Charlotte Vorbeck
Senior Experience Designer, Digital Service 4 Germany
Shahzma Esmail
Public Interest Designer, Government of Ontario
Edward Alton
Senior UX Designer, Ad Hoc LLC
Sarah McArthur
Head of Innovation Practice, City of Melbourne
Ariel Kennan
Senior Fellow, Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation
Summary
There is an outpouring of designers and researchers who are interested in building their practice in the civic space; and there’s a wealth of public service emerging. There are also many policy and program professionals who are starting to use design as part of their jobs. Through their global perspectives, panelists will share personal trajectories, what it is like working inside or alongside government and tips for succeeding as a civic designer, researcher or leader. We’ll also explore how government entities and contractors might rethink recruiting talent and building an inclusive pipeline to civic design.
Key Insights
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Civic designers often come from diverse non-traditional backgrounds, not just formal design education.
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Government workers are highly dedicated despite stereotypes and work creatively around technological limitations.
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Equity and anti-racist practices are essential to building effective, inclusive civic design teams.
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Complex government projects often involve modernizing legacy systems across multiple platforms.
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Design impact in government requires patience and navigating slower bureaucratic processes compared to the private sector.
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Retention of diverse talent depends as much on culture and inclusion as equitable hiring practices.
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Job descriptions in government are often outdated or unclear, making it difficult to attract diverse candidates.
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Early involvement of senior stakeholders and making design work tangible helps build organizational buy-in.
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Building a strong support network is crucial for practitioners in civic design to manage challenges and frustrations.
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The Civic Design Library aims to crowdsource and openly share global civic design resources under a Creative Commons license.
Notable Quotes
"People working in government are absolutely idealistic, hardworking, well educated, and open minded."
"Without equity, you can only really have design theater because it’s not really design if it’s not including everybody."
"Sometimes design roles aren’t called design roles; people do design work under many titles."
"In government, the speed is absolutely different but the ability to help with implementation and impact is much stronger."
"I’ve worked on streamlining 19 legacy applications into a new, modern fleet management system."
"Building capacity and changing hearts and minds to do user research is as impactful as the digital tools themselves."
"Finding a ‘coalition of the willing’ and strong relationships is key to sustaining design work in government."
"Hiring processes that are complex and confusing create barriers and equity issues for applicants."
"Make design work tangible as soon as possible so senior stakeholders can sponsor and believe in the projects."
"I always say, you should never do this work alone; find colleagues to support you through challenges."
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