Design After the Cuts

As design faces cuts, join Arianne Miller to reflect and inspire resilient, human-centered models.

Design After the Cuts

with

Arianne Miller, former Managing Director for the United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM)

For over 13 years, the Lab at OPM partnered with agencies across the U.S. federal government to embed human-centered design practices and improve public services until it closed last year.

As strategic design functions face budget cuts and restructuring across the world, the profession is in identity crisis. This event brings the community together to use this moment as an opportunity to reflect on what makes strategic design practice vulnerable, and find inspiration in the resilient practices that keep innovation alive. Arianne Miller will draw on her experience leading the Lab to open a conversation about what more lasting and human-centered models might look like going forward.

About the speaker:

Arianne Miller is the co-founder and CEO of Civic Design Collaborative, built alongside four former colleagues from the Lab at OPM — a pioneering federal design program closed in early 2025 after more than 13 years partnering with agencies across the U.S. federal government. Civic provides design consulting and capacity-building services to governments and nonprofits, helping them develop people-centered, systems-oriented practices that improve public outcomes. A dedicated bridge-builder, Arianne is known for growing the communities and networks that strengthen the civic design field, grounded in the conviction that when people being served are at the center it steers organisations towards more accurate, inclusive, sustainable, and meaningful impact.

Panel:

Marco Steinberg is the founder and CEO of Snowcone & Haystack, a Helsinki based strategic design practice focused on helping governments innovate. He has worked with local and central governments across the world on issues of development, sustainability, and transformation. He co-founded Helsinki Design Lab at Sitra in 2008, one of the first government-based strategic design teams where he served as Director of Strategic Design until 2013. Marco has held academic positions at Harvard Design School and Aalto University, where he is currently Professor of Practice.

Brenda Vértiz is a design practitioner and Aalto University doctoral researcher specializing in participatory design, spatial justice, and feminist design approaches. Her work bridges academia, activism, and public service — including four years with Mexico City's government supporting women and children in marginalized communities — with a focus on public imagination and challenging exclusion in urban and civic life.

Jaana Hyvärinen is a research and design professional working in foresight at Demos Helsinki, building from 20 years of experience leading multidisciplinary, cross-organisational research and innovation initiatives that connect academia, NGOs, the public sector, and industry. Her passion lies in the collaborative pursuit of bold ideas, employing unconventional approaches to tackle complex challenges and create respectful, planet-centred solutions for both today’s interpreted realities and the imagined futures beyond