Commission A report by the Design Commission
MEETING NEEDS SAVING MONEY HUMANISING SERVICES ENGAGING CITIZENS RERESSTTAARRTTIINNGG BBRRIITTAAIINN 22 DESIGN AND PUBLIC SERVICES
This is the second publication in the Design Commission’s ‘Restarting Britain’ series. public services in the 21st century. on this important topic. – The Design Commission FOREWORD ‘DESIGN’ IS INTEGRAL TO THE WHODNA OF EACH IS ANTHISD EVERY PUBLIC SERVICE. DESIGN IS NOT A MATTER OF SURFACE APPEARANCE. HOW PUBLIC SERVICES ARE ‘DESIGNED’ IS CENTRAL TO THEIR PURPOSE, THEIR FUNCTION, THEIR CHARACTER. DESIGN IS ABOUT THE APPLICATION OF HARD DISCIPLINES NOT SOFT FURNISHINGS. There are lots of ways to approach public service reform: opening up public services to choice and competition; reducing the public service cost base and improving its overall This is why we believe that, The challenge for the coming productivity; and bringing during this challenging period, decade is how best to public services into the 21st great design can help restart ensure that public services century through greater use Britain by reshaping our public are reformed swiftly to of digital technologies. But services. meet 21st century needs at to succeed, each of these a cost that taxpayers can approaches must incorporate The fabric of public services sustainably afford. We believe the principles of great design. we see today was woven by previous generations in terms of maximising policy We do not argue that design response to the needs of their effectiveness and lowering is a panacea for all public time. Successive governments, overall costs – could be reaped service ills. Nor do we argue together with successive by the public sector taking that it will enable people, cohorts of professionals, have a proactive, deliberate and in one bound, to escape the stamped their imprint on the professional approach to shape of public services. This ‘designing’ what it does for its across the public sector. But leads to a situation where citizens. we know that badly designed the pattern of service found services cost the country a To test this theory, over the great deal; and that the best of of service provision more last nine months we have design thinking and practice than the urgent needs and interviewed a wide variety can help make services much preferences of today’s citizens. of people from the design more relevant to 21st century industry and the public needs as well as help lower A design approach to public sector (we include details of the overall cost of service services starts not with service evidence in the Appendix). to the taxpayer. Critically, providers but with citizens, What follows is the synthesis design starts from the ‘user’s customers and service users. of those conversations, experience’. It begins by Designers try to stand in their alongside our own ideas asking how users can best shoes - to fully understand and research. We strongly extract value for themselves preferences, needs, behaviours recommend that policymakers from a product or a service. and context. This makes and public managers take It seeks multiple sources design-based approaches to a much more professional of inspiration in searching service change far more likely stance towards the design for solutions. It encourages to both improve social well- element of policymaking ‘prototyping’ – practically- being, and to generate greater and public services, and we focused and tangible approaches to experimental buildings, a small investment steps that could help move to fast learning. And it enables in getting the service design towards this goal. productive public engagement. right, up front, can save public All of this helps designers bodies a lot of money in the Baroness Kingsmill build products and services long run. Barry Quirk that meet users’ needs most – Inquiry Co-chairs acutely and at lowest cost. FOREWORD WHO IS THIS REPORT FOR? OVERVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS CONTENTS 7
This report is primarily written for those with responsibility for shaping the future of public services in the UK. These include: - Ministers and policymakers in central government - Parliamentarians - Leading Members in local government, senior managers and service commissioners - Public service managers - The communities of practice involved in service design in the UK In writing this report we are responding to a substantially increased appetite for more information on the subject of design in public services. As far as possible we have tried to err on the side of practical advice. However we hope this will also make an informative read for anyone interested in the history and development of design, and its contribution to social innovation. FOREWORD WHO IS THIS REPORT FOR? OVERVIEW OF RECOMMENDATIONS
1 Leadership Ownership/next steps Examples