
The UK government published last week the Public Design Evidence Review (PDER), an ambitious attempt to answer a deceptively simple question: How do we create better public policies and services that consistently achieve their intended outcomes? One of the answers, the report argues, lies in public designāāāa term the report introduces.
From the creation of the Government Digital Service (GDS) to the innovative work of the Cabinet Officeās Policy Lab, the UK has seen compelling proofs of concept that design can help governments not only deliver services better but also imagine and shape them differently. Yet, to move from isolated success stories to widespread impact, public design needs to scaleāāāespecially upstream, in the early stages of policymaking. Thatās what the PDER set out toĀ explore.