In 1993, Sylvia Harris was hired to direct the redesign of the U.S. census, do away with the mish-mash of blue tinted circles underlined by microscopic words, and turn it into a user-friendly form. The result? When her census was mailed out in 2000, the rate of return stopped slipping for the first time in years. Harris received media attention and won accolades from designers and design skeptics alike.

But more often than not, the rewards of designing for public institutions are not so obvious: The work is hard, the pay is low, and seeing a project through bureaucratic hoops takes years—if it’s not halted in the process.

While we might see only the simplicity of the rehabbed census design—its happy yellow background, black modern fonts, and questions lined up neatly in columns—Harris went through a complex process to get it there. But the government couldn’t make a commitment to her—they let her go, rehired her, and threw in last-minute questions and font changes without consulting her.

Harris’ favorite projects is a “Knowledge Map” on the entire process of voting.

THE FRONT END
Information design strategy is not the glamorous side of graphic design. Harris has no CD covers, bottled water packaging, or billboards to show for her 25 years in the business. Instead, her work touches the way we live. She plans public information, from census forms to university and hospital way-finding systems that communicate and create experiences for people—experiences that aren’t as tangible as a logo or letterhead.

So, it’s not surprising that Harris’ most memorable quality is her thoughtfully and concisely organized words. She explains her job as an information design strategist as if she were reciting something as neatly organized as a cookie recipe: “I work as a planner for the front end of really big public information projects for big institutions. I come in and help rethink things on a project basis. That includes getting very clear on what the institution wants to communicate from its side and who’s communicating and why. I also help institutions identify who the target audience is, what they understand, and what they need to know. Then it’s in understanding those two areas that the space in between is my design brief and the strategy going forward.”

With a smile that comes through in the tone of her voice, she brushes off her long explanation: “My job sounds complicated, but really it’s just not a typical thing—it takes more than a sentence to explain.”