Identifying and Mapping Design Impact and Value

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Design has transitioned from being represented by the lone creative voice to one that is also seen as a facilitator of other people's creativity, working in collaboration with stakeholders through participatory approaches in private and public organisations. Multi-national companies like Apple, Nike and P&G are widely recognised to have embraced the use of Design-led approach to drive innovation for some time. At the same time, the use of design innovation in public and third sector organisations is growing. Examples includes service innovation projects resulting from the Design of the Times (DOTT) programme in the North East of England (2007) and in the subsequent programme based in Cornwall (2009); and the MindLab unit in Denmark which was set up as a cross-governmental innovation unit involving citizens and businesses in developing new solutions for the public sector. As Design moves into improving outcomes for public service users, designers are moving towards longer-term partnerships and a process of collaborative knowledge exchange with policy making and service delivery organisations. For this to be effective the impact of a Design approach has to be evidenced and clearly communicated in a language accessible to all stakeholders. Hence the importance of not just documenting the impact in the form of case studies, but also identifying the characteristics of design that organisations value in order to help internal project teams build a convincing case for the inclusion of design as a core competency in their organisation.The aim of this research therefore is to understand and document how Design-led approaches are valued by different groups of stakeholders and is specifically focused on public and third sector service context. Firstly, we have to map out the impact of these projects from the perspective of the project stakeholders. These insights will inform the creation of multi-dimensional case examples that identify the impact and value of design as understood from three complementary perspectives: the design team, project team and the service users. Secondly, we bring these multiple perspectives into a workshop setting to allow diverging values and opinions to be recorded and discussed in a supportive way. These insights will enable the research team to compare and contrast differences in how design is perceived and valued in public and third sector organisations. The final case examples will be written in way that demonstrates the qualitative benefit of working with designers, in a language which is sharable across sectors. By identifying the value of design in a multi-perspectival and academically rigorous way through sharable case examples will help build capacity and appetite for innovation within public and third sector organisations.