Design is Political
As user researchers and designers, we often create products and services that impact people’s lives. It’s one of the attractions of what we do.
Design can shape behaviour, influence decisions, and even affect social norms. But what happens when our designs become entangled in political debates and controversies? How can we navigate these complex issues, stay true to our principles, and protect our psychological safety as we strive to make a difference?
In this blog post, I’ll share some lessons I was lucky to learn early in my career as a DWP Civil Servant long before I became a user researcher. In 2018, I led user research at Disclosure Scotland on ‘when and what to ask about sex and gender on forms’. Asking the question was part of the data gathered for applying for a criminal record check. This question was more controversial than anything I’ve worked on. It resulted in me receiving nasty messages on Twitter. I’ve turned the lessons from that work and my time with DWP into ten tips that I hope will help others:
Tip 1: Understand the political landscape
When working on a service that has political implications, it’s crucial to understand the political landscape. Identifying our stakeholders, their interests, and the political pressures that they face gives our work credibility. You might find a window of opportunity to influence policy and legislation—one of the rare big wins. But they happen.
Tip 2: Stay true to your principles
As user researchers and designers, we uphold ethical principles and advocate for user needs. Conflicting interests and pressures need to be balanced. Exploring these is a healthy space to be in. It’s also how we grow and learn.
I believe staying true to evidence-based decisions is essential despite political pressure. But, we need to recognise that starting with user needs is an excellent place to begin; but not all user needs can be met despite the evidence. Understanding the reasons for this helps facilitate a different conversation, e.g. how might we mitigate and communicate the risk to users? Researching and designing a journey for this is interesting and meaningful.
Tip 3: Be prepared for pushback
When designing for political issues, preparing for pushback is essential. Political debates can be contentious, and stakeholders may have strong opinions that conflict with your user research findings and design decisions. Some things I’ve found helpful:
- Actively seek pushback and embrace it. It’ll help prevent you from making big mistakes.
- Write down what challenges you think you’ll get.
- Prepare responses.
- Agree on who’s best to respond. It often isn’t you. It might need to be the departmental Comms team or Press Office. Engage these people early.
- Stay transparent and accountable. This helps build trust and credibility with stakeholders. It creates an environment for compromise and a space for new opportunities.
Tip 4: Build allies and advocate for your work
Working on controversial services can be isolating. Feeling discouraged or powerless is common. Building allies and advocates for your work can help you stay motivated and gain support—find great allies who share your principles and advocate for the user’s needs but make sure that they can help you understand the bigger picture. Navigating complex political debates is easier to do as a team.
Tip 5: Celebrate small wins
Designing for political issues can be challenging, and it may take time to see the impact of your work. I learned a few weeks ago that a service I worked on five years ago has just gone live. I feel proud to know I played a part in it. It’s a long game, so celebrating small wins can help us stay motivated and energised. For example; positive user feedback, recognition from colleagues, and raising awareness of the topic will help maintain a sense of purpose and meaning in your work.
Tip 6: Know when to let go
Despite our best efforts, there will be situations where we need to accept that some things are beyond our control. We might feel like it’s a personal failure. Instead of worrying about what others think, worrying you’ll be seen as a quitter or lose credibility in your field. Focus on what you contributed. Find another service that’s just as meaningful.
Tip 7: Reframe the situation
Reframe the situation by looking at it from multiple perspectives. While you may not be able to control the circumstances that led to the letting go of the service, you can control your response to the situation. Focus on what you can do to move forward.
Tip 8: Build new relationships
As you move on from a service, focus on building new relationships. Embrace the opportunity to connect with stakeholders, organisations, and colleagues who share the same values and offer support and collaboration as part of their culture. Expanding your network helps you learn from diverse perspectives, grow personally and professionally, and maintain your passion. Don’t underestimate the power of this.
Tip 9: Be kind to yourself
User researchers and designers pour their heart and soul into their work, and it’s only natural to feel attached to a service. But circumstances change; sometimes we must let go of the service even if we’ve invested lots of time and effort. Caring for ourselves is essential to maintaining our passion, drive, and good health.
Tip 10: If you’re a junior reading this. Find a mentor to help you navigate complex situations. If you’re a senior or leader reading this, invest some time helping others understand that ‘Design is Political’, and it’ll be one of the best things you can teach them.
Before I finish, I want to thank some great people I worked with at Disclosure Scotland: Anne Walker, the content designer, and Steph Holland, the user researcher. Steph joined me on stage at SDinGov and the first GDS International Gov Conference. We had great fun along the way, telling our story.
The past is gone, but if I help one person by sharing my story, then that’s good enough for me.
Update: 4/2/25 I’d also recommend reading The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins for practical tips.
If you got to here, thanks for reading.
Jane
Founder @reidbetweenthelines.co.uk | User-Centred Design Consultancy
Co-founder | ResearchU Training Academy. Delivering specialist trauma-informed user research training with Janice Hannaway. Researchutraining.com
#design #political #psychologicalsafety #userresearch
