Method
Co-design brings citizens and stakeholders together to design new products, services and policies.
Purpose
- To explore both problems and solutions collaboratively.
- To connect stakeholders with citizen groups in a meaningful way.
- To design solutions that are grounded in both community need and government constraints.
- To open up the project's goals and outcomes to citizen input.
What you get
- A fit for purpose program, policy or service.
Strengths
- Great at building confidence, consensus, ownership, leadership and accountability within a stakeholder group.
- Great at producing “community-led” products, services or policies.
Weaknesses
- Co-design can rely on the availability of people with different schedules. Projects need to build in ample time for collaboration.
- Participatory mindsets can be difficult to foster in groups of experts.
- Co-design will fail if inclusion strategies are not adopted. Getting the right people together, under the right conditions, is vital to its success.
- It can be difficult to build consensus within large groups, especially if experts dominate the process.
Key terminology
Expert mindset: Where decisions are based on the prior knowledge and experience of experts.
Participatory mindset: Where decisions are based on consensus of the group.
Inclusion: Adapting project activities so that communities or citizens can be involved.
Tips
Co-design relied upon experienced facilitators and co-design leaders to guide participants through the design process successfully.
Designers should consider and create the conditions that allow safe, respectful and productive collaboration.
Toolkits and resources
Updated