Introduction to UX4Justice’s Ethical Tech Design Framework
The UX4Justice Ethical Tech Design Framework prioritizes ease, understanding, and well-being to drive responsible technology innovation that improves access to justice.
The framework is a combination of usability heuristics and trauma-informed tech design best practices and integrates additional considerations such as plain language, language access, accessibility, and mobile design.
Usability heuristics are a set of best practice guidelines that help designers create user-friendly interfaces. They are not hard and fast rules of design, but rules of thumb that can be adapted to each project’s needs and drive design decisions accordingly. The most commonly used heuristics for interaction design are Jakob Nielsen’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design, which have been used for over 30 years to guide designs toward decisions that favor ease of use.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) developed the Practical Guide for Implementing a Trauma-Informed Approach, which includes six principles that guide a trauma-informed approach, an evidence-based, ethical, and empathetic framework that accounts for the common human experience of trauma. Trauma-informed approaches are now widely considered to be beneficial for all people, regardless of whether they are trauma survivors. For these reasons, trauma-informed practices have been adopted in some courts to improve engagement and outcomes for court-involved individuals. The NCSC’s Trauma and Trauma-Informed Responses brief applies SAMHSA’s six key principles of a trauma-informed approach to the court experience. These six principles are also now being applied to the research and design of technology tools.
The UX4Justice Ethical Tech Design Framework builds upon the NCSC’s trauma-informed approach to the court experience and trauma-informed tech design best practices to guide design decisions particular to justice-sector technologies.
UX4Justice’s Ethical Tech Design Framework
Design for Ease
Prioritizing usability best practices that guide design decisions toward ease of use so digital technologies feel intuitive for any person to access and use on any device.
Visibility of System Status: The design should always keep people using the technology informed about what is going on, through appropriate feedback within a reasonable amount of time.
Consistency and Standards: Follow platform and industry conventions. People using the technology should not have to wonder whether different words, situations, or actions mean the same thing.
Flexibility and Efficiency of Use: The design should cater to people both inexperienced and experienced in using the technology.
Error Prevention: Prevent problems from occurring in the first place by eliminating error-prone conditions and presenting people using the technology with a confirmation option before they commit to an action.
Help Users Recognize and Recover from Errors: Error messages should appear near the error, be expressed in plain language (no error codes), clearly indicate the problem, and constructively suggest a solution.
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design: Interfaces should not contain decorative elements or information that is irrelevant or rarely needed as it diminishes the relative visibility of essential and actionable information. It is important to integrate accessible design and implement mobile design best practices to ensure the tool is easy to use for all people using the technology on all types of devices.
Design for Understanding
Prioritizing methods to create digital tools that enable people of all backgrounds, abilities, and contexts to easily understand the legal content, make informed decisions, and take necessary actions.
Trustworthiness and Transparency: Build trust with visitors by providing clear, respectful and transparent information about legal processes.
Empowerment, Voice, and Choice: Support visitors’ ability to advocate for themselves and ensure that they have an opportunity to make informed decisions about what to share, when to make changes, and what would be best for their wellbeing.
Cultural, Historical, and Gender/Sexuality Issues: Recognize and address historical biases, avoid assumptions or generalizations, and be respectful, inclusive, and supportive in language, imagery, and visual design. This includes language access considerations including translation and interpretation.
Match Between the System and the Real World: The design should speak the language of the people using the technology. Use plain language words, phrases, and concepts familiar to the people using the technology, rather than legal jargon or acronyms. Follow real-world conventions, making information appear in a natural and logical order for the people using the technology.
Help and Documentation: Provide timely contextual help and documentation to assist people using the technology in understanding legal terms, court processes, and how to complete desired actions.
Design for Well-Being
Prioritizing technology design principles that intentionally reduce harm and promote healing to make it easier for people to engage with the process.
Safety: Prioritize the physical and emotional safety of all visitors and minimize risks related to designing and using digital tools by promoting security, privacy, and safety within the digital environment.
Support: Provide clear and easy-to-use self-help information and facilitate contact with support services and help resources.
Collaboration: Embrace involvement by system actors in the development of the technology, and convey the message that visitors are the experts in their own lives by making digital interactions feel collaborative where possible rather than autocratic.
User Control and Freedom: People using the technology often perform actions by mistake and need a clear way to undo an unwanted action without having to go through an extended process.
Recognition Rather than Recall: Minimize cognitive load by making elements, actions, and options visible so people using the technology do not have to remember information from one part of the interface to another.
The justice tech landscape is rapidly changing. The challenge—and opportunity—now is to commit to an ethical tech design framework for justice system digital expansion so the technologies launched serve the needs of all people who engage with the courts. The UX4Justice Ethical Tech Design Framework can be used to guide justice tech design efforts toward the creation of technologies that are usable, understandable, and advance well-being, and thus improve access to justice for all.
For more information about UX4Justice and past technology innovation projects, please visit the System Impact Area.