The document summarizes the process of developing the "Family by Family" program through 12 months of co-design and prototyping with families in Adelaide, South Australia. The team started by observing families to understand their lives, developed early ideas like a "Family Exchange" which failed, and created the roles of seeking families, sharing families, and coaches. They iteratively prototyped and tested various aspects of the program like recruitment materials, training, matching families, and measurement tools over 13 versions, in order to learn how to best create change for families.

1. the making
of family
by family

2. Family by Family is the product of 12 months of
co-design & prototyping with Families in the Marion area
of Adelaide, South Australia. May 2010 - March 2011

3. radical
New solutions
7. GROW
redesign
New team
2. LOOK & LISTEN
When we developed Family 6. VALUE
by Family we started with Problem
1. GET READY
people, prototyping practice New outcomes
and then designed policy. New systems
3. CREATE
New scenarios
Our approach blends design,
5. PROTOTYPE
social science & business. SYSTEMS
New interactions 4. PROTOTYPE
INTERACTIONS

4. We started with this brief...

5. designer
We met families in malls, supermarkets, and through door
knocking. We found talking about ‘family stress’ to be a
good conversation starter.

6. sociologist
We wanted to learn what family life was really like. So we
spent mornings, afternoons, evenings, and weekends
with families, observing what could be different.

7. anthropologist
We came back to the studio to make sense of what we’d
seen & learnt from the families we spent time with.

8. A key insight was that there were families who had been
through tough times and were now thriving. These
families were an untapped resource.

9. We brainstormed loads of ideas for how to tap into
natural family resources. We tested an early idea called
the ‘Family Exchange’. It didn’t catch on.

10. We went back to the drawing board and came up with the
concept of Family by Family. Family by Family starts with
what families want to change.

11. We decided to prototype
Family by Family at a small
scale for 12 weeks.
This meant going back out to
supermarkets and malls to
try & attract families to join.
x7
We had to iterate our
messages and materials 7
times before families
engaged.

12. prototype coach
prototype sharing family
We developed three prototype roles - seeking families,
sharing families, and professional coaches. At first,
people found the roles ‘different’ and ‘uncomfortable.’

13. We designed, tried, and then re-designed a weekend
training camp for sharing families.

14. We came up with a way to profile & match sharing and
seeking families. Then, we brought sharing and seeking
families together to meet, plan, and do activities.

15. We created coaching sessions: a time for sharing families
to brainstorm new ideas and troubleshoot. We found it
challenging to keep the focus on creating change.

16. x13
We came up with tools to help sharing and seeking
families keep the focus on measurable change. We tested
13 different versions of our measurement tools.

17. business analyst
Prototyping Family by Family helped us to learn about the
value it creates for families, communities, & government
and from there build a business case.

18. What next?
Improving and spreading the Family by Family model and
ideas across South Australia and beyond.

19. adelaide, South australia
call 08 81109955