{"id":23,"date":"2025-11-17T20:42:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T20:42:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/faq\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T04:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T04:11:15","slug":"faq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/faq\/","title":{"rendered":"FAQ"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group alignfull has-background has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-77d04a20 wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"background-color:#0B1F33 !important;padding-top:64px;padding-bottom:72px;padding-left:24px;padding-right:24px\">\r\n\r\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#E46A2A !important;font-size:12px;letter-spacing:3px;text-transform:uppercase;font-weight:700\">Intervention Design Pattern Library<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color\" style=\"color:#ffffff !important;font-size:clamp(27.894px, 1.743rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 2.094), 48px);font-weight:800;line-height:1.05\">FAQ<\/h1>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p class=\"has-text-color wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"color:#cfd8e3 !important;font-size:clamp(14px, 0.875rem + ((1vw - 3.2px) * 0.417), 18px);\">Anything &#8212; an action, structure, relationship, or condition &#8212; that changes the behavior or future trajectory of a system. That covers obvious things like laws and protests, but also quieter ones, like a sidewalk, a tax structure, or a platform&#8217;s algorithm, that shape behavior long after anyone remembers deciding them.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-group has-global-padding is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-group-is-layout-ae44578d wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"padding:56px 24px 72px\">\r\n\r\n<style>.idpl-faq .idpl-layer{border:1px solid #E3E7EC;border-radius:12px;background:#fff;margin:0 0 12px;overflow:hidden}.idpl-faq summary{list-style:none;cursor:pointer;display:flex;align-items:flex-start;gap:14px;padding:20px 22px}.idpl-faq summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.idpl-faq summary:hover{background:#F1F3F6}.idpl-faq .idpl-q{flex:1;font-size:18px;font-weight:700;color:#0B1F33;line-height:1.35}.idpl-faq .idpl-chev{color:#E46A2A;font-size:15px;transition:transform .28s ease;margin-top:3px}.idpl-faq details[open] .idpl-chev{transform:rotate(180deg)}.idpl-faq details[open] summary{border-bottom:1px solid #E3E7EC}.idpl-faq .idpl-a{padding:18px 22px 22px;animation:idplReveal .3s ease}.idpl-faq .idpl-a p,.idpl-faq .idpl-a li{color:#33475a}@keyframes idplReveal{from{opacity:0;transform:translateY(-6px)}to{opacity:1;transform:none}}<\/style>\r\n<div class=\"idpl-faq\"><details class=\"idpl-layer\" open><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">How is this different from design thinking?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>Design thinking usually asks, &#8220;how might we solve this problem?&#8221; and works inside the systems that produced it &#8212; designing better products, services, or experiences. IDT asks, &#8220;how might we influence the system that produces this problem?&#8221; and treats the system itself &#8212; its policies, incentives, institutions, and narratives &#8212; as the design material.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">What do Top-Down, Bottom-Up, and Middle-Out mean?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>They&#8217;re the three domains IDT uses to describe how influence moves through a system: Top-Down through formal authority and policy, Bottom-Up through community and lived experience, Middle-Out through the institutions and networks that coordinate between the two. See the <a href=\"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/gallery\/\">Frameworks<\/a> page for the full breakdown.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">What are the Love and Power scores next to each case?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>Two axes used to plot every case in the Library: Love for how much care or connection an intervention expresses toward the people it touches, and Power for how much formal or structural force it carries. Neither one alone determines success &#8212; the Explorer&#8217;s scatter view is built to let you see both at once.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Is IDT an academic theory or a practical tool?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>Both, loosely. It&#8217;s grounded in systems thinking, transition design, and sustainability transitions research, but the paper is explicit that it&#8217;s a practice-based, interpretive framework rather than an empirically validated theory &#8212; a lens for analyzing and designing interventions, offered for critique and refinement rather than as a finished model.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Where do the cases in the Library come from?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>A mix of news coverage, public records, and pattern analysis across civic, ecological, technological, and governance contexts &#8212; spanning grassroots campaigns, court rulings, government policy, and cases where power was used without care. Every case lists its source.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Can I submit a case?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>Yes &#8212; use the submission form linked on the <a href=\"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/resources\/\">Resources<\/a> page. New submissions are reviewed before they&#8217;re published to the Library and Explorer.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Who is this framework for?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>Designers, systems practitioners, educators, and organizers working on long-term change &#8212; anyone trying to move past isolated interventions and toward understanding how a portfolio of interventions, across scales, actually shifts a system.<\/p><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Is the framework finished?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><p>No, and it isn&#8217;t meant to be. The paper describes IDT as an evolving field of inquiry and explicitly invites critique, comparative case studies, and collaborative refinement rather than treating itself as a closed theory.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/><\/div><\/details><details class=\"idpl-layer\"><summary><span class=\"idpl-q\">Ready to Explore?<\/span><span class=\"idpl-chev\">\u25be<\/span><\/summary><div class=\"idpl-a\"><div class=\"wp-block-buttons\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-block-button has-custom-font-size is-style-fill\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--30);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--50)\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/explorer\/\">Browse the Pattern Library<\/a><\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/details><\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Intervention Design Pattern Library FAQ Anything &#8212; an action, structure, relationship, or condition &#8212; that changes the behavior or future trajectory of a system. That covers obvious things like laws and protests, but also quieter ones, like a sidewalk, a tax structure, or a platform&#8217;s algorithm, that shape behavior long after anyone remembers deciding them. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"no-title","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444,"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rad-studio.earth\/intervention-design-pattern-library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}