Here, I fixed it for you
Why Looks Matter for your Government Document
This is the first in a mySidewalk series on getting eyes on your local gov work — read the intro article HERE to catch up, and make sure to follow this publication and author to get notified when the next installment drops!
I am not a graphic designer. In fact, I’m not an anything designer. I am barely a designer of my own clothes, as I rely on a box of rental clothing to be delivered to my door to keep me from wearing the same Topshop jeans or H&M jumpsuit every day of the year.
But this doesn’t mean I don’t know what I like to look at or read. In fact, I was an Art History major thankyouverymuch so I am an expert in looking at stuff and reading deeper meaning into it than I should. I also love books. All books, any book. Unless it’s non-fiction with many footnotes. I am currently juggling three books of very different profiles: an essay collection from a comedy writer in his 50’s; A Liann Moriarty book I somehow never read and, finally, a book about Americans in the Spanish Civil War. Is there a tie that binds these choices? Yes. Humanity.
And guess what isn’t currently perched on my side table waiting to be read tonight in bed?
Any government plan or budget.
Let me ask you a question. Which of the following would you most intrigued to pick up and skim?
City of Townsville Budget 2020
Or
Prosperity for All: The Townsville Blueprint for Success
Sign me up for that second one! Bonus points if there are smiling kids on the front at a Farmers Market!
(I should probably do a caveat here that I am partial to interactive dashboards over reports, for obvious reasons, but everything I talk about next should be applicable to any format)
This article is about the small things that add up to success and how these little shifts in thinking help to make the blood, sweat and tears you put into your plan worth it.
But first, a question: What does success look like for you? If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it. Let’s take a look at how the city of Kansas City, Missouri defines success:
Only 30% of residents are satisfied with their opportunities to engage. As a former employee of this city, I know you could not throw a rock without hitting some sort of town hall or engagement session. They had in person engagement, online engagement, 311, NextDoor takeovers. They did everything in the normal local gov playbook to get people to care, short of actually throwing rocks at people. The worst thing is that engagement satisfaction is way higher in more affluent areas, which is just all sorts of disappointing.
Map #1: Percent of resident satisfied with opportunities to engage with government, by zip code
Map #2: Percent of resident satisfied with their financial situation, by zip code
Even if you don’t have a resident insight survey, think of some other success metrics. Is it attendance at evening town halls? Number of people who downloaded your pdf off the city website? Some sort of metric for diversity in participation? Twitter mentions?
Do not go any further in this series until you figure out what that metric of success is for YOU.
At mySidewalk, we use a couple things to track success: consistent growth in unique page views and (this is especially fun), average session duration on a dashboard. We’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t, and one of the consistent themes across our superstar data stories is a seemingly innocuous choice: what to call your document/plan/report.
While I appreciate the minimalism of calling your government document this:
I really appreciate the poetry of something like this instead:
Title and imagery go so far in getting your government document from the desk drawer to the bedside table!
Here are some more of the best-dressed in government documents:
Ugh! The CENTURY AGENDA!?!? I don’t even know what the Port of Seattle does but I want to now!
Ready for some retro glory?
I’m considering turning that one into a clothing line, I’m so besotted.
And while I am disappointed in the title of this plan out of Miami, is it not the most gorgeous cover of a government document you’ve ever seen? Wouldn’t you put it on your coffee table?
And maybe edging towards a little too artistic is this gem out of the Chicago area:
What are we going ON to? What is that white circle? I WANT TO KNOW MORE!!!!
I know what you are thinking. “Sarah, I don’t have a graphic designer on staff! I couldn’t possibly accomplish this! I don’t have money for a consultant!”
First of all, stop yelling at me.
Second of all, you don’t need any help. You can do this yourself.
For example, I stumbled upon this gem of a Microsoft Word document from the city of Honolulu planning department.
There is nothing fancy about this document. It clearly did not require a professional designer to put some effort into trying just a tiny bit harder than the status quo. I legit got chills when I saw the tag line “Your Island, Your Future” — there is a lot of nuance wrapped up in that one phrase.
I could go on about the imagery used in government documents ad nauseum, but to do so would require me to publicly shame people that I respect. If you want some examples of what not to do, track me down on the internet and let’s have a chat. Or listen to my webinar on the topic. The best rule of thumb is to just use images that make people feel things — don’t try to capture what you’re talking about with literal images of said thing.
I’m sorry to break it to you, but your government document will not be a New York Times bestseller. But getting your organization to do better at engaging communities starts by remembering that little things do matter — that you are not only appealing to “the people” as residents of your community, but as consumers hungry for inspiration. Think like a novelist, an artist, a filmmaker or… jeez… even think like the marketing firms that huge corporations hire to sell garbage products.
Find one thing today you can change the name of. Find one cool image that makes you feel something that you can incorporate as a background image on your Power Point, Google Slides or Prezi. Before you share your document ask yourself: Does this title sound like something I would actually want to read and does it LOOK cool?
This is, of course, just one building block in an overall strategy of getting more eyes on the work you are doing. Next up, “No New Plans”, an article about the importance of leaning on what’s been done and resisting the urge to waltz in like you’re the first person to think of something.
I told you this series was going to be about tough love :-)
