How do we experience ‘the economy’ and Economics communication in the public sphere?
Mental models of the economy
The inside cover of a narrative-led report: Economic is having an image crisis? Is it time to think outside the box?
Offering a positive story for Economics communication
Contents page for the final report
The problem
Economy had a brilliant mission (to change access to Economics education and communication) with a book to back it. We had hunches about how this could be done, but no evidence base to inform our strategy and interventions. We lacked a compelling set of human stories to set out the problem and a clear set of evidence-based demands on which to campaign.
My response
I initiated and ran a 10 month user research project to discover what users of Economics communication in the public sphere felt about it.
My aim was to identify primary insights into human experiences of the problem we were trying to solve and to identify early stage design principles for better economics communication, which the charity could:
use to structure their campaign
apply in their own practice
use to engage users in a clear value proposition that spoke their language
What I did
To investigate the problem I held 35 in-depth semi-structured qualitative interviews with adults I recruited informally in everyday public settings such as cafes, pubs and libraries, and held workshops with 70 young people in FE colleges. To extend the project’s impacts, I made my research materials accessible and trained volunteer researchers who carried out further interviews.
I defined and designed the research scope, methodology, approach to give us rich questions that could identify the problem, translate into design principles, and investigate the intersection of economics and identities.
Working with this rich data, I found problem statements and first created a story-led case for change in the form of a 20 page narrative-led report (The Case for Understandable Economics).
I then did a deeper analysis to identify user profiles for the charity, clustering insights by age, socioeconomic and educational background. I drilled down to find 4 key user insights and make 6 communication recommendations.
I presented the research to institutions such as Government Economic Service, translating our insights into a communications training workshop.
Outcomes
As a result of my enquiry, I wrote a 65 page report on how ordinary people experience and relate to thinking about economics and hearing about economics in the public sphere, concluding in top level design principles for user-centred economics communication.
I made Economics Communication Design Principle Posters, giving 6 recommendations, led by real user statements
Download the outcomes - www.ecnmy.org/research