Designing Change in Bureaucracy

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In this episode of the AIGA Design Podcast, Lee-Sean Huang and Giulia Donatello speak with Ivan Boscariol, Senior Innovation Specialist and public service designer at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). Ivan shares his journey from a background in international relations to working at the intersection of design, innovation, and public service in Latin America. The conversation explores what it means to be a designer within a large public institution, and how to navigate the cultural and bureaucratic complexities that come with the territory. Ivan reflects on the importance of intentionality in design, the need to adapt innovation processes to local contexts, and why trust and collaboration are essential to driving change. Ivan also unpacks the multiple meanings of design practice—as a verb and as a noun—and how those interpretations shift across cultures. Offering a fresh perspective, Ivan highlights the often-overlooked upsides of bureaucracy, and how structure can actually support innovation within large, complex organizations like the IDB. From the challenges of scaling solutions to the power of relationship-building, this episode offers valuable insights into designing for impact within systems that are often slow to change—but full of potential. What if we viewed bureaucracy not as a barrier, but as a material we can design with? Ivan's ⁠LinkedIn⁠ - https://www.linkedin.com/in/iboscariol/ Documentary: Horizon Zero Dawn - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9tLcD1r-6w Book: Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Richard P. Rumelt - https://amzn.to/3ROhzUf Listen/subscribe to the audio-only version of the AIGA Design Podcast - https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/aigadesign/