We have been taking a variety of project partners in the justice sector on a journey to bring human-centered design to people accessing and experiencing justice. We proactively research, co-design and develop new initiatives that make a positive impact in the sector. One powerful example of this is YourCase. We began this project several years ago when we keenly observed recommendations coming out of the Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence, particularly those relating to technology and the court experience for victim-survivors. We proactively explored how we might improve the experience of victim-survivors in the lead up to their day at court and beyond, and we obtained funding support from the Public Sector Innovation Fund for the project. After several years of research and active collaboration with a broad range of stakeholders in the sector, including victim-survivors with lived experience of the court process, we designed and developed a new digital tool. YourCase provides an improved experience for those attending court whilst they go through the often daunting process of applying for a family violence intervention order.
We celebrated the launch of the YourCase pilot in February 2020 at the Portable studios, where we were joined by all of the project’s partners. YourCase has had support and involvement from the Public Sector Innovation Fund, Victoria Police, Berry Street, Family Safety Victoria, the Sir Zelman Cowen Centre, the Federal Department of Social Services, and His Honour Peter Lauritsen, Chief Magistrate of Victoria. Critical to the project’s success, anti-violence campaigner Nicole Lee was also engaged to provide the voice, perspective and ideas of victim-survivors throughout the design process, thanks to a partnership with the Victim Survivors' Advisory Council. We’d like to thank Nicole not only for her service to this project, but to the community at large.
We thank all of those involved in the project who helped us understand the needs of victim-survivors, co-designed the tool with us and those who supported us through to its launch, including our own team of producers, designers, strategists and developers that worked on bringing YourCase to life. This award is dedicated to all of you.
The DrivenxDesign GOV Design Awards celebrate the courage of both commissioner’s and creator’s design projects within the government, community and public sectors. Nominations are across space, object, visual and experience design categories, culminating in the best project, best transformation and best innovation awards.
YourCase’s aim is to provide a better justice experience for family violence victim-survivors and it’s efforts have been recognised by the award panel for a Gold award in the category of Best Expanded Service or Application. You can read more about YourCase on our award profile.
The awards panel states that for this category:
“We’re not just after bells and whistles, but true innovation that exceeds expectations and fills a previously unmet need with updates and developments that truly enhance the user experience and take your app or service to another level.”
There is a gap in support for family violence victim-survivors attending court. YourCase fills that gap by providing victim-survivors with a friendly, easy to use, step-by-step ‘pocket guide’ to their day at court. But beyond the current pilot for family violence victim-survivors, YourCase is able to be expanded and applied to many other cases. Empowering citizens with knowledge and support, especially those in particularly challenging times, can be beneficial in countless scenarios, and we look forward to discovering YourCase’s potential for more people accessing justice across the sector.
Below is an interview with Nicole Lee, who helped to design YourCase from a victim-survivors’ perspective, talking about her involvement with the project and the value YourCase has for victim-survivors.
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