Article In: Information Design Journal: Online-First Articles
Flowcharts as thinking and communication tools
Understanding the police complaints process
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Abstract
This paper presents an example of using flowcharts as ‘thinking tools’ to understand complex processes and as ‘communication tools’ to convey them to citizens. The UK police complaints process is the context for our project, in which we co-design advice with Liberty, a nonprofit advice organization. We describe the different approaches to using flowcharts during the ‘Discovery’ and ‘Transformation’ stages of our project. We summarize the communication benefits and challenges of using flowcharts at different stages of design research, showing how design practice and research integrate within a multi-stakeholder project.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 1.1Exploring the user experience (workshop 1)
- 2.Flowcharts as thinking tools
- 2.1Using a flowchart as a tool for understanding
- 2.2Using a flowchart to facilitate discussion and ‘work things out’ (Workshop 2)
- 3.Flowcharts as communication tools
- 3.1Developing our flowchart from a ‘thinking tool’ to a ‘communication tool’
- 3.2Using a flowchart as a communication tool (prototype evaluation)
- 4.Summary
- Notes
- Author queries
References
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