Interested in training for your organisation with This is HCD? Let's speak by booking a 15-minute call.
If you like our content, be sure to sign up to our weekly The Design Compass Newsletter. Design Smarter. Lead Better.
________________________

When Chelsea Mauldin began bringing design thinking into the U.S. government, she was met with scepticism — design was still seen as “throw pillows and pretty fonts.”

In this deep and fascinating episode, Chelsea — Executive Director of the Public Policy Lab in New York — joins Gerry Scullion to share her journey from urban planning to pioneering human-centered design in federal and municipal agencies.

They discuss:

✅ How design entered the public sector during the Obama era.

✅ Why half the real work happens after the design phase.

✅ Building trust, ethics, and change in complex systems.

✅ The People Say project — a groundbreaking, public repository for civic research.

✅ What AI means (and doesn’t mean) for the future of public services.

🎧 A must-listen for anyone working in service design, policy, or civic innovation.

________________________

• Like what we do? Make a Tip. Or Leave a review: https://ratethispodcast.com/hcd
• Support the Ukrainian publishing of This is Service Design Doing (To make service design knowledge accessible in Ukrainian)

Sponsor links

• 10x your service design offering with Smaply. Take 20% off your order with ''ThisisHCD20off'
  Sign up https://auth.smaply.app/sign-up
• Check out 'This is HCD x Sutsu' range. Gerry wears and endorses Sutsu ethical clothing. Use HCD10 to get 10% off this range.
• Get 10% off ScenarioCards.org when you used our link https://scenariocards.org/HCD10

________________________

Creators & Guests

Click here to view the episode transcript.