Anatomy of a Design Catastrophe: Lessons from the Iowa Caucuses

This past Monday, February 3, were the Iowa Democratic caucuses. We are still awaiting a conclusive winner, a week later. Hearing the reporting, like many people, made me frustrated. Not because I wanted to know the who had won, like everyone else, but because I was witnessing a failure that better design most certainly could have prevented. The confusion, unclear results, and delay in reporting have left everyone with suspicion.

When I speak about design in this sense, I’m using the broadest definition possible, which my mentor Milton Glaser taught me: Design is the act of moving something from an existing condition (in this case, the previous iteration of the caucus tracking and reporting) to a preferred condition (the new, improved tracking and reporting).

I am not talking only about the UX of the new caucus app, or the experience in various locations, or the way the results were reported or not. I’m referring to the overarching experience, from the absolute beginning of the design process, leading up to the ultimate goal: the votes of Iowans selecting who they would like to be the Democratic presidential nominee, reported in an accurate and timely fashion.

It prompted me to do an assignment during my class in the MFA Design Department at School of Visual Arts: Anatomy of a Design…