How has co-design helped companies thrive in extreme environments?
It was the era for disruptive transformations. Scale of impact was global. But an invisible threat ceased power during peak innovation of 21 st century. World took a turn during the pandemic. Nevertheless, it underwent a special type of adaptation.
It was these three sensational things about the universe that define design thinking, it improvises, adapts and changes. In changing environments, the constants are a curse. Many logical definitions fail at this level. Many Design theories were put into practice during pandemic which help survive such change.
Design as we see wasn’t just invented but rather flourished with changing environments. It took billions of years to get to where it is today. Just look around and it’s designed to fit its purpose. Unless an alien dropped a space ship here.
So, what exactly is Design thinking? Is it helpful in predicting the future using present resources and past knowledge?
Let’s take a deep dive into the subject with an example in hand.
Airbnb was a venture that started out in 2008. They barely scratched the surface. It was highly volatile for anyone at that time to start a hotel industry. But Airbnb challenged the age-old principles. This design led venture took the hospitality industry by storm. The disruptive capability was only possible with product/design led ventures. It reshaped the world of travel. From barely getting any investments to failing multiple times they picked up the venture by design led decisions being a driver of change and evolution. They quickly went on to making a unicorn company which was a major success of $130 Billion dollar valuation.
Now, currently we could even take the comparison a step further by equating the arrival of the Airbnb model with the COVID-19 outbreak, insofar as these two events have completely reshaped the world of travel. In fact, just as all the hospitality industry was hit, Airbnb suffered a blow too. But rather than wallowing in self-pity this became the company’s stepping stone. They responded with a revamped website within just a few days. With much data to research across changing conditions, they used strategic foresight to uncover the unseen scenario. Airbnb’s strength lies in its ability to adapt extremely fast without being entrenched in their ideas. This is made possible through a streamlined design evaluation.
So, Design has several purposes to be defined with. Mostly, it’s definitely not art, but many design theories are associated with science. It is envisioned with an objective. These theories focus on problem framing and problem solving. Design discipline is used for wider and complicated business environments & competitive advantages.
What the Airbnb did here was that they reinvented the business module in a short amount of time. The foresights helped them strategize in a creative manner. For example, they turned it from short stay to longer stays with diversified offers. Remote working users loved to get out of their daily lives and stay in hotels for a longer time. It’s just tip of the ice burg. They worked backward from customer experience to technology. They effectively used current planning with the visibility of the future from its past resources to pull a Eureka. This was mind-blowing for the most affected covid 19 sectors.
Companies find themselves in a crisis because they can’t respond to change, even if they recognize the need for transformation. This is the age of extreme competition, and every competitive advantage has been reduced to comparative advantage.
Of course, without the effort of such excellent team it couldn’t be possible. The team adopted something called as co design principles. One of the methods were, Participatory design workshops, this can provide powerful insights of the project through the contribution of stakeholders. The information, ideas and artifacts from these workshops can be analyzed to make design decisions, find a direction to move forward in the process, and again keep involving stakeholders as needed. It was important to involve everyone’s decision.
Just like how Airbnb could see the future unfolding, Co- design helped them organize efficiently. It was an excellent example to understand how design led ventures work.
Now, what exactly is Co-design? How can we use these principles to step up discovery and new age?
The concept of co-design was extensively used to optimize operations. It holds the power to negate hierarchy of head decision makers and involve everyone. The blue ocean theory plays a critical role here for a supernatural solutions. A stepping stone amidst the chaos. Co-design is a design approach that actively involves users and stakeholders from the beginning of a project, right through till roll-out.
Recent interview with Finlay Clark, senior designer working with social security at the Scottish government helped us understand how co-design works. He starts off by saying, they always address the elephant in the room, remit vast variety of groups & design with people breaking stigmas and barriers along the way. This pragmatic approach helped ongoing organizations to anticipate consequences, clarify ambiguity, and create new perspectives that establish innovations.
We cannot anticipate the future with present business numbers. It’s like a chameleon on the tree, the complexity of unseen wicked problems, should only be viewed by strategic foresights. It empowers individuals & organizations within dynamic contexts. Few design exercises like identifying weak signals, context mapping & mind mapping activities dramatizes the impact of strategies in future scenarios. Ultimately a tangible product or a solution is created.
Finlay talks about social security charter and experience panels to help people what they need. It has complex policies, data bases, systems etc. The end user experience is given a lot more than they spend. The concept of Co design is, it collaborates with teams, complex organizations, users, contexts, impacts etc., to create a whole new positive system. System thinking of digital & physical making serve disperse populations & communities.
The Scottish government and designers believe in need to allow everyone to have an accessible product. A method of making users know and get feedback on the service entity. It doesn’t have to be a perfect model. It’s a prototyping tool, and the goal is receiving feedbacks. Walking the park with the users gives an entity of different actors in each scenario. For example, create Internet of things & illustrations for people to experience a much convenient way to use the product.
Do that, make stuff and talk to people- Finlay Clark
Products can be to create apps, website, digital interactions, service entities, and all integrated solutions under system designs. Like an IPhone, it delivers a type of service not just a product. The way to keep this streamlined is the ability for co design acting as a catalyst to work with research methods aiming for focus groups, interviews and surveys. The effectiveness of research in co-design has rarely been evaluated empirically or experimentally; however, qualitative exploration have described the positive and negative outcomes associated with co-design.
During the interview I noticed Co-design changes principles and expands the scope of work leading to innovations, discovery and a launch for new age. Co-design helps us move faster: from the point that we identify a problem, to our ability to create a prototype and begin to test and learn. Co-designing is by people, for people, which help us understand the real-world impact of a decision. The earlier we can involve them in the process, the sooner we learn and the sooner we can work on improvements.
Here’s 5 reason co design is for the future. Namely, it’s inclusive, it builds a positive work culture, it’s a step cut process in saving time and money, it’s iterative & definitely puts users back to social design.
These principles are used across various sectors. Finlay gives out some real world examples that happen in the social security sector. For instance, campaigning to maximize benefits take ups. Improving benefits for disabled people with ill health, and confirming that no assessments will be carried out by the private sector. Designing social security systems with a strong local presence. Providing social security benefits. Supporting young people to transition into work with job start payment.
Many companies are bad at taking risks but rather stick to their previous standards. New outcomes require us to use the lens of design thinking. It’s with flexibility and adaptability of design systems that create innovation across competitive markets.
