A Design Space for Legal and Systems Capability: Interfaces for Self-Help in Complex Systems

Abstract

This article proposes a design space for designers and researchers working on the challenge of building people's capability to navigate complex systems, like the legal one. This capability is necessary for people whose rights, quality of life, and wellbeing necessitate them navigating bureaucratic systems. This design space aims to empower people to understand the system they are operating in, diagnose what paths are open to them, choose among the available paths, and then navigate the chosen path to resolution. We developed this design spaceincluding patterns, strategies, and framesthrough a series of exploratory design workshops, a cross-disciplinary literature review, and refinement with designers working in the domains of legal, health care, finance, insurance, and government services.