Bec Purser - Are you consulting, collaborating, or co-designing? And why it matters.

Co-creation, co-design, collaboration, or participatory design are terms you see a lot at the moment. This talk aims to unpack these terms by revisiting their origins and discussing the ethical and political implications of conflating them. The session will also provide clear and easily implementable strategies on when to use which method.

Transcript

1. Are you consulting,
   collaborating, or
   co-designing?
   And why it matters.
   Bec Purser
   Senior Manager Service Design
   Transport for NSW
   

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2. Part one What & why
   Part two From where
   Part three How & when
   WHAT TO EXPECT
   

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3. By conflating terms and purposes
   we diminish the value of all these
   concepts.
   WHAT & WHY
   Image: Post-it notes as part of an analysis process
   

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4. A design approach that involved including
   end users of the design outcome as active
   co-designers (Martin & Hanington, 2012).
   “Co-design is an approach to designing with,
   not for, people. It involves sharing power,
   prioritising relationships and using
   participatory means and building capacity.”
   (McKercher, 2020).
   CO-DESIGN
   PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
   CO-CREATION
   COOPERATIVE DESIGN
   OPEN DESIGN
   

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5. “We co-designed the solution with
   our internal stakeholders.”
   “Our internal co-design
   workshops had great results.”
   THAT IS NOT
   CO-DESIGN
   “We presented the concepts to
   participants in our co-design
   sessions.”
   

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6. “We COLLABORATED to design the
   solution with our internal
   stakeholders.”
   “Our internal COLLABORATION
   workshops had great results.”
   THAT IS NOT
   CO-DESIGN
   “We presented the concepts to
   participants in our CONSULTATION
   sessions.”
   

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7. None of those represent bad design or design
   processes, but they are not co-design.
   By conflating these concepts and terms we
   diminish the value of them all.
   Consultation is an important part of design and
   democracy.
   Collaboration is a
   radical act and
   should be celebrated.
   

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8. DESIGN RESEARCH
   IS ALSO NOT CO-DESIGN
   Making exactly what the end-user or participant
   says - This isn’t even design or research.
   Asking an end-user or participant to describe
   their ultimate X - That's a research question and
   should be analysed accordingly.
   Image: Homer Simpson Designed Car (George, 2014)
   

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9. FIREMAN ≠ FIRE + MAN
   

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10. Consultation is keeping
    informed and finding use/key
    issues.
    Collaboration is sharing the
    process with other
    professionals.
    Co-Design is sharing the
    process with those who will
    be most impacted.
    Consultation, Collaboration and
    Co-Design are all valuable.
    

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11. There are many claimed origins from Plato,
    to Russia to Germany but, the most widely
    accepted origin in a design context is
    Scandinavian in the 1970s and 1980s.
    FROM WHERE
    Image: Computer from the 1970s Utopia Project (Sundblad, 2010)
    

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12. Kristen Nygaard is the father
    of worker involvement in
    workplace for computer
    development and use.
    01
    PROJECT UTOPIA
    Image: Photo of Kristen Nygaard (Sundblad, 2010)
    

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13. Consultation and the
    sharing of information was
    crucial during and after the
    project.
    Collaboration with Xerox
    PARC, Stanford University,
    and others on the forefront of
    Human-Certred Design.
    Co-Design was achieved
    through trust and also need
    – the industry was changing
    dramatically.
    Driven by ideology, Project Utopia
    lead the way for Co-Design within a
    work context.
    

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14. The largest manufacturing company in
    Denmark, producing industrial
    products such as flow meters,
    temperature sensors, and other
    equipment.
    02
    DANFOSS
    Image: Danfoss cooling system in a workshop (Danfoss, 2022)
    

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15. Myth 1: Researchers must be
    impartial.
    Myth 2: Designers cannot be
    let near test subjects, or they
    will influence the results.
    Myth 3: End-users do not
    have the skill or impartiality
    to be part of the act of
    design.
    Driven by efficiency and a drive for
    commercial advantage, Danfoss
    continued the work focus.
    

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16. The world leaders for co-design in
    placemaking - designing and
    managing public spaces with the
    people who use them daily.
    03
    PROJECT FOR
    PUBLIC SPACES
    Image: Photo of the Perth Cultural Centre (Kent, 2016)
    

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17. Consultation still a key part.
    Not every community
    member can or wants to be
    committed.
    Collaboration needed as
    there are not just experts but
    multiple landowners often.
    Co-Design is built over time,
    must be careful about only
    including ‘squeaky wheels’.
    Away from ‘experts’ and work,
    Project for Public Spaces lead the way
    for Co-Design within the everyday.
    

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18. Co-design is a particularly suitable
    methodology when designing for (not
    with) complex systems.
    WHEN & HOW
    Image: Photo of toy trains being used in a design workshop
    

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19. Designing for (not with)
    complex systems.
    You can be humble, not
    impartial.
    Long-term relationships can
    be cultivated and valued.
    01 02 03
    Co-design is particularly suitable
    when:
    

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20. Designing for
    (not with) complex
    systems
    COMPLEXITY OF USE
    COMPLEXITY OF PRODUCT
    01
    

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21. Designing for
    (not with) complex
    systems
    COMPLEXITY OF USE
    COMPLEXITY OF PRODUCT
    HOME LOANS
    SAVINGS ACCOUNTS
    PUBLIC TRANSPORT
    SERVICES
    PUBLIC TRANSPORT
    ADJACENT SPACES
    

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22. Be humble, but
    not impartial.
    Co-design is not a set of tools, it is an
    approach to share the power of the design
    process with those most impacted.
    This is a process which is not for every
    organisation or everyone.
    02
    

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23. The onboarding process is long and difficult. Particularly,
    when the best co-design participants are those with unique
    lived experiences. Co-design works best when you can build
    the engagement over time and multiple projects.
    03
    The value of long-term
    relationships
    

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24. Recruiting - Lived experience
    and commitment.
    Onboarding and Facilitating
    – Be a great host.
    Start small and then keep it
    going.
    01 02 03
    Some how of Co-Design:
    

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25. This isn’t new for Design Research. We often get
    pushed to demonstrate how our sample is
    representative even when that is an impossibility
    with qualitative research.
    This is a harder process though, due to the level
    of commitment Co-Design engagements may
    require.
    Have the mindset of employing co-workers
    rather than recruiting participants.
    Lived experience
    over demographic
    representation.
    

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26. Onboarding and Facilitating
    Be a great host.
    Think event planning, experience design
    and wedding planning all rolled into one.
    You are responsible for people’s
    engagement, safety, fun and output.
    

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27. Find a design problem, maybe a product type
    which could be suitable to Co-Design.
    Consider participants who you have already
    engaged – would any of them be suitable to join
    the design process for this problem?
    Design the engagement in a way which leaves
    the door open to further engagements and
    builds relationships.
    Start small and
    keep it going.
    

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28. Where to look for
    more information?
    Beyond Sticky Notes: Doing Co-design for Real
    book by KA McKercher.
    maketools.com by Liz Sanders.
    Anything by Jacob Buur.
    Image: Photo of a person holding up the Beyond Sticky Notes book (McKercher, 2022)
    

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29. Do you have any
    questions?
    Bec Purser
    bec.purser@gmail.com
    Transport for NSW
    Thank you.
    

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30. Danfoss. (2022). CO₂ Chillers [Image]. Retrieved 1 March 2022, from
    https://www.danfoss.com/en-us/service-and-support/case-stories/dcs/co-chillers-give-pro-refrigeration-a
    -future-proof-solution/.
    George, A. (2014). Fox Homer Simpson Car [Image]. Retrieved 1 March 2022, from
    https://www.wired.com/2014/07/homer-simpson-car/.
    Kent, E. (2016). Perth's Cultural Centre [Image]. Retrieved 20 February 2022, from
    https://www.pps.org/article/australia-placemaking.
    Martin, B., & Hanington, B. (2012). Universal methods of design. Rockport Publishers.
    McKercher, K. (2022). Person holding book [Image]. Retrieved 29 February 2022, from
    https://www.beyondstickynotes.com/tellmemore.
    McKercher, K. (2021). Beyond Sticky Notes. PublishDrive.
    Sundblad, Y. (2010). UTOPIA: Participatory Design from Scandinavia to the World. History of Nordic Computing.
    References
    

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