Vote by Design Lisa Kay Solomon

Vote Design

by Lisa Kay Solomon

Vote by Design

Incubated as a d.school pop-up class, Vote by Design reframes the question of “what candidate or political platform do you like?” to “what is the job of the President?,” and “what is most important in doing that job well?”

Created by Designer in Residence Lisa Kay Solomon, futurist Nancy Murphy, and neuroscientist Brie Linkenhoker, Vote by Design is a nonpartisan, issue-agnostic, experiential workshop that helps students explore their understanding of leadership, leadership qualities and what it takes to be a leader, particularly in future crisis situations. It shifts the focus away from defending a position to a more discovery oriented posture that allows for primary source investigation, historic reflection and civic exploration: What is the original “job description,” as defined in Article II of the U.S. Constitution? Why was it organized as an elected position with a finite term? According to the founding document, what are the stated responsibilities and qualifications of the U.S. President? How do we interpret the job now?

From this level-setting and exploration of the written “requirements” of the job, students then explore what’s most needed to do that job well: What past experiences, leadership qualities, and personal attributes would make someone most qualified and able to do that job? And, how might we use history to understand what “good” has looked like in more nuanced and specific ways? And what might we need from this leader in the future? What crises might we anticipate, and what will be the leadership actions required?

Vote by Design opens the door for students to do important self-reflection, dig deeper into what matters to them, learn more about each other and feel heard. As one student shared in her feedback, “I felt comfortably pushed to develop independent opinions and truly be able to support these claims. I feel that Vote by Design affected how I see the American electoral process as it educated me on past elections, campaigning skills, and how to analyze/determine what each voter truly wants in a national leader.”

Since its debut in the fall quarter,

Vote by Design has been turned into a free digital curriculum with teacher support material available on www.votebydesign.org. It’s been run with thousands of students from diverse geographic and political backgrounds, partnering with civic education and community organizations such as the National Writing Project, Citizen Film, Close Up Democracy, iCivics, Citizen Film and even the Chicago Bulls! And, it was recently awarded a 2020 Fast Company Innovation by Design award in the learning category.