Design Transforms Government: The Future of Policy Design from DRS 2024 / 1
Nayeong An, Korea Institute of Design Promotion
At the end of June 2024, the DRS(Design Research Society) 2024 Conference, held in Boston, USA, marked a meaningful occasion showcasing the intersection of design and government. Prominent figures in design and policy experts gathered to discuss how design can contribute to government and public service innovation. Among the highlights was the session on Design Research Leadership in Government, where Nayeong An, the head of the Safety Design Team at the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP), presented. The session explored diverse perspectives on how design leadership is implemented within governments and how policy design can evolve in the future. This article is based on Nayeong An’s post-conference report and a debriefing shared with her department colleagues.
Note: The DRS 2024 conference covered a wide range of design research topics. This article focuses solely on the topics relevant to the session Nayeong An participated in.
What is the DRS 2024 Conference?
The Design Research Society (DRS) was founded in 1966 in the UK and is the world’s oldest design research association. Held every two years, the conference has established itself as a global forum for design researchers and practitioners to share knowledge and network. This year’s event, the first held in the United States, was hosted by Northeastern University in collaboration with Harvard University and the MIT Morningside Academy for Design, with significant support from the city of Boston. The overarching theme for this year’s conference was “Resistance, Recovery, Reflection, Reimagination,” exploring post-pandemic societal recovery and forward-thinking design. Particularly, sessions like Design Research Leadership in Government attracted significant attention, focusing on policy design and the role of design leadership within governments.
Highlights from the Design Research Leadership in Government Session
Nayeong An, head of the Safety Design Team at KIDP, has been leading social innovation through design since the creation of KIDP’s service design department in 2013. Since March of this year, she has been heading safety design projects to improve industrial safety. Her participation in the DRS conference was made possible by an invitation from Professor Miso Kim of Northeastern University, who co-organized this year’s event. Professor Kim, a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, has been actively involved in research and education at Northeastern University.
“I was pleased to have the opportunity to present Korea’s design policies and cases on the international stage. I hope younger colleagues will take part in more international conferences moving forward,” said Nayeong An.
The Design Research Leadership in Government session offered various perspectives on how design can assert leadership within government organizations and contribute to policy-making processes. Along with Nayeong An, the panel featured notable figures such as Shin-pei Tsay from the City of Boston, and renowned design leader Geoff Mulgan. The discussion was moderated by Professor Paolo Ciuccarelli of Northeastern University.
The official session description reads:
“This keynote panel brings together leaders to discuss government and public support for design research and how design research can contribute to policy decisions. What are the key considerations when governments allocate funding for design research initiatives? Can successful design research positively impact government policies and public services? How can governments promote meaningful social innovation through strategic design research investment?”
1. Korea’s Design Policies and Cases — Nayeong An
Nayeong An’s presentation, titled Design Research for Innovative Policy Making in Korea, introduced the role of KIDP and how design is being utilized in policy-making processes within the Korean government.
“KIDP, established in 1970, is a national design promotion organization operating under the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy, with approximately 150 employees and an annual budget of $38 million. Initially focused on industrial design for export promotion, we now actively apply design to solving social issues and developing policies.”
She emphasized the role of design as a communication tool in the policy planning phase, fostering dialogue among stakeholders and enabling active discussion and co-creation.
She also introduced the case of the Citizen Policy Design Group, explaining how design is used as a method for policy experimentation. Over the past 11 years, this program has led to more than 1,900 projects with over 20,000 participants. One notable project in Gangnam, titled Let’s Work Out Together, discovered that disabled individuals preferred exercising alongside the general public rather than in separate facilities, leading to the development of an integrated fitness program.
“There is also the example of redesigning energy bills. By applying the principles of traffic light colors, households with higher energy consumption received red-colored bills, while those with lower consumption received green-colored ones. As a result, energy consumption was reduced by 10% in a pilot group of 600 households.”
This case demonstrates how design can predict policy effectiveness and test its impact through experimentation, showing that design interventions can lead to behavioral changes and significantly contribute to policy goals. In closing, she emphasized that design can streamline policies and create sustainable change.
Nayeong An
Nayeong An is the Head of the Safety Design Team at the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP). Since 2024, she has led pilot projects aimed at improving safety in industrial environments and oversees the national certification exams for Service and Experience Design (Technician level). She also manages new service design projects. From 2013 to 2019, she carried out various public service design projects across welfare, culture, urban planning, healthcare, safety, and energy, working to expand service design adoption in Korea.
2. Design Innovation in the City of Boston — Shin-pei Tsay
Shin-pei Tsay, from the City of Boston, introduced the activities of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), an innovation unit under the direct leadership of the mayor.
“MONUM is a design-driven organization that solves various urban problems in Boston by promoting citizen engagement. It operates with a mix of government funding and donations while fostering collaboration across city departments.”
She shared projects such as the Digital Pop-up Library, public transit improvements, and climate response initiatives. MONUM was founded in 2010 as an innovation lab directly under the mayor’s office, aiming to experiment with and implement new ideas to address the city’s complex challenges. For example, QR codes were installed at bus stops, allowing citizens to access books, magazines, and newspapers without the need for registration or subscription, earning widespread praise. Other initiatives included a pilot program offering free bus services on major routes, the development of a real-time traffic information app to promote public transit use, the installation of sunshades and misting devices to combat heatwaves, and an online platform where citizens could submit and discuss ideas for city policies and services.
“Government success is only possible when citizens are engaged. Design research plays a critical role in encouraging citizen participation and ensuring the effective use of resources,” she noted.
Shin-pei Tsay
Shin-pei Tsay is the Director of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM) in the Boston Mayor’s Office, driving change across nonprofit, private, and public sectors. She leads, executes, and stabilizes key projects to help organizations seize opportunities in evolving environments. Tsay increases project funding, expands high-performing teams, and fosters a collaborative culture that enables her colleagues and partners to grow. As a leader in systems thinking with deep expertise in urban design, policy, and transportation, she is dedicated to building sustainable organizations and maximizing social impact with trust and creativity.
3. Design, Imagination, and Government — Geoff Mulgan
The most anticipated speaker in the session was undoubtedly Geoff Mulgan. A global authority not only in design but also in government innovation and social innovation, Mulgan is the founder of the influential UK think tank DEMOS and former CEO of Nesta, a foundation supporting innovation. Mulgan offered deep insights into how design can drive innovation within government and public services, reflecting on his decades of work designing services, UX, systems, and envisioning the future. He also discussed the trend of local, national, and European Union-level organizations using design to lead innovation.
“Design allows for systems thinking and interdisciplinary approaches in policy-making. To solve complex social problems, design researchers need to be equipped with expertise across various fields and strengthen their systems thinking capabilities,” he remarked.
Mulgan particularly highlighted his contributions to the establishment and operation of Policy Lab, a government innovation unit that presents a new paradigm for how design can be integrated into policy-making. Since its founding 11 years ago, Policy Lab has demonstrated how ethnography, prototyping, and visualization tools can enhance policy effectiveness. The UK government first hired a policy designer in 2017, and today the policy design community in the UK has grown to 700 members.
“The role of a good design researcher in tackling complex social and political challenges is to engage more people in social issues and encourage citizens to take action themselves.”
Mulgan has consistently inspired others, paving the way for new approaches. This year, he founded the Institute for Public Design (TIAL), advocating that public institutions, too, must be “designed” in response to societal and technological changes.
Further Reading: Designing the Future of Public Institutions (Geoff Mulgan, 2024.1), The New Design of UK Public Institutions After the 2020s (Geoff Mulgan, 2024.5).
Geoff Mulgan https://geoffmulgan.com
A global thought leader in social innovation, Geoff Mulgan is a Professor of Collective Intelligence, Public Policy, and Social Innovation at University College London (UCL). He has held visiting professor positions at the London School of Economics (LSE) and the University of Melbourne and served as a senior visiting scholar at the Ash Center at Harvard Kennedy School.
He founded the UK’s most influential think tank, Demos, and served as CEO of Nesta, a foundation supporting innovation, and the Young Foundation, which addresses structural inequalities. Mulgan introduced many ideas now used by governments and organizations worldwide, including strategies on the creative economy, coalition government, anticipatory regulation, experimentalism, open innovation, and problem-solving methods. For his contributions to the creative economy, he was knighted in the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours. Currently, he co-chairs the World Economic Forum’s group on innovation and entrepreneurship in the Fourth Industrial Revolution and serves on the advisory panel of STOA (Science and Technology Options Assessment), providing advice to the European Parliament. In 2023, he chaired the European Commission’s program on ‘whole of government innovation’. During Tony Blair’s premiership, he was Director of Strategy in the UK Prime Minister’s Office, advising on industrial policy for various governments globally, and he sits on numerous foundation boards. He has also contributed to France’s Digital Agency Board, the Scottish Government’s ‘Can Do’ panel, Seoul’s Social Innovation International Advisory Committee, and the UAE Prime Minister’s Advisory Council.
Paolo Ciuccarelli
Paolo Ciuccarelli is a Professor of Design and Founding Director of the Center for Design at Northeastern University. His research focuses on using design as a tool to understand and access complex systems, from intricate databases to dynamic urban environments. He specializes in design that aids better decision-making and effective actions.
Miso Kim
Miso Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Art + Design at Northeastern University. She holds a PhD in Design and master’s degrees in Interaction Design and Information Design from Carnegie Mellon University, where she also taught Service and Interaction Design. She previously worked as a Senior User Experience Designer at Cisco Systems. Her research explores humanistic frameworks in service design, focusing on dignity, autonomy, and participation. At Northeastern, she directs the master’s program in the College of Arts, Media & Design and contributes to the field of legal design as the Law School Design Director at New School.
* source : www.designdb.com
