experts, like prison officers in justice system design, creates critical insights for service innovation.

  • Building trust with stakeholders, especially naysayers, requires patience, candor, and demonstrating tangible design value.

  • Designers play a vital translator role, balancing technical accessibility (508 compliance, SEO) with engaging aesthetics to reach audiences.

  • Small, visible wins such as posters or quick prototypes help overcome fatigue and build momentum in complex government systems.

  • Procurement and RFP structures often hinder outcome-focused design work, emphasizing deliverables rather than systemic change.

  • Activists should be engaged as collaborators or embedded team members to effect meaningful civic change from within.

  • Content designers are integral to Civic Tech teams, pushing accessible and audience-focused messaging forward.

Notable Quotes

"We need to follow the policy because that was the thing that created so many roadblocks."

"I often think of myself as a stakeholder strategist because sometimes the design title doesn’t quite capture it."

"Good design with great SEO and accessibility can change your audience by a magnitude."

"We love the naysayers; those grumpy people become some of the most valuable partners once you get their buy-in."

"Design is translation—both technically with H1 tags and in words people understand."

"Sometimes a poster galvanizes support far better than another workshop or meeting ever could."

"We move at the speed of trust—that's how partnerships and design wins happen."

"Hiring local talent embeds lived experience directly in government decision making."

"Too often RFPs ask us to deliver things instead of solve problems."

"Activists inside the system are often the ones untangling the rubber band ball."

Ask the Rosenbot
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
Everything You Need to Know about the Civic Design 2022 Call for Presentations
2022 • Civic Design Community
Peter Merholz
Customer-Centered Design Organizations
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Michael Polivka
Scaling Design through Relationship Maps
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Heidi Trost
When AI Becomes the User’s Point Person—and Point of Failure
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Emily Lessard
RFPs Without Tears: Writing Inclusive RFPS that Don't Scare Away Talent
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Theresa Marwah
How Atlassian is Operationalizing Respect in Research
2020 • Advancing Research Community
Ariel Kennan
Theme 2 Intro
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Healing Toxic Stress
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Vasileios Xanthopoulos
A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to User-Centric Maturity at Scale
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Jesse Zolna
Inviting the Whole Org to Come See For Yourself
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Sha Hwang
The Lost Year
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
John Cutler
Oxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Phil Hesketh
Designing Accessible Research Workflows
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Theme 1 Intro
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Richard Buchanan
Creativity and Principles in the Flourishing Enterprise
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Ash Brown
Silver Linings: What DesignOps Learned in the Shift to WFH
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold

More Videos

Joanna Vodopivec

"Slack channels with live feeds and tagging let busy developers catch key observations asynchronously."

Joanna Vodopivec Prabhas Pokharel

One Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority

March 9, 2022

Louis Rosenfeld

"Don’t talk about delight or loyalty; trust is the single best framing to connect with stakeholders."

Louis Rosenfeld Lashanda Hodge Senongo Akpem Chris Hodowanec

Becoming a Civic Designer: Making the Move from Private to Public Sector

November 17, 2022

Bria Alexander

"We are back and we are right on time. Eight o'clock on the dot."

Bria Alexander

Day 3 Welcome

September 25, 2024

Uday Gajendar

"Hopefully the internet stays strong and holds steady despite the stormy weather here in Louisiana."

Uday Gajendar Louis Rosenfeld

Day 2 Welcome

June 5, 2024

Sam Proulx

"We often say don’t make me think. When that’s not possible, reuse and recycle those learnings."

Sam Proulx

Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience

June 7, 2023

Russ Unger

"Day one is a commencement, a graduation from candidate to employee, not a paperwork slog."

Russ Unger

Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought

November 7, 2017

Catherine Dubut

"We could impact the end-to-end customer service and customer experience through our most underutilized asset: our store employees."

Catherine Dubut

Bridging Physical and Digital Spaces: Approaches to Retail Service Design

March 18, 2021

Josh Clark

"Bespoke UI can generate interfaces on the fly based on immediate need or intent."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)

January 29, 2025

Dantley Davis

"There were things I controlled and things I didn’t, and I needed to plan for both."

Dantley Davis

Leadership & Diversity—A Fireside Chat with Dantley Davis

September 17, 2020