Redesigning America's Future - US National Design Policy Initiative

theunIted statesIs In need ofa redesIgn.The U.s. has lost its economic competitiveness. Its roleas a beacon of democracy has dimmed.Our economy is in its longest slump since the end ofWorld War ii. The National Debt has reached $10.6trillion dollars. Our unemployment rate has increasedto a 15-year high of 6.7 percent.Scandals, corruption, and the Iraq War have eroded thesense of American democracy and the trust in the transparencyand effectiveness of our government.Design serves to advance the goals of the United States’economic competitiveness by saving time and moneyand simplifying the use, manufacturing, and maintenanceof goods and services. It enhances democraticgovernance by improving the performance and deliveryof government services.¹Thus, the American design communities offer tendesign policy proposals for how we can partner withthe government to help redesign America’s future.1

LIST OFten proposals1 Formalize an American Design Council to partnerwith the U.s. Government.2 Set guidelines for legibility, literacy, and accessibilityfor all government communications.3 Target 2030 for carbon neutral buildings.4 Create an Assistant Secretary for Design andInnovation position within the Department ofCommerce to promote design.5 Expand national grants to support interdisciplinarycommunity design assistance programs based onhuman-centered design principles.6 Commission a report to measure and documentdesign’s contribution to the U.s. economy.7 Revive the Presidential Design Awards to be heldevery year and use triple bottom-line criteria (economic,social, and environmental benefit) for evaluation.8 Establish national grants for basic design research.9 Modify the patent process to reflect the types ofintellectual property created by designers.10 Encourage direct government investment in designinnovation.3

“Good design can help us meet ourcommitment to improve the efficiencyof government … and reaffirm ourconcern for the human side ofgovernment.”DESIGN POLICY FORdeMocratIcgovernancepresident Jimmy Carter²Design makes government policy something people can see, hear, touch,taste, and smell through designed objects, communications, environments,and experiences. The improved performance of government design canpositively affect the experience of trust, accountability, and effectivenessbetween the U.s. government and the People.Design policy for democratic governance takes the form of designstandards and Policy as Designed.Design standards consist of regulations and guidelines for safety,technical quality, sustainability, and social inclusion. They help encodethe values of democracy into everything America creates.Policy as Design addresses design’s role specifically in government policycreation, the public understanding of issues, and the implementation ofpolicy. Design improves policy success by making it relevant to the People.The first five proposals represent the American design communities’ ideasfor how we can serve in the redesign of the U.S.’s democratic governance.5

polIcy as desIgned: CREATING THEU.S. GOVERNMENT’S PARTNER IN DESIGNdesIgn standards: INCLUSION1 Formalize an American Design Council2to partner with the U.s. Government.Set guidelines for legibility, literacy,and accessibility for all governmentcommunications.The first proposal consists of the formalization of an organizational bodyto partner with the u.s. government in the planning and implementationof these policy proposals: The American Design Council.Established in the 1980s, the American Design Council was organizedas an ad-hoc group of design organizations concerned with the changedfunding of design under President Reagan’s administrations.The proposal is to formalize an organization called the AmericanDesign Council to serve as the national strategic body for design in theu.s. and made up of members representing the American professionaldesign associations, the design accreditation bodies; and the leaders ofFederal, State, and Local government design services groups.The organization’s operational expenses and strategic initiatives would befunded in partnership with its members and the u.s. government.The Presidential Memorandum of June 1, 1998 — Plain Language inGovernment Writing, Section 508 for Web Accessibility, and certain multilingualprovisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1964 represent some ofthe efforts to establish design guidelines in government communications.In Appendix A of the Title iii Regulations, the Americans with DisabilitiesAct (ada) of 1990 Standards for Accessible Design provides one of themost sophisticated set of design regulations. It guides a range of designsfrom sidewalks and ramps, signage and doors, ATMs and drinking fountains,to toilet stalls and seating areas. The principles represented in theada design standards needs to be applied to all forms of governmentcommunications.The establishment and regulation of design standards for legibility, literacy,and accessibility for all government communications ensures that allAmerican people will have access to the information they need to engagewith u.s. democratic processes.6 7

desIgn standards: SUSTAINABILITYpolIcy as desIgned: POLICY CREATION3 Target 2030 for carbon neutral buildings. 4Create an Assistant Secretary for Design andInnovation position within the Departmentof Commerce to promote design.A comprehensive u.s. policy regarding sustainability has still yet tobe proposed and cannot be written without the design communities’expertise and experience with Cradle to Cradle eco-effectiveness.³In January of 2006, Architecture 2030 officially issued the ‘2030Challenge’ that calls for (1) all new buildings and developments to bedesigned to use half the fossil fuel energy they would typically consume,(2) at a minimum, an equal amount of existing building area be renovatedannually to use half the amount of fossil fuel energy, and (3) the fossil fuelreduction standard for all new buildings be increased to 60% in 2010,70% in 2015, 80% in 2020, 90% in 2025 and carbon neutral by 2030.⁴As part of the Energy Bill of January 2008, the Challenge targets are nowrequired for all new and renovated Federal buildings beginning in 2010.But Federal buildings are less than two percent of all u.s. building stock.The targets should be expanded into all new or renovated u.s. buildings.The Design Director for the National Endowment for the Arts representsone of the highest design positions represented in the Federal government,but the activities and contributions of design extend beyond themandate of the nea.Design’s contribution also fall under the mandates of the u.s. Departmentof Commerce, yet there is no design position represented in the departmentto oversee and administer design as a specialized industry.By creating a position of Assistant Secretary for Design and Innovationin the Dept. of Commerce, the u.s. government would provide accountabilityfor the role of design in policy implementation across all areasof public policy. The government would also establish the basis for theeffective administration of policies for design promotion, innovation,and design standards.8 9

polIcy as desIgned: PROBLEM SOLVING5Expand national grants to support interdisciplinarycommunity design assistanceprograms based on human-centereddesign principles.Community design assistance programs are an important part of extendingthe direct reach of design where it has the most impact — locally.Often these programs provide the best opportunity for local communitiesto understand the public policy codes and regulations that affect them.Through the National Endowment for the Arts and the EnvironmentalProtection Agency, many programs have been funded to support designfor the built environment in rural and urban settings. Yet, the experienceof community involves all human-made objects, communications,environments, and experiences; and thus design assistance needs to beconducted in a human-centered holistic way.The expansion of national design grants to support interdisciplinarydesign assistance based on human-centered design principles ensurescommunity empowerment in all designed aspects of their communities.“The legitimate object of governmentis to do for a community of people,whatever they need to have done,but cannot do at all, or cannot sowell do for themselves, in theirseparate and individual capacities.”president abraham linColn10

DESIGN POLICY FOReconoMIccoMpetItIveness“Design policy is the promotingof technology and design as a meansof gaining economic advantage byenhancing national competitiveness.”John hesKett⁵Design drives innovation that supports the entrepreneurial spirit andeconomic vitality of the United States of America.Design policy for economic competitiveness consists of design promotionand innovation policy activities.Boosting both global and domestic demand for American products andservices, design promotion activities include the establishment of designcenters, publications, shops, competitions, and exhibitions.Enhancing economic growth, innovation policy activities increase theresearch and development (r&d), government procurement, transfer anddiffusion, and intellectual property of design products and services.Aiding in job creation, innovation policy also supports design’s contributionwithin small and medium businesses, large enterprises, highereducation, and industry employment.The last five proposals represent the American design communities’ ideasfor how we can serve in the redesign of the U.S.’s economic competitiveness.13

desIgn proMotIon: PUBLICATIONSdesIgn proMotIon: COMPETITIONS6 Commission a report to measure and7document design’s contribution to theU.s. economy.Revive the Presidential Design Awards tobe held every year and use triple bottom-linecriteria (economic, social, and environmentalbenefit) for evaluation.The design industries — architectural services, landscape architecturalservices, interior design, graphic design, industrial design, custom computerprogramming (including interaction design), computer systemsdesign, advertising agencies, commercial photography *— generate $251billion u.s. dollars in estimated revenue for taxable employer firms andrepresent 15% of all professional, scientific, and technical services smallbusiness firms.⁶Yet, the question remains of what is design’s full contribution to theu.s. economy and how can it be increased.Similar to the United Kingdom’s Cox Review, the commissioning of areport to accurately measure design’s contribution to the u.s. economywould establish the baseline metrics of design’s support of the UnitedStates’ economic competitiveness.⁷The American design communities hold over 50 different design competitionsand awards. Although the Cooper-Hewitt Museum National DesignAwards exists, there is no award that bestows as much honor and prestigethan the Presidential Design Award. And yet, it is given only every tenyears to Federal projects.Each year both established and emerging designers create works of significanteconomic, social, and environmental benefit that are now overlooked.The revival of the Presidential Design Awards every year would provideopportunities for global recognition of the American design communities’exceptional solutions to the both u.s. and global economic, social, andenvironmental challenges through design. Categories for Federal andnon-governmental design would expand the recognition of Americandesign that performs.* naics 54131, 54132, 54141, 54142, 54143, 54149, 541512, 54181, 54192214 15

InnovatIon polIcy: R&D IN DESIGN INDUSTRY10 Encourage direct government investmentin design innovation.“There is no reason we can’t do this.We are a people of boundlessindustry and ingenuity. We areinnovators and entrepreneursand have the most dedicated andproductive workers in the world.”There are many different types of innovations in business and socialfinance, process, product and service offerings, and delivery.¹⁰ The u.s.government has offered direct investment in the financial sector in hopesthat it will reinvest that money in America’s product and service industries.Yet, that seems to not be enough.The success of products such as the iPod, an mp3 player only differentiatedfrom its competitors by its innovative product and interaction design,shows that the u.s. maintains its competitive edge through design. Whilethe iPod is assembled in China, it is “Designed by Apple in California.”As part of the proposed economic-stimulus program, the governmentintends to build roads, schools, green industries, and other infrastructure.These all start as designs. The direct government investment in designinnovation would ensure that these projects are designed to performinnovatively to address America’s economic challenges.remarKs of president baraCK obamaWeeKly address, JanUary 3, 200918

The ten listed proposals are a fraction of the over 60 policyproposals generated at the 2008 National Design PolicySummit held in Washington D.C. on November 11–12,2008. Additional policy proposals and the Summit FinalReport are available on the U.S. National Design PolicyInitiative website, http://www.designpolicy.orgContact:Elizabeth (Dori) Tunstall, Ph.D.U.S. National Design Policy InitiativeEmail: info@designpolicy.orgPhone: +1 (212) 807-1990Credit:Author: Elizabeth (Dori) TunstallDesign: Matthew Muñoz | DesignHeals | www.designheals.comPhotography: Tim Adkins, Sean BurgessTypeface: Adobe Caslon Pro, Gotham and National23

endnotes¹ National Endowment for the Arts, (1973). First Federal Design AssemblyReport. Cambridge, ma: mit Press.² National Endowment for the Arts, (1978). Federal Design Matters (15)August 1978. p. 2.³ William McDonough and Michael Braungart, (2002). Cradle to Cradle:Remaking the Way We Make Things. New York: North Point Press.⁴ Edward Mazria and Kristina Kershner, (2008). The 2030 Blueprint:Solving Climate Change Saves Billions. 2030 Inc.⁵ John Heskett, (1999). Toothpicks & Logos: Design in Everyday Life.New York: Oxford University Press. p. 108.⁶ U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, (2005).Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2005. Washington d.C.: U.s. Census Bureau.⁷ Sir George Cox, (2005). The Cox Review of Creativity in Business.London: Her Majesty’s Treasury. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/coxreview_index.htm⁸ Nigel Cross, (2006). Designerly Ways of Knowing. New York:Springer-Verlag.⁹ U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, (2005). A Guide To Filing A DesignPatent Application. Washington d.C.: U.s. Department of Commerce.http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/design/index.html¹⁰Doblin, (2004). Ten Types of Innovation. http://www.doblin.com/IdeasIndexFlashFS.htm24