Navigating virtual court appearances
Partners: NSW Department of Communities and Justice, NSW Courts
This project was carried out as part of a team of designers at the Design Innovation Research Centre, as part of the Designing Out Crime body of work.
In recent years, the NSW Department of Justice and Communities adapted to the rapid introduction of video conferencing technologies (or ‘AVL’ - Audio Visual Links) to court proceedings and correctional facilities. It is now common for defendants in custody to appear in court virtually, from correctional facilities.
In this context, defendants are faced with a complex situation containing many unknowns, including the technicalities of the AVL process, legal procedures, significant breakdowns in communication, etc. The design team worked with multiple stakeholders, including people in custody, correctional and courts staff, legal professionals and speech pathologists to better understand the issues and how to improve the experience for everyone involved.
This component of the project focussed on communication and the design of orientation resources that aim to support people in custody to navigate the AVL process. These orientation resources work together as a body of support materials to provide guidance on the process, terminology, perception and behaviour amongst other things. Some resources target specific stages of the AVL process using delivery modes appropriate to that situation. The resources include a set of hand-held cards, featuring a simple visual on one side and a plain English description on the other, breaking down a significant amount of complex information into individual, manageable pieces. An A5 notebook with key information was also designed, providing space for defendants to record and consolidate notes relating to their court matters in one place.
These products, in tandem with the redesign of AVL spaces and equipment, were designed to create tangible markers that would help with wayfinding, or signposting, in a newly virtual environment and to support the provision of a fair and just AVL experience.
Lucy presented this work at the Graphic Justice Discussions 2018: Law, Comics, Justice conference in New York.
