ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how Civic Design produced a series of research-based instructional documents for county election officials: Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent. It describes how Civic Design's content addresses BUROC situations, who creates plain-language content in Civic Design, how Civic Design creates its content, and how organizational culture and ethics affect Civic Design's work. Challenging conventional wisdom relates to the practice of letting design decisions shape the content. Dana E. Chisnell has found strategic partners to support and promote Civic Design projects. One is Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. Norden is an expert on voting rights, voting laws, and effective use of voting technology. The Democracy Program focuses on voters' civil rights. Chisnell has also worked on a project with the American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA) called Design for Democracy, which views democratic processes through the lens of design.
