Design and security

Design – creativity deployed to a specific end – shapes innovative ideas to become practical and attractive propositions for users or customers. Security professionals need design for several reasons. Security products, secure buildings and security procedures need to be efficient, cost effective, reliable and durable in the face of ‘arms races’ with adaptive offenders against a background of continuous technological and social change. They must perform well whilst keeping adverse side effects to a minimum. Security moreover has to be delivered in a way which only minimally interferes with daily living and business activity, or conflicts with wider values ranging from sustainability to social inclusion. Security requirements have to be articulated clearly and inserted early in the design process to maximise available design options and to minimise costs and constraints; co-design between designers, security professionals and other stakeholders is the preferred way of working. This chapter describes how security and design inter-relate in all these ways and presents various conceptual and procedural frameworks to facilitate this understanding and underwrite the better design of security.