Design isn’t just for designers: Recognising and building on design principles in local government
“Design is basic to all human activity… any attempt to separate design, to make it a thing-by-itself, works counter to the fact that design is the primary underlying matrix of life. Design is composing an epic poem, executing a mural, painting a masterpiece, writing a concerto. But design is also cleaning and reorganizing a desk drawer, pulling an impacted tooth, baking an apple pie, choosing sides for a backlot baseball game, and educating a child.”
– Victor Papanek (Pioneering designer, educator, and advocate for responsible design)
This view can come across as extreme, but I agree with its core idea. Some types of design are less intuitive and need more thought and concerted effort than others, and this is exactly why we have product designers, service designers, and other design specialists. However, at its core – most things we create or make decisions on are an act of design.
In that spirit, I’d like to explore three underrated design skills I see local government officers using every day, and suggest some tools we can borrow from design.
Working with uncertainty
In local government, there is pressure to have all the answers. Yet the reality of local government work is full of unknowns: Will residents use this new service? Will this policy have unintended consequences? How will community needs change over time?
How design approaches it
Designers have embraced uncertainty as part of their professional practice. When asked “How long will this take?” or “Will this work?” good designers often respond with “It depends”. Design has shown us that being comfortable in uncertainty is a sign of rigor, not weakness.
Tool we can borrow
Assumption Mapping: A structured method for documenting and testing our uncertainties by writing down what we think we know and systematically validating each assumption.
Making thoughtful tradeoffs
In local government, every new program, service and decision involves balancing needs and resources. Should we change the way the service is set up? Or should we provide support to help residents more easily navigate the service? Should we build a new platform in-house? Or should we direct resources and energy towards commissioning and upskilling? Even deciding to maintain current services involves tradeoffs – every pound spent maintaining old systems is a pound not spent on new ones. These are often framed as limitations – what we can’t do, what we have to give up.
How design approaches it
Every choice, including choosing not to change something, is actually an opportunity to focus on what matters most to the people we design for. Designers reframe tradeoffs from compromises into conscious choices. Rather than seeing constraints as limitations, they use them as tools to discover what’s truly important.
This is illustrated beautifully by surgeon Atul Gawande, in his book ‘Being Mortal’. When treating end-stage illnesses, he shifted from framing choices as binary decisions (continue treatment or stop altogether) to asking patients what mattered most to them. This reframing often revealed that aggressive treatment would work against patients’ core priorities, like being lucid enough to spend quality time with family. The question became not ‘Should we continue to save your life or stop?’ but ‘What is most valuable to you at this stage?’
Tool we can borrow
User Needs Statements: A way to clearly articulate what people are trying to achieve in their own words, which helps evaluate tradeoffs by focusing on what matters most to them rather than what we think we must give up.
Working in loops
In local government, work naturally follows cycles. Annual budget reviews, regular policy updates, periodic consultations, and ongoing feedback through complaints or service monitoring. These cycles are built into how local authorities operate – they are already part of our governance and accountability structures.
How design approaches it
While both government and design work in cycles, designers intentionally break down long cycles into much smaller ones. Where the local government might plan a service change over a year, designers might run ten small experiments in that same time. These rapid cycles help teams learn and adapt quickly, rather than waiting months to discover if something works
Tool we can borrow
Rapid Prototyping: A way to quickly create simple versions of ideas to test with users and learn what works, rather than waiting to build the perfect solution.
These three approaches are already part of how local government officers work. The difference is that designers have developed specific tools and methods to strengthen these practices. This isn’t about doing away with designers – there’s plenty of complex, thoughtful design work that needs dedicated designers to work on. It’s about recognising and building on the design skills we already use to serve our communities better.

Anjali Moorthy