Research on Legal Design
Masters' Thesis Project – Design Research, Service Design, UX/UI, Visual Design
Mind map of the Legal Design landscape
During my master’s thesis, I gained a deep understanding of what Legal Design is. I mapped the field, identified existing projects and opportunities, and engaged with experts (legal designers) to refine insights. Through desk research, participating in workshops, prototyping, and cultural probes, I developed a personal project focused on navigating the Italian residence permit process.
Client
Master's Thesis Project
Role
- Design Research
- Service Design
- UX/UI
- Visual Design
Duration
One year
Overview
Context
As part of my master's thesis, I explored the field of Legal Design by mapping existing projects and identifying opportunities. I interviewed legal designers and developed future scenarios to understand the emerging role of the “Legal Designer.”
Based on the insights, I developed a personal project to improve a bureaucratic problem I had multiple times: the Italian residence permit process.
Objective
To understand Legal Design and current trends and projects in the field. This led to the question: How might we use design to make the law more accessible to everyone?
What did I do?
> Conducted research on Legal Design and created visualizations to make the field easier to understand, clustering different projects.
> Interviewed Legal Designers to define opportunities and future scenarios.
Interviewed legal designers to identify opportunities and outline future scenarios.
> Developed a personal project to improve the residence permit process, including interviewing stakeholders, designing a new process and testing a prototype.
Developed a personal project to improve the residence permit process, including stakeholder interviews, process redesign, and prototype testing.
Outcome
The final thesis included accessible research on Legal Design, featuring examples and mind maps, along with a personal project addressing the residence permit process in Italy.
Mind map of what is a Legal Design based on the insights gather from interviewing experts.
Insights Generation Map created based on the insights from interviewing Legal Designers and literature reviews.
Cultural Probes created to gather feedback from the current resident permit process.
Redesign of the Resident Permit Process following the guidelines of Design Italia.
Result
I graduated with top marks from the MSc in Product Service System Design. Additionally, I presented my results at the Law Via the Internet 2018 Conference.
My thesis has since been cited, and I have become a recognized reference in the Legal Design community.
