Kitchen cabinet: new ideas for connecting people and politicians

Kitchen Cabinet is a project, initiated by the UK Design Council, to design and prototype new systems of interaction between (UK) MPs and constituents and to create an open resource of ideas, suggestions and best practises that MPs can use to strengthen the connection between people and politicians.

“[People] don’t know who their MP is, what he does and they certainly don’t trust him. Like many in Britain, they feel disconnected from the very person meant to represent them.”

“Our research suggests that this can be changed, in part, by making the hard work of MPs more visible, and better communicating their role and relevance. We’re finding that it’s very important that MPs have spaces and opportunities where they can engage more proactively with their constituents — not only when a crisis erupts.”

“Kitchen Cabinet starts with the constituent’s perspective. We have been listening to the perceptions and experiences of constituents in North East and South East England and we are in the process of identifying a number of design opportunities that MPs can use to improve their relationship with local voters.”

– Kitchen Cabinet website
– Project summary presentation (pdf, 964 kb, 11 pages)
– Complete user research report (pdf, 1.71 mb, 107 pages)
– User research summary film (55 mb, 10 min.)