Rosenverse
D.E.A.R.R. Diaries (Discipline, Experience, Architecture, Reflection + Revolution)

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

D.E.A.R.R. Diaries (Discipline, Experience, Architecture, Reflection + Revolution)

Gold
Wednesday, November 16, 2022 • Civic Design 2022
Share the love for this talk
D.E.A.R.R. Diaries (Discipline, Experience, Architecture, Reflection + Revolution)
Speakers: Frances Yllana , Ann Buechner , Jess Jones and Betsy Ramaccia
Link:

Summary

Four female leads at Coforma reflect on their first year in civic design: a Product Design Lead, a Design Research Lead, a Content Design Lead and a DesignOps Lead. Using diaries, they'll journal about their prior experiences (10 years back), their first year at Coforma, and postulate on the 10 years ahead. Framed in their respective areas of practice, our four panelists will discuss design as discipline, as experience, as architecture and as vehicle for revolutionary change. We hope to uncover multi-potentialities within the civic design and technology space that could influence endless improvements within the private sector.

Key Insights

  • Entering Civic design with fresh eyes allows designers to both see systemic issues and bring prior experience to inform change.

  • Self-reflection questions like who you design for and who you serve reveal hidden power dynamics and potential saviorism.

  • Power in design is situational and fluid; one can have power in some contexts and not others, requiring continuous reflection.

  • Gatekeeping in design happens at individual, organizational, and practice levels, often through credentials, jargon, and hierarchy.

  • Centricity of connection and relationships with users and colleagues is more impactful than pure technical skill or methods.

  • The heroic designer narrative is limiting; Civic design requires collaborative, communal approaches without a single hero.

  • Design researchers can shift from improving service delivery to influencing policy and early-stage government innovation.

  • Long-term, relational engagement with communities is essential to address power imbalances and rebuild trust in Civic design.

  • Climate impact is a critical emerging concern for designers, with digital consumption contributing to significant emissions.

  • Design operations in government can reduce team friction, enabling focus on human-centered design and community impact rather than processes alone.

Notable Quotes

"I was obnoxiously proud in my 20s, humbled and service-driven in my 30s."

"Designers have long thought of themselves as heroes, but we had to unpack that conception."

"There’s a fine line between a service mindset and saviorism — am I helping communities or using them to feel superior?"

"Power is liquid — you might have it in one space and not in another."

"Gatekeeping happens through language as much as through who’s in the room."

"Centering connection and relationships rather than transactions is the true happy path in design."

"We don’t need another hero — we’re on a journey together, sometimes converging, sometimes diverging."

"Government might expand its self-perception from service provider to facilitator who partners with constituents."

"Design research should be involved in setting early policy vision, not just in delivering on it later."

"Clear is kind — clarity and kindness in content design create meaningful experiences for all."

Ask the Rosenbot
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Brad Peters
Short Take #1: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Christopher Noessel
AI of the now: Designing for Agents
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Ned Dwyer
The Future of DesignOps is Tool Consolidation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 2 Intro
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Rich Mironov
How Can Product Managers and UXers Help Each Other (and Why are Product Folks so Annoying Sometimes)?
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Sara Logel
Your Colleagues are Your Users Too
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Nicole Aleong
Future Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Five Years of DesignOps
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Dave Hora
Advice for Establishing Research
2022 • Advancing Research Community
Liam Thurston
Why Your Design Team Is Quitting, And How To Fix It
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Prerna Makanawala
Achieving Balanced Design Consistency
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Vicky Teinaki
Short Take #3: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Barb Spanton
Doing Work That Matters: A Look Beyond The Idealistic Notion of 'Doing Meaningful Work'
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Michael Weir
Mixed Methods and Behavioural Science
2023 • Rosenfeld Community
Meghan Bausone
Systems Thinking and Design Innovation: Working with Leverage Points in Rural Maternal Health Systems
2026 • Rosenfeld Community

More Videos

Sam Proulx

"Every piece of assistive technology is highly customized for the individual, so labs often fail to replicate users’ ideal setups."

Sam Proulx

SUS: A System Unusable for Twenty Percent of the Population

September 29, 2021

Josh Clark

"The future should not be self-driving. It’s up to us, not the technology, to figure out the right way to use AI."

Josh Clark Veronika Kindred

Sentient Design, AI, and the Radically Adaptive Experience (1st of 3 seminars)

January 15, 2025

Taylor Klassman

"Impact of research is not always immediate or linear; it can be a long-term, complex process to measure."

Taylor Klassman

Shaping the Next Era of UX Research: Collaborative Forum

March 11, 2025

Tara Tressel

"When I gave the model my list of interview questions, it actually made for a really bizarre participant experience because the model just went down the line of the different questions."

Tara Tressel

Investigating qualitative depth of AI-moderated interviews

March 10, 2026

Angy Peterson

"Communications authored for one cultural group may have limited engagement from others, underscoring the need for tailored messaging."

Angy Peterson Bob Ainsbury

More Than Technology: Personalized Public Sector Experiences

December 10, 2021

Jemma Ahmed

"You have to say no sometimes. You have the power to put guardrails in place and enforce them."

Jemma Ahmed Steve Carrod Chris Geison Dr. Shadi Janansefat Christopher Nash

Democratization: Working with it, not against it [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

July 24, 2024

Erika Flowers

"Focus on the destination, not the vehicle, because AI tools will change every single day."

Erika Flowers

AI-Readiness: Preparing NASA for a Data-Driven, Agile Future

June 10, 2025

Marc Rettig

"It’s really about design doing, not just knowing the theory but acting and behaving differently."

Marc Rettig Julie Baher Phil Gilbert Nathan Shedroff

Discussion

May 14, 2015

Jen Briselli

"Psychological safety may not be something you can actively engineer; it emerges from conditions that make learning possible."

Jen Briselli

Learning Is The Engine: Designing & Adapting in a World We Can’t Predict

April 16, 2025