24th January, 2013
KEYWORDS Design, Policy-Making, Design Thinking, Governance, Citizen Engagement
DESIGN TO AID POLICY-MAKING
Problem solving and meaning making are two common phrases that come to mind when one hears the word design. Policy is often referred to as the decisions that people with authority make that govern how things run. Design and policy might seem like they belong on opposite sides of the spectrum, with no common ground. Yet, more often than not, design problems run into barriers created by policy matters that cannot be nudged, and policy issues can directly result in design problems. This paper is about finding that common ground, debating whether or not one can benefit off another and in what possible ways. What would the world look like if policy makers and design thinkers were put in a boardroom to shape its future? DESIGN Design is the creation of a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system. It is a process; a protocol to solving problems and discovering opportunities. Most designed objects and systems are placed within a social, political, economic and legal framework of a particular time. The conscious decisions taken by the designer strive to shape behaviours and elevate certain preferences in people, and can directly affect the way people live, communicate and make choices. From the spaces we interact with, the visuals in the magazines and televisions that we consume subconsciously, the transport systems we use to commute daily, the tools we use to cook our food to the web that we use to stay connected and perform millions of activities everyday, have all been designed. Therefore, design can have consequences that move far beyond pure aesthetics, and into the realms of daily life, consumption, consciousness and sensitivity and thus, designers have the power to shape society. The impact, whether positive or negative, and the choices the designer makes depending on his or her values is what makes design highly political. For example, the highly successful National Polio campaign was designed in a way to reach audiences across India, through print, radio and television media, using highly respected celebrities to deliver messages that generated awareness among people about the Polio drive. This effort aided the constant and strong political will of the nation to fight polio, which is no longer endemic in India. Design, on the contrary, is also being used in shaping a highly consumerist behaviour among people that has a direct impact on one’s own health and that of the planet. The challenge here is to understand the consequences of design, and to use it as a tool for long-term and sustainable development.
1. Larry N. Gerston, Public Policy Making: Process and Principles (M.E. Sharpe, 2010)
POLICY-MAKING On the other hand, Larry N. Gerston, in his book Public Policy Making: Process and Principles1 defines public policy as basic decisions, commitments and actions made by those who hold or influence government positions of authority. These policies are made to guide decision making with respect to those perceived issues and concerns that affect the general public at large. The laws that are made by the government chiefly decide what services will be provided to residents and the level of those services, what kinds
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of development will occur in the community and determines the community’s future. It weighs and balances public values. There is no objective right answer, but one that upholds the values of the public at large and is made taking into account the conflicting and diverse viewpoints of all the decision makers who represent various groups of the society. The policy making process is dynamic, evolutionary and perpetual. It undergoes several iterations as new issues arise which may affect policies that are already in place. Hence, policies are often unpredictable and contradictory, marred with inaccuracy and confusion. Although most policies are made in open environments, the constraints are preset and the stakes are usually quite high but a democracy ideally ensures that all the viewpoints are heard and the rights of citizens are protected. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND POLICY-MAKING The conventional roles of policy makers and designers are easily distinguishable. Policy makers are designers of the intangible aspects of the functioning of a society, such as the laws that govern how individuals go about their daily lives, the public services they use, the taxes they pay, and also issues that are to be dealt with at a national level–international diplomacy and foreign affairs, for example. Designers are more conventionally attributed with the design and creation of tangible objects such as ballot boxes, chairs and way finding systems. To generalize, they would be objects and systems that directly interact with people. So, what is the relationship between design and policy-making? Why is it that designers should care about politics and policy-making, and why should governments and policymakers worry about design at all? Is there anything to take for either of these disciplines from each other? “At base, politics is about values, and design is nothing if not a means of embodying values.” From Jennie Winhall’s article titled Is Design Political, “My policy colleagues say they went into politics because they wanted to challenge the status quo and make things better for ordinary people. That’s certainly why I went into design. So maybe design is more political than you think.”2 Both design and policy are multifaceted and deal with a variety of issues, but the basic objectives and the end goals seem to blur into each other, i.e. roughly, to create a harmonious society that enhances the living experience of individuals, better quality of life and focuses on sustainable development in all spheres. However, on a more micro level, there are major differences in that public policies might set frameworks for aspects of life that design, might not have anything to do with. Taxes, land acquisition, etc. are some such issues that might live outside the purview of design. The question here is that, if the fundamental objectives of design and policy-making overlap, is there a possibility that design can aid in the policy-making process and implementation? With more and more designers working on issues such as poverty alleviation, climate change, public health advocacy, etc. which are aligned with global issues that most governments are having to deal with; is it possible for public policy makers and designers to join hands to benefit off each other’s skill sets and thinking abilities, to tackle concerns of the larger public? 2. Jennie Winhall, Is Design Political (http://www.core77.com/ reactor/03.06_winhall.asp) 3. AIGA, Design Policy Advocacy (http://www.aiga.org/aigadesign-policy-advocacy/)
The role of design in implementation of public policy is fairly easy to fathom. Designing of material to create awareness among the masses, building of necessary infrastructure, organization of workshops and seminars and even the ballot and election design by AIGA’s Design for Democracy3, is often seen as the last phase of the policy implementation process. These are also, more often than not, overlooked. This is also because policymaking has conventionally been a top-down process, originating in the higher levels of the government, being implemented by administrative officers and then reaching the people. Although public service policies are made for people, they are not equal stakeholders in
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the policy-making process. Their dissent can only be expressed through the free press, which large sectors of the society have no access to, and neither is the press ‘free’ in its truest sense. On the contrary, design takes into consideration the user, from the very beginning of the design process. Designers are trained to facilitate, rather than dictate what people themselves want to do. The point of view of the user is put at the forefront, above that of established institutions and systems, and therefore, solutions are designed around the user. Experiences and services are created according to the needs of the users, and not in the interests of other stakeholders. However, the role of design at a policy formulation level is difficult to conceive. The benefits or the outcomes of which are harder to perceive. An example of a simple design solution being implemented during the time of formulation is the ‘transparency wall’4 of the NREGA, 2005 (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act)5, which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In order to make sure that the public funds were distributed amongst the workers in a fair manner, and none of it went into the pockets of middlemen, a wall in the village is painted with the names of all the NREGA workers, how many days they have worked, and how much they have earned for doing that work. By giving people the information pro actively, it put them in charge of the programme. The information was localized and made accessible to all. By putting the information on the wall, it was taken out of the system–the computer, and put in the hands of the people; which allowed for a more transparent and successful programme. In addition to this, building on the Right to Information Act, the NREGA stipulates that all information requests regarding the NREGA be made available to the applicant within seven days of the request being filed, as opposed to the 30 day stipulated period in the RTI Act. Hence, the wall acts not only as a fallback for the villager, but also as a collective vigilance mechanism. These measures acted as a catalyst for some of the state governments and civil society organizations to take innovative steps towards developing accountability tools in the governance system.
4. Nikhil Dey, Tool Of Exclusion (Frontline, 2011) 5. Yamini Aiyar, Salimah Samji, Transparency and Accountability in NREGA. A Case Study of Andhra Pradesh (Accountability Initiative, 2009)
This would be a suitable example of a design solution implemented at a policy level to bring about more transparency in the system, and make sure that the people, who the policy is intended for, do actually benefit from it. One would argue that this is pure common sense, and one does not need a design thinking approach to come up with a solution such as this; as illustrated in this case study. Policy makers are highly qualified individuals, with high amounts of sensibilities; who would make sure that they cover all grounds. Yet, the occurrence of such simple solutions, which make sure that public at large does not lose out, being thought of at the policy level, is a rarity. This may be due to the numerous constraints under which policy makers operate, and the vested interests of all the parties involved that they have to take into consideration. There are always those that benefit more, and some that benefit less from a particular policy being put into place. Policy-making is not a black and white process. Often, one has to make the best possible choice from the given set of possible solutions, as is the case with most problem-solvers. This limits the options the policy-makers have, in terms of finding optimal solutions to a given problem. This is one area where design thinking might prove to be useful; where in choices are created, rather than made from the available set. DESIGN THINKING IDEO’s Tim Brown analyses the conventional problem solving processes used in businesses, and illustrates the differences between these processes and design thinking; which can be applied in this situation of policy-making as well. Conventional processes are mostly analytical, rational, formal and convergent. Analytical in that we break problems up to
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study them. Rational in that we take an ordered approach. Formal in that we can describe the approach and replicate it easily and convergent in that we start with available choices and work toward a single best solution. Design thinking is different and therefore it feels different. Firstly it is not only convergent. It is a series of divergent and convergent steps. During divergence we are creating choices and during convergence we are making choices. For people who are looking to have a good sense of the answer, or at least a previous example of one, before they start divergence is frustrating. It almost feels like you are going backwards and getting further away from the answer but this is the essence of creativity. Divergence needs to feel optimistic, exploratory and experimental but it often feels foggy to people who are more used to operating on a plan. Divergence has to be supported by the culture. The second difference is that design thinking relies on interplay between analysis and synthesis, breaking problems apart and putting ideas together. Synthesis is hard because we are trying to put things together which are often in tension. Less expensive, higher quality for instance. I have always felt that the uncertainty of divergence and the integrative headhurting complexity of synthesis are the unique characteristics of design thinking and they are also the things that make it really challenging. The pay-off is that feeling of flow that comes when ideas come together and take form. Is this when convergence is happening? 6 DESIGN FOR TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY A systems thinking approach is tried and tested for designing tangible objects and experiences, unlike public policy; where the end goals are rarely tangible. Having said that, parts of the policy making process, which deal with transparency and accountability can gain a great deal from a user centric design-based approach. In 2010, President Obama appointed Edward Tufte, ‘Da Vinci of Data’, to the independent panel that advises the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, to sketch out a digital service that would chart how every single dollar of the $787 billion stimulus bill was being spent 7. The result is the renewed Recovery.gov—which is perhaps the clearest, richest interactive database ever produced by the American bureaucracy. One can follow the money by state, district, ZIP code, recipient, and federal agency; users can find out how many jobs have been funded and how many projects have been completed. The clarity of the information presented is what makes this website a benchmark for government information dissemination portals.
6. Tim Brown, What Does Design Thinking Feel Like? (http:// designthinking.ideo.com/?p=51) 7. Andrew Romano, How Master Information Designer Edward Tufte Can Help Obama Govern (http://www.thedailybeast. com/newsweek/blogs/thegaggle/2010/03/09/how-masterinformation-designer-edwardtufte-can-help-obama-govern. html)
An article on the same from the Newsweek says, “It’s clear at this point that at least some of the public’s animosity toward the stimulus stems from miscommunication; more than 90 percent of Americans, for example, believe that the Recovery Act hasn’t created a single new job, even though it funded nearly 600,000 in 2009, and many more since then. These misconceptions are a huge political problem for Obama, who has repeatedly claimed that the stimulus was both necessary and effective—and he’s unlikely to dispel them with yet another speech. Good information design could conceivably provide the public with a more accurate picture of the bill’s accomplishments.” A similar effort has been made by the UK Government Digital Service where they have created a one stop digital platform for government services such as renewing licenses, finding out about pensions, registering deaths, and a host of other things. Gov.uk replaces 750 government websites that previously delivered the same services and information. The simplicity with which the information is presented makes it accessible to all kinds of users. The willingness of the government to become more accessible and transparent in itself is a positive sign. The challenge again, is to develop a vision and strategy to translate a similar movement in India, given its multifaceted problems, language barriers, elusive yet low literacy rates and limited access to the Internet. Moreover, what is required is for the government to be sensitive towards the citizen’s needs and provide understandable
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and transparent platforms so they can take part in the decision-making and society shaping process; and for citizens to pro actively demand for transparency and efficiency. Collaboration between the civil society and government organizations is essential, if India is to shape a future that is people-centric. The creation of portals such as data. gov.in where statistical information about government programs and reports are made accessible to the public is a major leap forward. CITIZENS AS AGENTS & DESIGNERS AS FACILITATORS Citizen engagement in governance is important mainly not only to be able to create systems around people for their betterment but also to make citizens conscious of their responsibilities towards society. Positive freedom, according to Berlin 8 is “to be somebody, not nobody; a doer – deciding, not being decided for, self-directed and not acted upon by external nature or by other men as if I were a thing, or an animal, or a slave, incapable of playing a human role, that is of conceiving goals and policies of my own and realizing them.” So the role of policy makers here is to ensure the creation of a structure that empowers people so as to enable them to create their own opportunities and means for development. Not everybody can be given the power to make all the decisions, therefore it becomes the responsibility of the policy maker to design a framework and then empower people to become agents, and not just receivers of that framework. It is in this process of creating these frameworks and empowering people, that design can perhaps truly benefit policy-making. Active engagement of the citizens and a participatory process may be a step towards instilling faith in government systems and developing innovative solutions to challenges of economic and social well-being. In this light, it also becomes imperative for designers to identify themselves as members of the society who can apply their creative problem solving skills to challenges that are meaningful and have a greater impact on our livelihoods. Design has been operating on a small scale, catering to niche audiences, and mainly to a consumerist society. It also becomes a question of choices, responsibilities and priorities for the designer. There have been attempts by the design fraternity to engage in efforts aimed at aiding policy-making and governance at several levels. AIGA’s Design for Democracy is engaged in an extended campaign to raise awareness of the value of effective information design in the public sector. The purpose of the campaign is to make information design an integral part of national legislative reform initiatives, including election reform, social security reform, Medicare reform, immigration reform, tax reform, the census and e-government. The goal is not only to raise awareness but also to see that designers become part of policy discussions, by demonstrating that designers can make a meaningful contribution through their mastery of integrative design thinking. The aim is to improve the quality of federal, state and local governmental design as a means to improve democracy, and set an example for public and private institutions. The programme demonstrated this by re-designing the electoral ballot after the 2000 presidential election, seeking to apply information design principles of clarity and simplicity in order to make voting easier and more accurate for all U.S. citizens.
8.Ortrud Leßmann, Hamburg, Freedom of Choice and Poverty Alleviation (Draft) 9. Meena Kadri, India’s Epic Head Count (http://changeobserver. designobserver.com/feature/ indias-epic-head-count/14138/)
A similar example from within India is the user centric approach taken in designing the forms for the 2011 census9 that not only counts and categorizes inhabitants by gender, religion and occupation, but also probe their access to technology, toilets and personal transport, is another example of design used to aid policy makers and developmental agencies by giving them statistical insights about the people of India. The design approach ensured that the forms could be used to efficiently record information across language barriers, systematically dispatched and collected, and read by Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) software. This reduced the time taken to bring out the census results from six years to six months.
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Perhaps, the most encouraging fact is that we have reached a point where society itself wants to transform. There is a greater awareness and an urgency to change the way things function. Organizations and governments across the world are realizing that people have to be placed in the center of the decision making process. In this light, the United Nations is in the process of conducting a global survey titled My World where they have short listed sixteen global issues and are asking people from across the globe to vote for six issues from that list that they think would make the most difference to their lives. These survey results will be submitted to the Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Post-2015 before their meetings in Monrovia (February), Bali (March) and New York (May) 2013. Their objective is to capture people’s voices, priorities and views, so world leaders can be informed as they begin to define the next set of global goals to end world poverty. CONCLUSION It is clear that public policy and governance essentially has to be people centric. This possibly is the common ground for design and policy-making to meet, and make a significant positive impact on people’s lives. Design can help bridge the gap between governments and citizens, and most importantly create participatory and transparent platforms that are inclusive and sensitive to people’s needs. This is also perhaps when design ceases to be a mere profession operating on a limited canvas, and becomes a way of thinking to address large scale challenges; when governments cease to rule their citizens, and become facilitators of improved economic and social well-being; and when people cease to leave the responsibilities of their own livelihoods on to others, identify their roles in transforming society and subsequently become catalysts of change by taking charge of the lives they lead.
REFERENCES
1. Larry N. Gerston, Public Policy Making: Process and Principles (M.E. Sharpe, 2010) 2. Jennie Winhall, Is Design Political (http://www.core77.com/reactor/03.06_winhall.asp) 3. AIGA, Design Policy Advocacy (http://www.aiga.org/aiga-design-policy-advocacy/) 4. Nikhil Dey, Tool Of Exclusion (Frontline, 2011) 5. Yamini Aiyar, Salimah Samji, Transparency and Accountability in NREGA. A Case Study of Andhra Pradesh (Accountability Initiative, 2009) 6. Tim Brown, What Does Design Thinking Feel Like? (http://designthinking.ideo. com/?p=51) 7. Andrew Romano, How Master Information Designer Edward Tufte Can Help Obama Govern (http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/03/09/howmaster-information-designer-edward-tufte-can-help-obama-govern.html) 8.Ortrud Leßmann, Hamburg, Freedom of Choice and Poverty Alleviation (Draft) 9. Meena Kadri, India’s Epic Head Count (http://changeobserver.designobserver.com/ feature/indias-epic-head-count/14138/) 10. Michael Howlett, Designing Public Policies (Routledge, 2011)
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