Temporary tattoos for permanent bureaucrats. Because cultural change is more than a sticky note on the printer that says „be agile“.
Digitalisation projects in Germany have a particular rhythm. Ambitious goals, careful processes, and somewhere in the middle – two groups of people who both want the same thing but have learned to speak completely different languages about it. Consultants and civil servants, suits on both sides, navigating the gap between the transformation on the slide deck and the reality in the room.
Sometimes the most useful thing you can do is give everyone permission to laugh about it together.
That’s what the tattoos were for. Temporary tattoos for digitisation enthusiasts – handed out on my last day to clients and colleagues alike. Suits rolled up their sleeves. Beamte and consultants alike became – briefly – rebels with tattoos. It turned into a small bonding moment over the shared absurdity of it all: the sprinted emails, the workshops about change that hardly change anything, the end-to-end workflow that is always just around the corner.
The response was overwhelmingly positive. Apparently suits and tattoos go together just fine. Who knew.
ClientPublic Administration (unasked but welcomed)ServicesConcept, Analog DesignYear2025
