Transforming government services with empathy: a case study on the launch of civilrights.justice.gov

Before 18F was dismantled by DOGE, they were responsible for some of the U.S. federal government’s most human-centered products. In this talk, principal product designer Aviva Oskow (she/they) will give attendees a behind the scenes look at the development and launch of civilrights.justice.gov, a product that transformed the way the Department of Justice collects, routes, tracks, and responds to civil rights complaints. As a core member of the product team, Aviva was responsible for the front-facing visual and interaction design of the portal, and helped spearhead empathy-centered practices that defined the project. Taking into account sensitive subject matter and often traumatizing experiences of users, the team focused on designing a service that could communicate in both humane and legally accurate ways, and learned lessons that can be applied far beyond this case study alone.