In 1971, President Richard Nixon asked the federal government to consider how artists and designers could improve agencies and their programs.[1]. Overwhelmingly, many agencies suggested that the “federal government needed better offices and better graphics.”[2] Designers and artists were sought after to redesign the material aspects of the government, and some made great improvements. However, efforts by the U.S. National Design Policy committee and the UK Design Council indicate designers have been vital to the government public sector beyond simply redesigning graphics. More importantly, the efforts demonstrate that designers are capable of employing a range of creative problem solving methods according to the situation.
In 1972, one year after Nixon’s address to the Associate Councils on the Arts, the Federal Design Improvement Program was established and undertook four main goals: hold Design Assemblies to increase awareness among the federal government and agencies about the value of design; redesign federal agencies’ graphics; revise the Guiding Principles of Federal Architecture to improve federal buildings; and improve employment evaluation processes to bring professional artists and designers into federal service.
Under the first component of the program, four Design Assemblies were held from 1972–1978. In 1973, Ivan Chermayeff, Richard Saul Wurman, Ralph Caplan, Peter Bradford, and Jane Clark, prepared The Design Necessity for the first Design Assembly as a casebook of federally initiated projects in visual communications, interiors and industrial design, architecture, and the landscaped environment.[3] The second component of Federal Design Improvement Program, redesigning graphics, was formally initiated through the Federal Graphics Improvement Program. Designers provided a professional critique of graphics ranging from ambulances, forms, plans, and other materials. More than 45 agencies received redesigned graphics.[4]
In 2008, Tunstall organized a National Design Policy Summit to develop a list of policy proposals for a U.S. National Design Policy. Some of the proposals included a formalized “American Design Council to partner with the U.S. Government”, “guidelines for legibility, literacy, and accessibility for all government communications”, and encouraging “direct government investment in design innovation”, and “expanding national grants to support interdisciplinary community design assistance programs based on human-centered design principles”.[5] The U.S. National Design Policy identified the value of design for nation building differently than past solicitation to help the government “meet our commitment to improve the efficiency of government...and reaffirm our concern for the human side of government.”[6] In an open letter to President Obama, William Drentell stated how design could play a larger role by stepping beyond, while still implementing, redesigns like those of the 1972 Federal Graphics Improvement Program.[7]
In the UK, the Design Council sponsors a mentoring program, Public Services by Design, to match designers with “ambitious organisations keen to transform, adapt and improve service delivery” of public programs.[8] The Design Council worked with Lewisham Housing Options Centre and the London Borough of Lewisham’s policy, strategy and transformation department to explore one question: How can the experience of using a homelessness service be improved? Designers coached the Lewisham staff on design thinking and design research methods, such as ethnographic research, brainstorming, prototyping, and visualization methods, to uncover service experiences and develop co-designed ideas. As a result, the Public Services by Design program has reduced service cost and £368,000 in yearly efficiency savings. Additionally, the public service experience was improved by providing the staff with design methods and tools to continue finding ways to transform service delivery.[9]
[1] Nixon, Richard. “Memorandum About the Federal Government and the Arts.” In The American Presidency Project, edited by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley. Accessed on May 15, 2012. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3026 - ixzz1yuHmESAK.
[2] “Setting the Standard: The NEA Initiates the Federal Design Improvement Program.” National Endowment for the Arts. Accessed May 8, 2012, http://www.nea.gov/about/40th/fdip.html.http://www.nea.gov/about/40th/fdip.html.
[3] Chermayeff, Ivan, et al. The Design Necessity, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1973.
[4] Two of the most notable redesigns are the NASA logo redesign and the Federal Park Systems. Richard Danne and Bruce Blackburn redesigned the NASA trademark, but they also proposed robust graphics standard manual. Over the years, fierce debates have ensued over NASA’s beloved ‘meatball’ versus ‘worm’ trademark. Currently, NASA employs the use of both trademarks. Massimo Vignelli developed the Unigrid System for publications used by the National Parks Service. The purpose of the Unigrid System is two-fold: organize publication components and determine how publications will be printed.
[5] “Policy Proposals.” U.S. National Design Policy Initiative. Accessed on October 30, 2011. http://www.designpolicy.org/usdp/policy-proposals.html.
[6] “Mission.” U.S. National Design Policy Initiative. Accessed on October 30, 2011. http://www.designpolicy.org/usdp/mission.
[7] Drenttel, William. “A Design-Oriented National Endowment for the Arts.” Design Observer. Accessed on June 12, 2012. http://observatory.designobserver.com/entry.html?entry=7697. Drentell argued that design can “benefit the nation with practical solutions, progressive thinking and citizen-oriented improvements affecting all aspects of civic, cultural and artistic life. Within the context of all the disciplines represented by the NEA, design is uniquely situated to evaluate problems; look at citizen needs; place the problem within an experience base of other categories and industries; rapidly prototype potential solutions; add research modules for evaluation and feedback; introduce metrics to evaluate success or failure; and quickly move toward solutions.
[8] “Transforming public services through expert mentoring.” Design Council. Accessed on May 15, 2012. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/publicsector.
[9] “Lewisham Housing Options Centre: Transforming a support service so it better meets user needs,” Design Council. Accessed June 15, 2012. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/leadership/Public-Services-by-Design/Case-studies/Case-Study-Lewisham-Council.