We engage and inspire stakeholders while learning about their needs through participatory research methods. Participants become co-designers and champions for the project in the process.
As designers we must work from a position of deep understanding rather than from assumption. Understanding what motivates people to get involved, to take action and to contribute is critical to the development of a successful design strategy.
The collaborative and participatory research and co-design activities we employ have several purposes:
- To increase buy-in and support for the project by involving stakeholders early and throughout the design process.
- To inform our Scope and Design processes by gathering first-hand data about community attitudes, habits and motivations for change.
- To understand the world of the participants from their own perspective.
- To enable our clients and their communities to reflect on their current practices and habits.
- To introduce interactive and online technologies as channels for discourse about change.
- To generate user stories directly with future users.
Having members of the community involved in the development of communication tools is critical to the meaningful adoption and appropriation of those tools. An audience that has an investment in a design is much more likely to use it.
