You’ll have probably heard of human-centred design. Who else are we going to be designing for, after all? But the importance of human-centred design might not truly hit home until you’re faced with a bureaucratic and inflexible system.

Picture this. You need to get a document to complete a visa application for an upcoming trip. You’ve never heard of this document before, and you’re not sure why it’s relevant. You check out the department’s website and find pages of wordy, dense jargon. After sifting through the noise, you find the right number to call, questions to answer, a bill to pay, data to hand over and a form to submit. It only cost you two hours and an inch of your hairline. After a 32-day wait, you receive a letter saying that the department cannot process your application until you have secured a visa. You’re back to square one. Your flight left weeks ago.

Sound familiar? This is why human-centred design is vital. If you don’t build systems with the experience and knowledge of a citizen in mind, you’ll end up creating mazes. It’s time to get on board with the intricacies of human-centred design.

What is human-centred design? 🤔

Why it matters 💡

  • Why human-centred design is essential for public servants — Apolitical**

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  • 7 ways that human-centred design has been useful for public servants during Covid-19 — Apolitical

Research & co-design 🔎

  • Co-design: how to design policy with your end-users — Apolitical

  • Human-centred design as a strategy for service delivery — Apolitical

Getting your team to see the value 🧑‍🏫

  • Bringing human-centred design to your team? Start here — Apolitical

  • 5 steps to mainstream human-centred design — Apolitical

Using human centred-design within government 🏛

  • How to use journey maps to see your organisation in a new light — Apolitical

Case studies 🌠

  • How human-centred design helped Seattle double down on COVID testing — Apolitical

  • Human-centred design could boost Britain's literacy — Apolitical

Further reading 📚

  • Policy instrumentation: The object of service design in policymaking — MIT Press

  • Transforming Public Services by Design — Routledge