The 18F Method Cards are a collection of tools that describe how 18F teams put human-centered design into practice. When we built these in 2015 there was still significant misinformation around the legality of using human-centered design practices in a government context. These cards set out to clear some of that up.
We created simplified instructions to help other organizations and federal offices adopt these methods into their own projects. The cards are focused on design in the context of digital services, but can be adapted to non-technical design projects as well.
The methods were well-received in government, and since they were open source from the start, governments at the city, state, and international level used and adapted them.
My role
As one of two project leads, I drove the research and production of the method cards’ first release. This included designing a printed alpha deck, a digital site, and outreach to the government community. Then we grew our team, iterated on the design and content, and released beta and live decks. This is where I started cutting my teeth in agile software project management at 18F.
