nudge (nicely)

The backstory: Between 2017 and 2024, I have personally worked on over 50 government form redesigns with over a dozen DC Government agencies. Form design brings together plain language, graphic design, information architecture, and behavioral insights to make clear how a resident goes from, “I need a service” to receiving it. But form design can–and often should–involve process improvement, because no amount of lipstick can make a bad process good. 

As a designer at The Lab, I’m an outsider stepping into an agency’s service delivery. It can be intimidating–and foolish–to suggest things should be done differently.  That’s why my form work starts with process mapping. I bring program managers and front line staff together and draw on their expertise to white board, in granular detail, what’s happening for the service user and what are the steps happening behind the scenes. 

When I start from a place of deference to the program experts, I build a working relationship with them. I earn the right to ask, “why?” I produce more informed process improvement ideas; and I earn the chance to nudge them. I’ll highlight a few examples:

Accessible applications for those with mobility limitations. In DC, residents with mobility limitations can request that street parking be reserved for them in front of their home. In process mapping the resident experience we realized that applicants had to go to their doctor to complete a medical form, take that to the DMV to apply for a disability parking placard, then take a new medical form to their doctor again, complete the Department of Transportation’s parking application, take that to be notarized, and then bring the application packet to the Department of Transportation for submission. 

That’s five in-person trips for someone with limited mobility. It surprised the agency who had never looked at the process from start to finish. The act of process mapping made space for me to ask, “how can we minimize the physical trips an applicant needs to take?” I suggested that we standardize the two medical forms so there was just one trip to the doctor. Check. I asked do we need notarization? Nope. We removed that. What if we allowed people to mail or email their application. Sure, we can do that. My nice nudging eliminated three of the five applicant trips. 

Gender designation on school enrollment forms. In 2018 I worked with DC Public Schools to revise their enrollment packet that is used each year by parents of 50,000 students. We made many changes to the pages, but the one that drew the most attention was confined to a single, small box that asked, “gender.” 

When I reviewed the existing packet, I noticed there were only “male” and “female” checkboxes available. There wasn’t much precedent for inclusive gender designations. It wasn’t until 2022 that the U.S. Department of State allowed citizens to put “X” as gender marker on their passport. But DC’s DMV had begun allowing “unspecified” a  year before our school enrollment redesign, so I nudged. Can we add a “non-binary” option? To the school district’s credit, they agreed without hesitation. 

Since the 2019/2020 school year, DC students have room to self- identify and tell the District how best they can be served. Read more about the community’s response to this work. 

Simplifying dietary accommodations for students. In redesigning the same DC Public Schools’ enrollment packet, there were three forms related to a student’s dietary needs–the Fluid Milk Substitution Form, the Medical Statement for Dietary Accommodations, and the Philosophical/Religious Dietary Restrictions Form. Parents found them cumbersome and confusing. 

When I engaged in a dialogue with DCPS’s Food and Nutrition team–not a directive–program staff felt comfortable being candid about where things could be better. Turns out, staff didn’t like the three forms either. Parents often used the wrong form or missed one of the three, which resulted in more administrative work for their team. 

When staff shared that, then there was space for me to ask, “could we have just one form for dietary accommodations?” They agreed. Parents could relax knowing that their student’s complete dietary plan was recorded in a single place and school staff had less paperwork to track.

When you build relationships, you earn the right to investigate the “whys” and nudge for new ways of doing things.