Why Diacritical Marks Are a Service Design Issue

Issue 012

Author

Robert Vidaure
March 03, 2025

Your name is your first interface with the world. When systems strip away its meaning, they fail the people they’re built to serve. This is a reminder that even the smallest details, like an accent mark or tilde, carry deep significance in how people experience public services. Names are not just data points; they are identity, culture, and belonging.

That’s why Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco’s Identity Integrity Act (AB 64) matters. By allowing diacritical marks on California’s vital records, the bill pushes our public systems to correct a longstanding design flaw that has erased the nuances of people’s names for nearly four decades. For those of us designing services, it’s a clear mandate: build with cultural accuracy, respect, and inclusion in mind, because true service design starts with getting people’s names right.

–Robert  🤝

ARTICLES

This artist is drawing entire L.A. neighborhoods that were lost in the fires

Asher Bingham, an L.A.-based portrait artist, spends her days taking in the extent of what has been lost. She spends hours at her drawing table, illustrating homes that have been lost and then mailing them to the people who used to live there.

Long ignored, Black modernist architects get recognition

Black architects who helped shape the modern architecture movement have often been overlooked. One effort preserves the structures they designed and tells their stories.

After rocky history, GSA shuts down 18F office

Thomas Shedd, the commissioner of Federal Acquisition Service, said the decision is part of the President’s Workforce Optimization Initiative executive order.

BOOKS

Power to the Public: The Promise of Public Interest Technology
by Hana Schank & Tara Dawson McGuinness

As the speed and complexity of the world increases, governments and nonprofit organizations need new ways to effectively tackle the critical challenges of our time―from pandemics and global warming to social media warfare.

Ruined by Design: How Designers Destroyed the World, and What We Can Do to Fix It
by Mike Monteiro

As designers, we need to see ourselves as gatekeepers of what we are bringing into the world, and what we choose not to bring into the world. Design is a craft with responsibility.

DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT

Jesus Flores Rodriguez
Art Director, Lista Design

What do you enjoy most about working in the public sector?
What I enjoy most about designing in the public sector is seeing how our work at Lista directly impacts the community. I love using design to enhance accessibility and readability, developing solutions that make information easier for everyone to understand. I love the challenge of creating designs that are both complex in content and pleasing to the eye.

What has been your favorite project you have worked on?
One of my favorites is “California Community Foundation 5th Annual Immigration Summit” I really enjoyed creating a design solution for such an important topic.

Share a design insight, book, creative influences, podcast, or favorite design tool.
Books I would recommend are Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, and The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson. These are just a few books that have been helpful to me recently. As for design insight, I would say go outside more, take walks, and maybe visit your local library.

PROJECTS

Obama Foundation

The Obama Foundation empowers emerging leaders to take on the biggest challenges of our time. Established in 2014 by Barack and Michelle Obama, the Foundation works globally to inspire, empower, and connect the next generation of changemakers. Through programs spanning leadership development, girls' education, and community engagement, the organization equips individuals with the skills and networks needed to create positive change in their communities and across the world.

Manual was engaged to develop a comprehensive design system that captured their global ambition while remaining deeply rooted in their values. The result is both bold and adaptable—designed to resonate across cultures while inspiring the next generation of changemakers.

Agency: Manual Creative

Designing a Park for Generations to Come

The ability to serve these diverse groups is part of the wide-ranging utility and beauty of a park—and can make designing an ambitious new green space, like the more than 1,000-acre Grand Park in Frisco, Texas, a big challenge. Together, the City of Frisco and IDEO worked directly with residents to create an intergenerational, collective vision of what the park can be, and how it can serve their needs now, and for generations to come.

Agency: IDEO

RESOURCES

Taking Action on Digital Sustainability

In an age of endless streaming, infinite scrolling, and overflowing inboxes, we generate more digital waste than ever before.

Aprender Design

Design courses for those who rethink the established. In design and in the world.

EVENTS

CAPIO Annual Conference
April 1–4, 2025

Our annual conference brings together California’s top experts in our field to discuss current trends, best practices and case studies in areas including media relations, strategic communications, social media, emergency response, branding, emerging technologies, analytics, public speaking and much more. Just as a hot air balloon takes flight and ascends to greater heights, the journey to success in our profession requires a commitment to seeking new knowledge, continuously evolving and networking, and honing your skills. The sky is the limit.

LIKES

 

The Civic Designer is a newsletter dedicated to exploring the impact of Civic Design. It is a collection of curated stories and resources designed to inspire and educate designers and public sector communicators who are passionate about shaping the public sphere and empowering our communities.

Reply

or to participate.