Human Centered Design

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What is Human Centered Design? Approaching access to justice problems leveraging human-centered design and empathy based solution building. Based on interdisciplinary methodologies, this approach encompasses the skillsets used across industries and recognized as "justice design", "public interest design", "justice innovation", "design thinking", and "user design". Common across them are foundational principles that emphasize empathy.

Human Centered Design recognizes the range of users in justice systems including self-represented litigants, judges, courts, legal aid, bar associations, libraires, techonologists and legal educators, among others. The following list of resources and currently deployed to inform human centered approaches:

  • 18F User Experience Design Guide is a starting point for UX design at 18F, an office of the U.S. General Services Administration focused on improving design and technology.
  • HiiL (The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law) is a social enterprise devoted to user-friendly justice
  • Nielson Norman Group publishes materials and articles related to UI/UX
  • Stanford Legal Design Lab, publishes contemporary materials and articles related to legal design
  • UI/UX Resources: compiled resources for UI/UX beginners
  • Usability.gov is the leading resource for user experience (UX) best practices and guidelines, serving practitioners and students in the government and private sectors. Content is managed by the Digital.gov team in the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Technology Transformation Service
  • User Interviews Field Guide, articles and guides with detailed information for conducting user testing

Skills highlighted in the materials found in this library include:

  • User-forward thinking

  • Empathy

  • Flexibility

  • Wilingness to collaborate

  • Adaptability

  • Responsiveness

  • Appreciation for feedback and iteration

  • Teachability

 

See SRLN Brief: Intro to Design Thinking (SRLN 2017) to learn more about justice design generally or explore the resources found on this page.

See Resource: SRLN Legal Design Bibliography (SRLN 2020) for a curated list of research, thought leadership, and case studies related to legal design.

 

Article: Designing Digital Services for Equitable Access (McDonald 2021)
In 1995, the U.S. National Telecommunications Infrastructure Administration was the first government body to empirically document the existence of the “digital divide”—the gap between those who do and do not have ready access to internet service. The NTIA report assumed that there was “an” internet and that fixed-line broadband to a personal computer would be the common denominator technology to enable access. But the world didn’t primarily adopt fixed-line broadband. Instead, mobile phones and the mobile internet became the primary mode of access.
Year published: 2021
Document Author: Sean McDonald
Human Centered Design Remote Technology
Report: Better _______: Strategies for User-Informed Legal Design (Michigan Advocacy Program and Graphic Advocacy Project 2021)
In 2019, the Michigan Advocacy Program (MAP) received a Technology Initiative Grant (TIG) from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) to bring UX design and usability testing training to the justice community. After having struggled with these topics in the early days of Michigan Legal Help, and then learning how important they are, MAP wanted to help others in the community understand the basics of UX design and learn how easy usability testing can be.
Year published: 2021
Document Author: Michigan Advocacy Program, Graphic Advocacy Project
Human Centered Design Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Reports Best Practices Best Practices for Self-Help Centers
Note: Sixth Amendment Challenge to Courthouse Dress Codes (Harvard Law Review 2018)
Courthouses with dress codes require the public to conform to particular standards of attire in order to enter.
Year published: 2018
Document Author: Harvard Law Review
Constitutional Issues Courts Human Centered Design Articles & SRLN Briefs
Resource: National Center for State Courts Tiny Chat 48: User Testing (NCSC 2021)
In the National Center for State Court's (NCSC) Tiny Chat 48: User Testing, Zack Zarnow and Danielle Hirsch offer six steps to user testing. "Here is the good news: You can learn how to user test in six easy steps. User testing can improve your court, improve the experience of users, and reduce staff burdens by improving communications, forms, websites, and more. Here is the bad news: those idiots from Tiny Talks make a guest appearance. Those guys are the worst."  
Year published: 2021
Document Author: National Center for State Courts (NCSC)
Human Centered Design
Resource: Guiding Principles for Post-Pandemic Court Technology (CCJ/COSCA 2020)
The Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) and Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA) published these Guiding Principles for Post-Pandemic Court Technology on July 16, 2020 with the goal to better guide state courts as they moved services to remote and virtual operations. These principles are intended to help courts embrace online platforms that proved critical to pandemic responses and remote readiness, and to ensure technology solutions are appropriately adopted as they become long-term fixtures in the court system.
Year published: 2020
Document Author: National Center for State Courts
CCJ/COSCA Leadership 100% Access to Justice Strategic Planning Human Centered Design Remote Best Practices Integration with Institutional Process Scaling in Court Systems Technology
Resource: SRLN Legal Design Bibliography (SRLN 2020)
The attached bibliography provides a comprehensive, but not exhaustive, list of resourcs and materials related to legal design research, thought leadership, and case studies demonstrating it's potential to improve access to justice.   For more information about legal design, visit SRLN's Human Centered Design section.
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Katherine Alteneder, Eduardo Gonzalez, SRLN
Human Centered Design Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Tools for Evaluating Self-Help Programs and Services Consumer Adoption
Webinar: SRLN Problem Solving Call - Remote Usability Testing and User Feedback (Mathias Burton 2020)
Mathias Burton, Director of Product Research & Design at Tyler Technologies, presented about Remote Usability Testing and User Feedback on SRLN's Problem Solving Call. View Mathias Burton's Remote Usability Testing and User Feedback on SRLN's Problem Solving Call recording to explore the topic. Slides used in the presentation are included in this page.  
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Mathias Burton
Human Centered Design Remote Tools for Evaluating Self-Help Programs and Services Evaluating a Self-Help Center Consumer Adoption
Article: Pro Bono Net's Digital Divide Blog Series (PBN 2020)
Pro Bono Net's Digital Divide Blog Series
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Josh Waldman, Pro Bono Net
100% Access to Justice Strategic Planning Human Centered Design Consumer Adoption Scaling in Court Systems Technology DEIB
Website: IAALS Honoring Families Initiative (IAALS)
The Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System Honoring Families Initiative is a project aimed at promoting new approaches to improve outcomes in legal issues related to divorce, separation, and custody.   Visit the IAALS Honoring Families Initiative homepage for more information.
Document Author: IAALS
Human Centered Design 100% Access to Justice Law Schools Research
Evaluation: The Utah Online Dispute Resolution Platform: A Usability Evaluation and Report (i4J Program 2020)
The Utah Online Dispute Resolution Platform: A Usability Evaluation and Report was published by the Innovation for Justice (i4j) Program at the University of Arizona School of Law, led by Professor Stacy Butler. The following is the report's executive summary.  
Year published: 2020
Document Author: Stacy Butler, Sara Mauet, Christopher L. Griffin, Jr., Mackenzie S. Pish
Human Centered Design Research Reports, Evaluations, Best Practices, Surveys Best Practices Surveys Technology Online Dispute Resolution