Voxpop

My MP is Jeremy Corbyn. I’d like to do some serious work on his digital strategy and also design him a commemorative mug. There is so much he could do with a good Web presence and tools such as Twitter to have a direct dialogue with his constituents. At the moment the website looks very unloved, and sells a commemorative mug which is the most hideous object I have ever seen – it would put me right off my tea.

Nat Hunter, Managing director/founder, Airside

One challenge for MPs is to understand the needs of their constituents, as their communities’ needs are so broad, covering social care, housing, education, crime, employment and so on. At Think Public we would design an ’insights holiday’, where the MP could experience what it is like to live in some of the situations faced by their constituents for a few weeks, once or twice a year. This would inform their work, echoing the work we do at Think Public with helping councils understand the needs of their residents by using ethnographic and design research.

Deborah Szebeko, Director, Think Public

Taking advantage of new communication interfaces is useless if the message is unclear. External behaviour and attitude are integral elements in brand communication, ones that can impact on the audience’s perception. My response to MPs would be to consider how they position themselves as a ’brand’. The public perception of MPs is always under scrutiny, and a clear definition of what they stand for, as well as a consistent delivery of this ’brand message’, would help them build relationships with their constituents.

Richard Stevens, Designer, 1977 Design

I’d introduce a compulsory app called Accountability. It would enable an MP to log his or her expenses and file them appropriately under ’personal’, ’office’, ’can’t explain’ or ’help’. I’d make the buttons really big to avoid mistakes and add a reward system – smiling stars – for every time they were honest. Get three wrong and it would access their Web history and send it to The Guardian’s news desk. That should do the trick.

Marksteen Adamson, Founding partner, Arthur Steen Horne Adamson