Branden Klayko reports on experimental efforts in the emerging field of service design, which aims to improve interactions between public services and their customers through research, advocacy, and technical assistance.
Klayko writes about a new Brooklyn-based non-profit called Public Policy Lab (PPL), who seek to "improve efficiencies between the public agencies and their audience, while also saving money", by looking at the ways in which agencies, such as the DMV or Post Office, interact with their customers through the design of their physical spaces, forms, and products.
PPL is currently working on a project with Parsons' new interdisciplinary service design program, the DESIS Lab, to improve the flow of information and communication between the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and its clients.
According to Klayko, "While service design has long been employed in the private sector, [PPL executive director Chelsea] Mauldin believes this approach has broad applications in the public sector. She said service design is picking up where public space design began several decades ago."
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