Co-Design: Tips for Involving Users in Design

@liorsmith | liorsmith.wordpress.com
involving users in design
lior smith

today
what is service design?
co-design with examples
tips

what is
service design?
one designer’s
perspective from the
emerging discipline of
service design

what is service
design?
definition on one
page

@liorsmith | liorsmith.wordpress.com Design Council’s Double Diamond

definition from a book
This is Service Design Thinking, 2012
when you have two coffee shops
right next to each other, and each
sells the exact same coffee at the
exact same price, service design is
what makes you walk into one and
not the other.
- 31 volts service design, 2008

definition from an innovation lab

what it looks like

who uses it?

co-design
with examples

co-design is:
bringing all kinds of
stakeholders together to
problem-frame and come
up with ideas

co-design
benefits
variety of perspectives
lead to appropriate solution
users are the expert of their own experience,
so have some of the best ideas
get stakeholder buy-in:
involving people from the start gets them invested
in the success of the project
(good for tackling internal politics)

get people enthusiastic
about taking action - and get volunteers
bringing disconnected stakeholders together
is sometimes an intervention of its own
research: understand expectations
of user group, so that what you create will satisfy
(the designer is still responsible for actually turning the ideas into a working creation, though designers
often encourage the impression that the users have ownership over the design work)
co-design
benefits that they don’t tell you

involving users in your
design process is the right
thing to do.
share the power to change
with the people who the
change affects

UKTI ideas lab
co-design & results
large scale
to inform government
services

UKTI ideas lab
co-design at ‘export jam’

wireframes
journey map
personas

UKTI ideas lab
results
9 simultaneous
events
300+ users
lots of info!

UKTI ideas lab
results

service design festival
co-design & results
small scale, grassroots
to inform a small
service

service design fringe festival
co-design in the pub
12 participants from:
- last year’s team
- this year’s team
- festival volunteers
- event attendees
- people with awareness of our
competitors
- potential sponsor
...bringing a range of perspectives,
supportive & critical

results
we got:
- insight on industry problems
that possibly nobody else holds
in one place
- critique of last iteration of festival
PLUS good ideas to improve from
the criticisers
- solid actions to take
(put into playbook)
- shared vision (stretch goals)
& inspired group
- volunteers

tips
to involve users in design

http://diytoolkit.org/tools/creative-workshop/
tips to involve users in design
run a co-design session
http://www.designkit.org/methods/33
http://www.servicedesigntools.org/taxonomy/term/1

do it early
timing is important
co-design is about giving power to
users. no point in involving them
once you’ve already decided on a
solution

think broadly about your
stakeholders
getting a range of people in the
room is the most important part

invite 3 weeks in advance
at a time & place your users
find accessible
demonstrate the principles you
intend to design with

for your first time, get guidance
from a service designer/someone
who has facilitated co-design before
co-design has a particular style
I can put you in touch :)

make it fun!
bad moods are good for editing,
good moods are good for ideas

structure the session carefully...
be aware of what you need to get
out of the session
...but allow flexibility in timings
creativity is unpredictable, so in the
moment, be sensitive to when
something great is about to happen

don’t worry about imperfection
approach with humility
asking users for input means
you should not have the answers
already: design is a messy, scrappy
process. embrace it!

follow up
show participants what you’ve done
with their ideas
this is how to create an active
community of volunteers/helpers

service design resources
that I have found useful
events:
service lab london
nesta talks
global service jam
courses:
CSM short course
MAs at RCA or LCC
organisations:
LiveWork
FutureGov
STBY
helen hamlyn centre
GDS
learning:
this is service design thinking
helsinki design lab
service design network
DIY toolkit

Co-Design: Tips for Involving Users in Design

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