Organization: Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation

Role: Deputy Director (Innovation Team Lead), program design, creative direction

Design Challenge

When I started my role as a Civic Design Strategist with Baltimore City in 2017, I quickly learned that not many people were familiar with user-centered design and how it could be applied to improve digital experiences, services, and communications in government.

I also learned that once city staff became aware of this approach, they had a huge appetite to learn more!

Design Response

In the Fall of 2019, I started a design skill share series, then called “Design for Breakfast” for city employees. Events were in person and well attended by staff from across the city with a variety of skill sets.

When the pandemic started in 2020 and our team was distributed to help respond to the crisis, we took a hiatus before starting back up with online programming in 2022.

In early 2023, I led the Innovation Team, as Deputy Director of the Baltimore Mayor’s Office of Performance and Innovation, on a rebrand.

After surveying city staff and synthesizing their responses, we launched the “Baltimore Design Lab” with new programming and a new look designed by the team’s Civic Design Lead, Cameron Morgan.

Guest speakers included team members from the Philadelphia Service Design Studio, Yao Adantor, Bobby Gillespie, and the Lab @ DC.