Codesign: The next evolution of human centered design
On one hand, it seems like Human Centered Design has given us a lot; it’s now common for companies to center and design for a ‘user’ and consider experience as a vital element to business success. But on the other hand, human centered design has blind spots of its own. Which ‘user’ do we center? Who gets to be designed for?
In every design thinking workshop or shareout that I go to, my least favorite thing to hear is the over simplistic answer of “my end user is everyone!” How can you design for everyone? While I appreciate the desire to design for as universal an audience as possible, I know in reality, that designer will end up designing for no one or just people like them. Not every design can solve problems for every human on the planet, but masquarading design concept as indiscrimant and universal when they are not masks huge swaths of people. Coming up with concepts will not be the biggest challenges designers face. The biggest challenge will be avoiding erasure of people by oversimplifying problems and segments of user.
Beyond Sticky Notes: Co-Design for Real Mindsets, Methods, and Movements by Kelly Ann McKercher, is an enthralling book that goes way beyond the typcial design methods employed in user research and design. While many processes call for sprints and speedy design, this book acknowledges the importance of building relationships, spaces spaces, and ongoing exchange of ideas to elevate the design process. Nick Bowmast, Author of USERPALOOZA, describes the book as “required reading for emotionally intelligent, socially responsible research and design teams. This book bravely flies against the fashionable fetish for speed and the illusion of predictable process in design and research. Beyond Sticky Notes refreshingly acknowledges the importance of space, time and experience in crafting deeper meaning for design outcomes over using craft materials for lightweight tomfoolery and show.”
I feel like this should be required reading for designers. I’m not sure how this wasn’t a part of my design curriculum and it honestly worries me that its not. Coming out of the difficult years since 2020, it felt refreshing to hear the foundation for a new way of working. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of the Hippocratic Oath, which requires physicians uphold ethical standards, do no harm, and hold the utmost respect for human life from its beginning. I’m curious what the designer’s oath could look like?
Here are some notable pointers from the book:
What is co-design?
“Codesign is an approach to designing with, not for, people. It involves power sharing, prioritizing relationships, using participatory means, and building capability….Codesign “initiative” is used deliberately in place of ‘project’ to stress that co-design is not merely a project, but a long term commitment to changing organizational culture and sharing power.” (8)
Making decisions for others
“When we make decisions on behalf of other people, we assume we understand their dreams, needs, experiences and capacities, or lack thereof. I doing that, we overlook their knowledge and their skills. I believe that in order to improve systems and services we need to build the capability of communities. Codesign is one way of doing that” (10)
The importance of small circles
“Experience tells me that small circles—such as shared meals, quiet conversations and co-design teams—are some of the few reliable places where we can care for each other and create change. I believe that small circles of trust are influential in creating much bigger circles of trust and positive social impact.” (11)
Shifting to active participants
“Participatory approaches aren’t about relaying information or giving presentations; they’re about facilitating self-discovery and moving people from participants to active partners”(15)
Participant comfort is key
“Facilitators are often confused as to why people don’t speak up in sessions, mistaking silence for progress. Often because it’s the participants are uncomfortable. Other times, facilitators ask for feedback without demonstrating they want to hear it—for example not giving participants enough time to answer a question, using non receptive body language, or being dismissive or defensive when people offer suggestions.” (23)
Does your organization really never receive any negative feedback?
“Many organizations tell me they receive ‘hardly any negative feedback.’ Having interviewed hundreds of people who use services, I know plenty of it exists. However, it’s often not asked for or heard. Very few organizations have the enableing structures to hear critical feedback. More often, people must go out of their way to reach out (rather than organizations doing the work) and are met with dismissal if not outright hostility. Too often, professionals choose to defend their organizations and actions instead of listening and learning.” (24)
Why design needs to move beyond itself
“As a discipline, design needs to go beyond itself and draw on broader practices and theories such as systems theory and trauma studies as well as understanding whiteness, race, class and social disadvantage. Without these things and more, we are stumbling in the dark (25)
Tools alone cannot drive transformation
“Design tools, such as journey maps, empathy tools and blueprints tend not to change people’s lives. Instead, transformation happens when people take action in their own lives, supported by bigger shifts in systems.” (27)
“Building trust and relationships before offering tools or methods” (28)
“Equity work can lack creative and participatory tools. At times, it can be so focused on advocacy that it fails to foster new relationships between people who are seemingly in conflict with each other. Advocacy can come on so strong that it has the opposite impact; scaring people away, closing ears and eyes. That seldom creates change.” (31)
Including new participants
“Find people to participate in co-design who haven’t had the opportunity before, considering the fairness of who takes part and who misses out (32)”
“Co-design is a colonizing practice when done to indigenous people. In co-design, non-indigenous practitioners work only on invitation and in partnership -with and never for indigenous people” (32)
“In some cases, co-design will be needed, but you won’t be the right person to lead it” (33)
“If you’ve bought this book, some of that privilege is likely afforded to you. However, for too many people, there are very few opportunities to be heard and involved in change” (221)
“Co-design is expensive”
“Co-design is too expensive: investing in co-design can be more expensive than consultation in the short term. However, we pay now to avoid paying later as codesign builds long term commitment. By contrast, consultation often gives the impression that people are on board, only to have then fall over as the journey continues. This is often wasteful, ineffective and publicly humiliating for founders and organizations. Codesign and investing in relationships upfront pay off in the long run.” (39)
The overlap of professional and lived experience
“Codesign throws out professional expertise: on the contrary, co-design combines professional and lived experience for more insight that professional can achieve alone” (39)
New forms of engagement and tools are needed
“If your co-design practice is centered on using sticking notes, it’s time for new tools. There are many ways of working with people to build shared understanding, uncover opportunities, and make and test ideas. Very few of those approaches Cavour storytelling, interactive experiences and using our bodies to learn from each other and make decisions. Relying heavily on sticky notes privileges those who can think quickly, are highly literate and literary and are well versed in thinking in headlines. Anyone who can’t do that is generally excluded and left bewildered by the pace of commercial design methods.” (41)
“Engage in diverse ways of learning, knowing and exploring (e.g. nonverbal, visual, kinaesthetic or artistic expression) (54)
Value your curious people
“While curiosity is vital to all creative work, it is countercultural to stash curious when we are rewarded for asserting our views and being quick to provide answers. Curious people are often seen as troublemakers or lacking in competence. Similar to an immune response, they are often rejected from the places that need them most. Curiosity builds on listening generously, slowing down, embracing many world views and resisting quick fixes” (62)
“To strengthen your curiousity, go beyond tired questions that produce shallow answers such as: “What do you need?”, “What problems do you face?”, “do you like it?” Or “Would you use it?” Instead, focus on building relationships and making time for real conversations.” (63)
“Set aside time for listening and create roles that encourage learning. I once heard of executives in a busy hospital who set aside a morning every fortnight to sit with patients and hear their stories. Everyone involved benefitted enormously (64)”
“Provide opportunities and encourage people to learn outside their role, including from different industries and contexts” (64)
Drive a new culture that fosters growth and learning
“Support people to adopt new norms, embed learning mechanisms, learn how to test their assumptions, to create test beds for experimentation, for people to admit, learn and recover from failure” (71)
“Fail club: The remaining members would listen, offer empathy and ask questions to help the fairer dig deeper - but would not give advice. Often, members would also share tools, reflection or readings that were supporting them through failure… they learned that failure isn’t binary…members felt Fail Club improved their willingness to make courageous choices, strengthened their resilience and dramatically increased their ability to give and receive compassion. Do you need a fail club? (72)
“Build the conditions is the first phase of the co-design process. It’s about sharing power, prioritizing relationships, building trust, and establishing the right conditions for the meaningful and safe participation of people with lived experience. While you might be tempted to skip straight to Discover or Design, start here (75)
“Generally, invitations to join movements (such as co-design) have higher uptake when they come through a trusted person or platform—someone from a particular community, friend or family member” (102)
“Practically, that means inviting people to share their strengths and resilience, as well as any challenges, risks and disadvantage they face…Language shapes relationships, how we think of others and ultimately, how we feel about ourselves. Language can be a limitation or a lifeline with invitations and within co-design (103)
“Focus on systemic issues and social determinants of health over ‘issues’ that people have. I hear people talk about ‘Aboriginal issues’ or ‘LGBTQIA+’ issues, when there is no such thing. Instead there are impacts of structural disadvantage, racism, white supremacy, transphobia and homophobia. Framing an issue as belonging to a group of people suggests they are the sole source of their continued difficulties not their environment (104)”
Working through challenges
“The question I listed are part of my practice of calling in, which I think means inviting someone to think differently about their words and actions, instead of explicitly telling them off in front of the group or online. When calling people in, generally helps to replace instructions with invitations - to encourage people to consider the feelings and experiences of the people who are harmed by the comment or action. It can also help to switch between talking to an individual and engaging the wider group to create social pressure for someone to shift their attitude or behavior” (114)
The importance of networks
“Focus on networks, not static groups. There is no such thing as a fully representatives group of people, as hard as we might try. Networks are often more diverse, with a range of people who can take part at different times for different reasons. When we focus on networks, we avoid over-relying on one group of and can offer participation opportunities to many rather than a few” (151)
Insights vs data
“Insights are different from information or statistics. While data points often tell us what’s happening, rarely do they tell us why something is happening. By contrast, insights come from a multidimensional perspective; they tell us what’s happening and why, and give clues about possible and preferable futures. Insights can be present in a lots of different forms such as a document, a set of diagrams, posters, or a film” (169)
Always move to center lived experience
“It’s also about continuing to shift culture to see people with lived experience as co-producers of outcomes and delivering on the principles of what your co-designers came up with” (219)