Tax reporting habits in young adults
fall 2022

In fall 2022 during my studies for my masters’ degree at UiO, we explored the concept of Participatory Design through the context of tax reporting habits in young adults. Given the problem space of young people often not double checking their tax returns, we invited them to partake in workshops where they themselves became the designers. Our work was to guide them, analyse the outcome of workshops and use that to facilitate new workshops and reach a consensus on what is needed to reach an end product. This taught us:

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  • Applying Participatory Design (PD) principles to involve users directly in the design process, which facilitated mutual learning between designers and users, ensuring that all voices were heard and considered.
  • The importance of co-design and enabling participants to actively contribute to shaping the design, moving beyond merely providing feedback.
  • Effective facilitation which was critical in maintaining balanced participation, ensuring that all group members, including non-designers, could have a meaningful say in design decisions, fostering a democratic and inclusive design process.
  • Prototyping for discussion through low- and later high-fidelity prototypes, which helped ground abstract ideas into tangible discussions and supported the evolution of design decisions in a structured, hands-on manner.
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This process was some of the most thorough design research I conducted as a student, and most of all taught me to duly accept and respect the voice of the user.

The report in its entirety can be read here (Written in English).