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Design for Public Good

Supported by the European Commission Design for Public Good Author country profiles

Author country profiles

Denmark Finland UK Wales Danish design rests on a long-standing The Finnish organisation for design The UK design industry is the largest in Europe In 2008, design represented the largest democratic and human-centred tradition that promotion is the Design Forum Finland. and one of the strongest globally. NESTA proportion of the Welsh both addresses systems, processes and products Design has been on the national agenda since estimates £23bn is spent on design in the UK in employment and gross value added.1 The from the bottom up. SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund, was annually, while Imperial College put the figure Welsh Government has provided design support founded 1967. at £33.5bn for 2011. Design Council research to companies in Wales through the Design Design has the highest turnover growth shows that, despite the recession, the industry Advisory Service since 1994. Design Wales, part among Danish creative sector industries In 2008, design was written into the definition grew by 29% between 2005 and 2010. of the National Centre for and (2003-2010). The government launched the of innovation in the National Innovation Development Research at Cardiff Metropolitan world’s first national design policy in 1997 and Strategy and made an essential part of the The Design Council was founded in 1944, University, was established in 1994. recently launched a comprehensive growth National Innovation System. The National then under the name the Council of Industrial plan for creative industries and design. This Innovation Policy will soon include user- Design. Today, design plays an important role In 2010, the “Design for Innovation in Wales” continues support for design as a key driver driven innovation. in UK innovation and competitiveness. In manifesto was adopted unanimously by the of innovation. 2011 the Innovation and Research Strategy for National Assembly for Wales. This resulted Helsinki was World Design Capital for 2012 Growth (2011), published by the Department for in design forming part of Wales’s 2010 The Danish Design Centre was established in and ran Open Helsinki – Embedded Design in Business, Innovation and Skills, put innovation innovation policy and the 2013 Innovation 1978, and has from the beginning focused on Life. The National Innovation Policy action- at the heart of the UK government strategy for Strategy for Wales. Two new programmes promoting design and the value of design for plan used this as an opportunity to pilot public economic growth and rebalancing, with design resulted: the Programme Danish industry. It has played a key part in the service design. The learning from the world given a central role. Design is also recognised in (training in service design and creation of design policy from 1997. In 2013, it design capital experience was written into the UK National Planning Policy Framework creating demand for it in manufacturing) launched a radical new strategy of cooperation the renewed national design policy “Design (2011) as a vital part of sustainable development and SPIDER (piloting service design projects with the design field, business, industry, Finland”. The new design policy specifies four and the Independent Review of Competitiveness in Cardiff City Council and training public research and education. visions of wider-scale use (2012) is informed by the considerable potential officials in service ). and learning, aiming to increase investment for design to support both government and in design capabilities and learning over the business and bolster UK competitiveness. period to 2020. At both local and central government in the UK, design is playing an increasingly important role in service development and delivery and there is growing interest in its use for policymaking. 2/3

Contents

Foreword 4 Executive summary 6 Summary of recommendations 10

Introduction and overview of design process 14 Introduction 16 Overview of design process 18 A ’s toolbox 24

The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies 28 The Public Sector Design Ladder 30 Recommendation 1: Developing the ladder 31

Step 1 Case studies: Design for public services 33 1. Young people’s use of the tax system 34 2. The Good Kitchen 36 Case studies: Humanising technology 39 3. Designing Faces 40 4. Big data 42 Case studies: Systemic change 43 5. Reducing violence and aggression in A&E 44 6. Make it Work 48

Step 2 Case studies: Embedding design process 51 7. Lewisham Housing Options Service 52 8. Government Digital Service 56

Step 3 Case studies: Strategic design 60 9. Helsinki Design Lab 62 10. Mindlab 64 11. Behavioural Insights Team 68 12. for the civil service 72

Recommendation 2: Embedding design in government 76 Build your own public sector design-led innovation industry 78 Recommendation 3: Building a design sector 79

Evaluation: Measuring the impact 80 Evaluation overview 81 Evaluation case studies 82 Evaluation literature 88 Recommendation 4: Building the evidence base 89

Endnotes and credits 90 Design for Public Good 4/5

Foreword

We are moving into a global economy based not just on knowledge but Design is a key source of innovation and therefore part of the solution to ingenuity. Increasingly success depends less on what material resources we the growth challenge Europe is facing. Every day we see start-up businesses have and more on what we make of them. This is true even in the field of inspired by design and creative thinking, and leading global enterprises using mass-produced consumer goods, where the global harmonisation of labour it as a means to boost business development and gain competitive advantage. costs will come to impede emerging economies’ ability to compete on price. Quality will be the great differentiator. As those concerned with innovation Worldwide there is also an increasing focus on how design and other creative now widely understand, design is key to this, not as an add-on, skills can contribute to a green transition. A major part of a product’s but as a way of structuring development. environmental footprint is defined through the early design phase, so many environmental issues can be solved by focusing on reducing environmental The UK government fully appreciates the role of design as a driver of impact early in the development process. economic growth. Successive governments have supported design for over 60 years since the Government set up the Council for in 1944 to Rapid urbanisation is another example. The rise of megacities with millions aid post-war economic recovery. Design is a source of competitive advantage Rt Hon David Willets MP, Annette Vilhelmsen, of inhabitants is increasing the need for design solutions both technical and and can help organisations transform their performance. That is why design Minister for Universities Minister for Business social that can meet the challenge of creating sustainable urban environments forms an integral part of the Government’s plans for innovation and growth. and Science, Department and Growth, on a huge scale. for Business, Innovation and Skills, UK Design and innovation play a particularly crucial role in services. With a Design and creativity also brings value to the public sector by contributing certain symmetry, as manufacturing moved to Asia, digital technology has to the development of more user-friendly services and humanising allowed principally European and American businesses to create value technology. To promote design-driven innovation in the public sector, through increasingly sophisticated service offerings. This has given rise to the Danish Government supports MindLab, a cross-ministerial innovation vital new design disciplines focused not on objects but services and systems. unit that involves citizens and businesses in creating new solutions for This is almost entirely about what we do, not what we have. It is about society. Entrepreneurship, climate change, digital self-service, education, reorganising what we do around an understanding of the needs of the end employment services and workplace safety are some of the areas the user, ensuring that we do not waste time and money on anything extraneous. unit addresses.

This capability grew from the private sector, but provides vital cues for Denmark is highly aware of the value of design and was one of the first the public sector. It is the capability to do more for citizens with less, or do countries in the world to launch a national design policy. Recently the Danish less with greater effect. It has the potential to meet the pressing needs of government has made design and creative industries a specific focus area in the present, but also to help governments achieve wider long-term aims of the national policy for business and growth. Design thinking and creativity growth and quality of life for its citizens. With governments around the world can contribute to innovation and economic growth and has a lot to offer in beginning to recognise it, it is a capability Europe cannot afford to ignore. developing sustainable solutions for a better society. Design for Public Good 6/7 Executive summary

A brief and simplified description of design as a three-step process begins to show how this works. Designers: Executive summary Research Visualise Prototype 1 user needs 2 solutions 3 and improve

In this publication, members of SEE No longer just an add-on, design has This is the spine of the design-led innovation The right team for the right system (Sharing Experience Europe), a network evolved into a fully joined-up innovation process. It is, as one can see, a joined-up Starting with the user also gives designers a of 11 European partners, present a series methodology. There is increasing process from analysis to problem solving direct insight into the system in which they are of case studies and tools to enhance the understanding in the private sector of the to implementation. It mitigates risk while trying to innovate. By mapping a user’s journey understanding of design for public sector enormous value this adds, even in areas not increasing the chances of success by using around a system’s touchpoints, designers innovation and facilitate the integration of its traditionally seen as the preserve of design end user needs as a touchstone. are able to see quickly which departments methods into mainstream practice. such as services. Likewise, and for similar and areas of expertise are relevant, how they reasons, it is increasingly clear in the public Mapping the system might be better joined up and who the relevant Societies today face common challenges in sector that design thinking is the way to Application of design to services and policy personnel are. These individuals can then be delivering the best possible quality of life overcome common structural flaws in service might seem a leap to some. In fact, part of included in the design process. in a way that is economically sustainable. provision and policymaking: design’s value here is in making seemingly Design thinking offers a highly effective intangible things tangible to the teams Designers do not seek to supplant other methodology for squaring this circle and –– Design-led innovation is a joined- working on them. A service or system, areas of expertise; rather, their techniques connecting with citizens – at all levels of the up process, with no inefficient for instance, is made up of a series of facilitate multidisciplinary teamwork. Teams public sector, and from services to policy. handover from analysis to solution to “touchpoints” (anything from shop counters might include representatives from different Countries such as New Zealand, South implementation. to web pages to tax forms). A map of these can government departments or agencies, but Korea, Australia and Singapore are adopting be sketched, just as an object can. also experts in fields such as behavioural –– Rather than disjointedly patching design-led innovation, realising in common economics. Designers’ visualisations help these together incremental solutions to with leading-edge companies such as Apple Meeting the real need teams understand problems collaboratively problems as they arise, design thinking that it is key to growth and competitiveness. User needs are a quick route to efficiency. By and synthesise their insights into viable looks at the entire system to redefine the The European Union cannot afford to be designing a service or policy around them, solutions. They get often disconnected problem from the ground up. left behind and, with pioneering work from one can eliminate extraneous elements and individuals and teams working together. several of its member states, has a chance to –– Design thinking starts by understanding cut costs. Policymaking often begins with lead the field. user needs in order to ensure solutions cost savings and does not engage with the Designing out risk are appropriate, waste is avoided and end user. This is skipping a step. A measure that Prototypes are a low-cost, efficient way to users buy into them. does not meet the needs of the people it is ensure solutions work. One can start with intended to serve is no saving, however cheap –– Rather than jumping straight to very simple models – an early prototype of a it appears upfront. expensive and risky pilots, design process hospital service, for example, might use chalk tests iteratively, starting with low-cost, lines on tarmac to indicate wards. As each simple prototypes and designing out risk Designers’ observations are particularly prototype reveals more about what works, as prototypes become more evolved. effective because they go beyond the iterations can become more like a finished focus group or survey to observe real user product. By the time one arrives at final –– Silo structures are a perennial problem behaviour, often identifying needs and prototype or pilot, unintended consequences in government. While the structural behaviour people are not aware of themselves. and risk of failure will usually have been factors that cause this may be stubborn, designed out. design methods offer uniquely effective ways of understanding which teams, departments, experts and specialists are relevant to a problem and engaging them in collaboration.

This report is a collaborative effort between the Design Council, Danish Design Centre, Aalto University and Design Wales (SEE Platform lead partner). Design for Public Good 8/9 Executive summary

Design thinking can be applied in the public sector at a number of different levels, visualised here as a ladder. This is proposed as a diagnostic tool for public sector bodies and nations to work out their level of design use and define a roadmap for progress. It is also used to structure the case studies in this report.

The Public Sector Design Ladder

Design STEP 3 for policy

Design STEP 2 as capability

Design for STEP 1discrete problems

Step 1: Design for discrete problems –– gain a shift in perspective in seeing At this step, design projects are one-offs things from the point of view of the and design thinking is not embedded in citizens they serve. the commissioning organisations. Public –– become more adept at hiring design sector service design projects, of which there teams when required. are numerous good examples, fit into this category. Projects can be very small or have wide systemic implications. They can tackle Step 3: Design for policy Here design thinking is used by policymakers, societal problems such as malnutrition often facilitated by designers. This is a among the elderly, violence in hospitals and relatively new discipline and much of the work worklessness, among many others. This on it so far has been experimental, but the logic category also covers design’s application as a of design’s application here is strong given that way of making technology useful and usable it meets some key policymaker needs: for people.

–– A joined up process, from policymaking Step 2: Design as capability Here, public sector employees not only work to implementation with designers, they understand and use –– A low-cost way of mitigating risk design thinking themselves. Many design through prototyping techniques are easily transferable to non- designers and can create significant efficiencies –– A way of getting an overview of a system as part of day-to-day operations. Staff: –– A way of cutting across departmental silos and engaging people from outside –– use the new skills to solve numerous government too. problems too small to merit the hiring of designers. Design for Public Good 10/11 Recommendations

Recommendations

The following recommendations occur throughout the report.

Recommendation 1: Recommendation 2: Recommendation 3: Countries may wish to learn from the Danish Use the Public Sector Design Ladder 2 Build design thinking into government 3 Build a strong design sector that can or UK experiences of boosting design sector 1 as a diagnostic tool and roadmap and public policy practice offer strategic and service design to the capabilities, or contact the authors of this report for progression. public sector for advice, training and direct assistance. In order for the European Commission The Public Sector Design Ladder can be to promote design thinking in government, it The European Commission should The design sector and design used to assess one’s own position relative to is logical that it embeds it in its own working support this by: organisations should build awareness of ambitions and needs, other organisations and methods. This should not be a sudden or and capability in supporting the public sector the big picture nationally and internationally. expensively engineered change but start –– facilitating the sharing of learning and as follows: small, with short designer-led workshops or best practice – such as case studies –– Member states, municipalities and training sessions showing teams how to apply or evaluation reports – via online or –– Design organisations should raise government departments, and design thinking to existing challenges. physical networks and events. awareness among designers of the public agencies should use it to monitor their sector as a potential market/client. –– ensuring that design project case own design use and determine how to Successful adoption of these processes will studies follow a standard template and –– Designers should build knowledge of progress towards more wide-ranging be a direct benefit to European Commission are categorised according to the three service and strategic design approaches, service and policy design-led innovations. working practices, provide an evidence base steps of the ladder so a picture of the ideally through direct contact with those and should also help European Commission –– Design organisations should use it effectiveness of outcomes achieved at who have pioneered them. staff advocate for these methods. to diagnose design sector capabilities these levels can be built. –– Given that strategic design is an emerging and the degree to which design thinking –– ensuring design-led innovation field, designers engaging with it should is embedded in government and help Member States and municipalities projects are eligible for European also seek to gain direct experience of the clients improve. should: funding streams focussed on innovation policymaking landscape and contribute –– The design sector can use it to assess and public sector renewal. to the development of the discipline. –– seek out design resource for policy-level the effectiveness of its own offerings. work, ideally in their own countries or, if it is unavailable, from expert design Member States and municipalities The European Commission should organisations and agencies abroad. wanting to build design capabilities should: promote use of the ladder and fund work –– start small, with training, workshops on developing it as a diagnostic tool and –– assess the strengths/weaknesses of and small-scale service projects. roadmap for progression. This could take their design sector and set targets for the form of a matrix, allowing specific –– share information within the improvement (see the design ladder for a disciplines on one axis to be plotted against Commission and with other countries framework for this). steps of the ladder on the other. This will trying these design approaches. help create a more detailed picture of the use –– learn from those with experience and effectiveness of design capabilities and in design-led public services and Design organisations should actively policymaking. related disciplines at each step of the ladder. seek to grow the market by offering the public sector small-scale training sessions, –– build these skills into workshops and project leadership in from school level upwards. partnership with the design sector. Design for Public Good 12/13 Recommendations

Recommendation 4: 4 Build the evidence base and impact measurements for design innovation in the public sector

The European Commission should support this by:

–– initiating a detailed study on best-practice evaluation of service and strategic design, so that it can deliver clear guidelines on this as an integral part of knowledge sharing. –– making good evaluation integral to funding applications for design innovation projects. –– opening research budgets for work on the impact of design on innovation and making it a rule that innovation programmes such as Horizon 2020 include work on this. This approach is underpinned by the European Board report, Design for Growth and Prosperity, which recommends that design be better embedded in the EU research, development and innovation programme, Horizon 2020.

The design sector and design organisations, and others running design projects, should make the case for themselves by ensuring that they:

–– record information and write case studies so as to clearly demonstrate both methods and outcomes (and, where possible, meeting of objectives). –– begin evaluations at project start to create a baseline. –– use a control group wherever possible. Design for Public Good 14/15 Introduction and overview of design process

We genuinely believe that public sector “leaders need to acquire design skills if Introduction they are to stand a reasonable chance of and overview of reshaping and refashioning the services for which they are responsible. Design design process offers a fresh approach to rethinking policy, redrawing professional practice and reshaping service delivery.” – Barry Quirk, Chief Executive of Lewisham Council, London 2

Our challenge today lies in our ability to “move into uncharted territory, rather than improve the existing. How else will our ageing society be able to meet growing service needs with a diminishing tax base? How will we meet our sustainability challenge within an energy and resource dependent economy? These are not efficiency challenges, but rather redesign challenges. We will have to clarify our attitude towards risk. Doing new things has an associated risk, but doing nothing is arguably much riskier.” – Marco Steinberg, Director of Internal Strategic Design, SITRA Design for Public Good 16/17 Introduction and overview of design process

Introduction Design and the public sector

In this publication, members of SEE In the current straitened economic climate, (Sharing Experience Europe), a network this is vital. However, design-led innovation I think in the past there’s been an of 11 European partners, present a series techniques are no mere emergency measures. “ of case studies and tools to enhance the Rather, they are ways of working that assumption that if it’s in the public sector it understanding of design for public sector governments can and should use at any time. innovation and facilitate the integration of its Whether one has a lot of resource or a little, doesn’t have to be as good as in the private methods into mainstream practice. what matters is that it be targeted effectively. Design thinking fits solutions to problems sector. That is ridiculous. As designers, Countries such as New Zealand, South with precision. It is a way of being agile, we’re working to make people’s lives better; Korea, Australia and Singapore are all economical and intelligent in meeting both adopting design-led innovation to solve the challenges that are pressing in the present we’re working to save billions of pounds. societal challenges. In common with leading and the new ones that will continually appear international companies such as Apple, they in the future. We strongly believe that it has The ambition should be sky high.” know that these processes are key to growth the potential to help societies not only sustain and competitiveness. themselves, but flourish. – Ben Terrett, Head of Design, UK Government Digital Service

The EU is not lagging behind. With a strong Nevertheless, trial of these methods need not track-record of pioneering work in this area be a blind – or wild-eyed – leap of faith. One from countries such as Denmark, the UK of design’s great capabilities is allowing one and Finland, we have in fact been leading the to start small – both with design solutions way for the past decade. To continue to do and design methodology itself. Organisations this, however, we now need to increase use of new to these techniques can and should begin these practices and close the divide between with quick, low-cost projects and workshops, the advanced EU member states and those for proving the worth of design methods and A designer addresses development by whom these methods are new. helping staff learn design thinking before “ moving on to larger projects. This will also looking for a problem – not a solution. But this is not just a story of pressure from be likely to deliver efficiency wins almost globalisation. It is, predominantly, a story immediately. Then, as innovations bear fruit There is only one problem, but there are about people and society. Government design and design thinking becomes part of the projects consistently deliver lower costs, nervous system of public sector bodies, they many solutions. Because of the amount greater efficiency, fulfilled public sector staff can begin to apply it to some of the bigger, and, most importantly, citizens who are more challenging problems of our age and the of competition and the pressure on both more secure in the present and more next one. empowered and self-reliant long-term. In other finances and resources, we don’t have words, design has shown its ability to square So for innovation-minded public authorities the circle between two first-order objectives looking to deliver a robust, rational public time for mistakes. It is both efficient and often seen as mutually exclusive: cutting state sector, design-led innovation is a set of tools spending and improving the experience of tailored to your needs, waiting to be tried. risk reducing to identify the problem citizens. It does this by tailoring its solutions There is nothing to lose and a great deal to gain. to the needs of the end user, the citizen, and before developing the solutions.” trimming off whatever is extraneous. – David Fellah, CEO main markets, Designit Design for Public Good 18/19 Introduction and overview of design process

Overview of design process

Why use design in the public sector? Traditional public sector service provision and policymaking commonly encounter a number of stumbling blocks that design thinking addresses:

Disjointed incrementalism Designing for the fundamental need Poor understanding of citizen needs Direct understanding of citizen needs This means that government spends too Designers reframe the question in terms Focus groups and surveys are ineffective Designers observe user behaviour in the much time firefighting, patching together of the real world conditions services and because of the often huge gap between real world to identify needs people are seemingly expedient solutions that policy seek to affect. They look at the what people do/want and what they say often not aware of themselves. reengineer what already exists without needs of the people in question and tailor they do/want. stopping to ask if the fundamentals are solutions accordingly. right. Often the driver is cost cutting, but if real needs are not met, savings are a false economy. Lack of tangibility Dynamic tangibility With most government work on service Design process makes problems tangible and policy taking the form of written and data visual with sketches and communications, there is a perpetual risk diagrams that quickly and clearly convey High-risk piloting Low-risk prototyping of important information becoming lost the relationships between interrelated New government measures are often Design process tests solutions with low- in a sea of words and numbers. Text and elements and can easily be altered. Later piloted at too large a scale, incurring cost, small-scale prototypes initially. It sees figures can also feel static and difficult to in the process, prototype models allow considerable risk and costs. failure at this stage as “smart failure” that engage with creatively. people to see how solutions work and try allows solutions to be improved and risk to out alternatives. be designed out as prototypes progress.

Silo structures Multidisciplinary teamwork Lack of joined-up thinking A complete innovation process Government departments often find it While acknowledging that there can As governments are beginning Design-led innovation is a joined-up difficult to work together and to engage be profound structural barriers here, to recognise, disconnects between process that moves seamlessly relevant specialists and users from design offers highly effective ways of analysis of problems, creation of from analysis to solutions to outside government. assessing which departments, disciplines solutions and implementation implementation. and individuals are relevant and a wide are inefficient. range of proven techniques for helping multidisciplinary teams collaborate.

Lack of citizen engagement A citizen-centred process This is a problem on two counts: if Design thinking starts by identifying user Designing for the average Designing for extremes citizens have not been consulted about needs and goes on working with users Services and policy are too often Design thinking envisages and takes service and policy innovations, there is throughout the process to co-design and designed for a notional average user in account of extremes, helping to ensure no guarantee that their actual needs will test solutions. This means that what it an average situation. solutions cover a wide range of users be met and they are less likely to buy into delivers not only works for the people and scenarios. Designing for extremes them when they are imposed from above. affected, but that these people own and often also makes solutions more promote the new measures. innovative and inclusive.

Thank you to UK Design Council Design Associate Neil Gridley for his substantial input on this section. Design for Public Good 20/21 Introduction and overview of design process

Design without objects Defining design Creativity is the generation of new ideas. This report is primarily concerned with the On the face of it, design is an extraordinarily “ design not of discrete objects but of public diverse field that breaks down into numerous services and public policy. To many, this categories. What links them is the creation of Innovation is the successful exploitation notion of design will be unfamiliar and may be things intended for use. difficult to imagine in practice. We therefore of new ideas. Design is what links creativity begin by explaining some basic principles. and innovation. It shapes ideas to become practical and attractive propositions Whether the end product is a physical object or not, the core of the design process is basically the same: for users or customers.” – Sir George Cox, former UK Design Council Chairman Research Visualise Prototype 1 user needs 2 solutions 3 and improve

This begins to show how design principles can apply not just to goods such as furniture or packaging, but to products as seemingly intangible as services, systems and policymaking.

For example:

A service designer will typically begin Once a solution has been designed, it can Design and innovation What makes design thinking so effective by trying to understand the needs of be tested using prototypes. For a service, The basic design process we have outlined for innovation is the way it makes problems 1 service users – someone claiming benefits 3 these will generally be simple, low-cost effectively describes a complete innovation tangible through direct observation, for example. mock-ups of the service, allowing the process, one that approaches problems visualisation and prototypes. In many ways, designer to quickly and cheaply see what from the ground up and carries through this is why design thinking is especially useful Based on insights from user research, the works for the user and what does not and solutions to implementation. Because of for service and policy innovations: it renders designer can begin to sketch solutions. then make improvements. this, the design approaches with which we these things, which can seem so intangible 2 For a service, the designer will draw a are concerned here are sometimes grouped and therefore so difficult to approach, map of the different parts of the service This is a highly simplified picture of a under the term “design-led innovation” or concrete, clear and easily intelligible to a with which the user interacts – its process that, as we will see, can become “design for user-centred innovation”. wide variety of stakeholders. “touchpoints”. A benefits claimant, hugely complex and involve numerous skills, for example, might take a ticket at the techniques and processes. However, even in benefits office, fill out a form about this form, it shows that design thinking offers a previous employment and skills, look at a complete end-to-end problem solving method. website on job opportunities and meet an advisor. These are all touchpoints. Design for Public Good 22/23 Introduction and overview of design process

From the user to the system User engagement Work with -led innovation can be seen as “People Designers use a wide variety of techniques We are always already caught up in systems comprising three types of activity: to understand user needs, including of various sorts, but many of them have grown ignore interviews, user diaries and observations of up haphazardly. They have been designed, –– user-engagement behaviour. Designers will also often work with but not consciously. By using design process –– multidisciplinary teams design that ethnographic researchers to gain user insights. to see the way a system works, we can cut out –– work with systems waste and better join things up. ignores Multidisciplinary teams A simple “persona” diagram for the Design-led innovation is never about unemployed person we referred to earlier can people.” designers supplanting other areas of help explain how this works. expertise. Designers facilitate collaboration – Frank Chimero, between stakeholders, synthesising their designer and illustrator ideas in sketches and prototypes. Design teams can include end users, people from different departments and experts from disciplines such as ethnographic research and behavioural economics. He has been in prison He claims benefits and has a lack of skills. at the benefit office every two weeks.

Paul, 22, is long- term unemployed.

He claims He has housing benefit. substance The three types of activity interrelate as follows abuse issues.

He has had a course He does temporary of cognitive therapy, work through an but it has not cured agency associated his depression. with the benefit office. User engagement

He cares for a two- User journey He looks at job Users and year-old daughter and experts shows meets a social worker websites at the co-design touchpoints every two weeks. benefits office. in system

Design-led innovation

Multi- As the diagram shows, starting with user disciplinary Experts Work with teams from different systems needs leads you to the system and the other parts of people involved. system interact Once one sees the system whole, one can get people from around it talking and create a system that works better for Paul and avoids unnecessary costs. Design for Public Good 24/25 Introduction and overview of design process

Shadowing Visualisation techniques There is often a huge gap between what Visuals are a great way to get to grips with the A designer’s toolbox people do and what they say they do. nature of a problem and to develop solutions. The philosopher Isaiah , taking a cue from the Designers bridge this by watching and Also, to develop complicated systems, you recording people in their daily lives, need to work with groups. Visuals help Greek poet Archilochus, famously divided people into discovering needs and behaviour that people groups develop a common understanding. hedgehogs and foxes. The former know one big thing, are often not aware of themselves. Interviews For instance, using post-it notes to lay out and user diaries can also help. New apps the touchpoints of a service allows or think they do. The latter know lots of little things. that allow users to more easily keep a video participants to move them around. Design is a methodology for foxes – not one big method, or photo diary have been developed by user but an expandable set of little methods, each geared experience designers. towards helping those involved understand the material circumstances they are trying to affect.

A few of the key techniques designers use will give an idea of how this works.

Personas Personas are a way of focusing on different types of user and considering their needs. Using the concept of “relevant extremes” – focusing on the needs of people at the extreme of things like physical ability, you ensure you’ve covered everyone and quite often uncover opportunities that have a wider application.

For a more comprehensive survey of design tools, see: www.designcouncil.org.uk/about-design/How-designers-work/Design-methods Design for Public Good 26/27 Introduction and overview of design process

Discover Define Develop Deliver Design is the application “of intent – the opposite of happenstance, and an antidote to accident.” – Robert L. Peters, designer, founder of Circle Design

User journeys Prototyping Scenarios Double Diamond A detailed map of user behaviour over time The aim here is always to design risk out, As part of prototyping, specific scenarios In practice, it can be helpful to think of – and can be used to quickly identify the “pain so that by the time you reach a high level of about the future use of a design object can plan – the design process according to points” in a service or product. These can investment, the risk is low. By starting with be imagined. This is similar to “relevant what the Design Council describes as the inspire everything from small tweaks to low or no-cost prototypes, one can learn a lot extremes”, described above. One might Double Diamond. farreaching innovation projects. about what works and what does not before conceive scenarios in which things go as going on to more elaborate iterations and wrong as they possibly can vs. ideal scenarios. This basically describes a process of Service Designers also use these to sketch uncover consequences that would otherwise beginning with many ideas – “divergent new services. These maps are called Service have been unforseen. thinking” – and then sifting down to the best Blueprints. These are effectively service – “convergent thinking”. The reason there designers’ versions of product can include everything from tiny, are two diamonds is that the process happens sketches. Instead of sketching an object, they cheap cardboard models to large, expensive twice. In the first diamond you examine map the touchpoints that make up a service. ones with working parts, but it also covers numerous ways of looking at a problem They also draw storyboards to show the activities like role-playing and live testing. and then resolve them into a brief. In the movement of users between touchpoints. Services can be prototyped as a whole, but second, numerous solutions to the brief are you might also simply prototype individual presented, only to be sifted out in the final touchpoints, such as forms people have to fill phase to arrive at the final design. out, web pages etc. Design Forfor Public Public Good Good 28/29 The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies skjbdkjbThe Public kkjb Sector kjb kjhbxksbkxjbDesign Ladder kabk and bkbakbcase studies kjabskjb kbk abkb kjbskjbk bksjbk jbksjbk jbskjb kjsbkj bsk Design for Public Good 30/31 The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies

The Public Sector Recommendation Design Ladder Use the Public Sector Design Ladder as a 01 diagnostic tool and roadmap for progression Design-led innovation can be used for everything from relatively small interventions to complex policy decisions. We can visualise the different levels of application The Public Sector Design Ladder can be used to assess one’s own position using a ladder, as follows: relative to ambitions and needs, other organisations and the big picture nationally and internationally.

–– Member states, municipalities and government departments, and agencies should use it to monitor their own design use and determine how to progress towards more wide-ranging service and policy Design design-led innovations.

STEP for policy –– Design organisations should use it to diagnose design sector 3Here design thinking is used by capabilities and the degree to which design thinking is embedded in policymakers, often facilitated by government and help clients improve. designers, to overcome common structural problems in traditional –– The design sector can use it to assess the effectiveness of its own offerings. policymaking such as high-risk pilots and poorly joined up processes. Following the work of Helsinki The European Commission should promote use of the ladder and fund Design Lab, we refer to this work on developing it as a diagnostic tool and roadmap for progression. This Design discipline as Strategic Design. could take the form of a matrix, allowing specific disciplines on one axis to be STEP as capability plotted against steps of the ladder on the other. This will help create a more 2Here, design becomes part of the detailed picture of the use and effectiveness of design capabilities and related culture of public bodies and the way disciplines at each step of the ladder. they operate and make decisions. This increases employees’ skill at commissioning designers, but they also understand and use design thinking themselves. Design for

STEP discrete problems 1Here design teams are hired for individual projects tackling discrete problems. These can be very large and have systemic implications, but the projects are one-offs. Design thinking is not part of the culture of the commissioning organisations.

Each step on the ladder is a good place to barriers to design thinking’s adoption at be, but the higher up a public sector body higher and higher levels incrementally. It is, goes, the more value it can create. Crucially, then, a roadmap for progression. It can also however, the barriers to use of design be used as a diagnostic tool to think about also increase. One can see why this is by where one is at and where one would like to thinking about how things work at Step 1: get to – whether as an agency, department, organisations here can run discrete design local authority or nation. projects without changing their fundamental working practices. The ladder categories will provide orientation as we go through the case studies. One of the reasons for presenting these design applications as a ladder is to suggest that, by going through the steps in order, organisations may be able to decrease the Design for Public Good Design for 32/33 The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies 1discrete problems

Overview of case studies STEP Design for public services STEP We start here on step 1 of the Public Sector Design Design Ladder with a look at design of public services.

STEP for policy 309 Helsinki Design Lab Of all the design approaches we will look at in this Design An experiment by SITRA, as capability the Finnish Innovation Fund, report, service design is the most established in the in applying design to 07 Lewisham Housing Options 2 policymaking challenges. public sector. There are numerous good examples Design for A service design project that also STEP discrete problems embedded design skills among beyond the ones we present here. housing department staff, radically 10 MindLab 01 Young people’s use 1 altering the working culture. A Danish government unit of the tax system created to apply design thinking User research helped the Danish to policymaking, but now tax authorities communicate 08 Government Digital Service focusing primarily on services. better with young people. A world-class, best-practice digital service redesign that is leading by 11 Behavioural Insights Team 02 The Good Kitchen example in embedding the UK A UK government unit A redesigned meal service government’s new “digital by employing many of the same for the elderly brought more default” strategy. approaches as designers, customers and sales of healthy particularly in understanding meals, and also increased staff user behaviour. satisfaction.

12 Design thinking for the 03 Designing Faces civil service Design input is helping doctors A UK Design Council

to use CT scans and 3D printing initiative introducing CASE STUDIES to increase the success-rate and design approaches to speed of facial reconstructive policymakers – with uniformly surgery. enthusiastic responses.

04 Big data Intelligent use of design can vastly increase the usability of big, complex data sets.

05 Reducing violence and aggression in A&E Designers worked to reduce aggression in hospital accident and emergency departments by improving the visitor experience and teaching staff new skills.

06 Make it Work By making it easy to access relevant services, designers helped get long-term unemployed people back to work – at 10% of the recommended cost. 3 34/35 2 1

Title: Young people’s use of the tax system 01 Run by: MindLab Young people’s use Client: The Danish of the tax system Tax Authorities Location: Denmark A relatively small, targeted user-research project helped service providers communicate more effectively to users, without the need for a major service redesign.

What was the problem/challenge? 21-year-old Dennis, a car mechanic In Denmark, taxpayers can take care of their apprentice from Falser, was typical. He business with the IRS/Treasury digitally. found it almost impossible to update his However, some citizens still contact the preliminary tax statement via the SKAT authorities by phone or visiting the local online system. His problem, in common tax offices. with most of the other interviewees, was that he did not understand tax authority phrases The Danish Tax and Customs Administration like “pre-printed”, “employer-administered (SKAT) had assumed that young people – the pension” and even “back taxes”. digital generation – would only contact them via the website. In fact, they were approached What did they deliver? by many young people who could not figure MindLab made a series of audio recordings out how to use it. SKAT therefore asked of the young people’s reactions and played MindLab for help. them at workshops to SKAT employees. The employees soon realised they had taken it for What did they do? granted that the users would understand or MindLab interviewed nine young people figure out their language. with educational backgrounds ranging from secondary school to university and What was the result? staff from the Danish Tax and Customs The project was a paradigmatic example of Administration (SKAT) department, how engagement with end users can help regions and local call centres. service providers refine their offering both for users and themselves. They asked the young people about their understanding of tax, who they thought SKAT saw that they needed to work with would assist them and how, and about their young people both to help them understand experience of contact with the tax authorities, what support they could get and make it e.g. their response to electronic letters and easier to do things themselves. SKAT now their use of the site. In addition, they did a takes account of young people’s knowledge series of service journey sketches. in its communications and has made improvements to the self-service site to make In the main, young people expected that it easier for them to use. Details from the study SKAT would handle everything for them. were subsequently used for specific initiatives They thought about the tax system so little in cooperation with SKAT staff, including a that many could not describe previous cross-ministerial project on the improvement interactions with it. MindLab and staff from of teaching materials for young taxpayers. SKAT therefore visited the young people on the day they received their tax assessment to see what the process was like.

Find out more mind-lab.dk/en/cases/away-with-the-red-tape-for-young-taxpayers 3 36/37 2 1

Title: The Good Kitchen/Service design for the public sector/Design 02 demonstration programme Run by: Danish Construction Authority/ The Hatch & Bloom Client: Good Kitchen Holstebro Municipality Location: Holstebro, North Jutland, Denmark The redesign of a food service for senior citizens bore unexpected fruit for the municipality that commissioned it: Inadequate nutrition is a huge problem not just more customers and sales of healthy meals, but among the elderly. 60% living in assisted increased staff pride and job satisfaction and a prestigious living have poor nutrition and, of those, design award. 20% are actually malnourished.

What was the problem/challenge? Many interviewees, for instance, were More than 125,000 senior citizens are embarrassed at having a van marked in large dependent on food services in Denmark today type “HOLSTEBRO MUNICIPAL MEAL and these numbers are set to soar in years to SERVICE” outside their homes. come. Most senior citizens feel they lose their dignity and become even less active when no Workshops were conducted with senior longer capable of cooking and shopping. citizens and all other relevant parties, including This often leads to a lower quality of life, kitchen staff, using idea development methods The focus on the user, far from just being reduced appetite, and further deterioration What did they deliver? such as “radical analogies”. This inspires new What had seemed like the relatively simple a methodology for a redesign, has been in health. Inadequate nutrition is a huge ways of thinking by referencing something goal of improving the food service delivered embedded as an active component of the problem among the elderly. 60% in assisted that is different but similar – in this case a results with far wider reach than anyone at service. Users can now offer feedback and living have poor nutrition and, of those, restaurant and a meal service for a family with Holstebro initially imagined. suggestions at any time using a Good Kitchen 20% are actually malnourished.3 children. Kitchen staff were asked questions postcard. These cards are read aloud at staff such as, “What if the senior citizens were The food service was completely reinvented. meetings and put up in the kitchens. Holstebro Municipality set out to better paying guests in a restaurant?” Now named The Good Kitchen, it works meet the needs of its food service users and through more efficient and transparent All of this comes wrapped in an appealing improve their health and quality of life. The designers also invited a gourmet chef cooperation between kitchen staff, home new identity implemented on to the kitchen to increase staff pride in food carers and the municipality. There are more everything from delivery vans to packaging, What did they do? preparation and provide tips on things like daily food choices and users can now also menus and staff uniforms. The innovation agency Hatch & Bloom styling, colour mix and portion sizes to order extra meals for guests. Improved worked with Holstebro to develop a service improve the food experience. menu descriptions give users a clearer sense design solution covering all aspects of their of how food will taste. (e.g. not just “Liver public food service system. New arising out of this work were with gravy, potatoes and vegetables” but developed through feedback studies in which “Pan-fried calf’s liver with onions and gravy, Hatch & Bloom’s “design anthropologists” progressive prototype iterations were tested potatoes tossed in thyme, and butter-roasted conducted ethnographic research into user with users. vegetables.”) The new menus take better behaviour, looking for needs and wishes both account of individual preferences, allowing spoken and unspoken. By observing and The design process lasted around six months. users to choose not just between overall interviewing users, the agency learned that Design spend was limited because Hatch meals, but side-dishes, e.g. potatoes vs. rice. food services relate to many issues beyond & Bloom was hired on a consultancy basis, They can also specify portion size and health the actual food, gaining insights concerning so Holstebro Municipality invested a large requirements relating to conditions such as packaging, colours, loneliness, meal sizes and number of working hours from relevant staff. obesity, malnutrition and diabetes. preferred dining environment.

Find out more www.hatchandbloom.com/case-studies?show=kkx www.erhvervsstyrelsen.dk/whyservicedesign/0/7 www.erhvervsstyrelsen.dk/whyservicedesign/0/7 www.hatchandbloom.com/case-studies?show=kkx Find outmore of Holstebro Municipality. staff,” says section leader Anne Marie Nielsen in sickness absence among existing kitchen kitchen staff. And we have experienced a drop concerning the happiness and pride of the kitchen, because of the widespread rumours number of unsolicited applications to the and its staff are happier. “We receive a large boost both nationally and internationally Holstebro Municipality’s image has had a institutions involved in the food service. dishes, and improved collaboration across satisfaction, 78% increase in sales of healthy increase in customers, improved customer the world. Tangible results include a 22% showcased in more than 30 countries around Danish Design Award 2008/09 and has been The Good Kitchen won the prestigious What difference did it make? increase satisfaction improved customer in customersand 22%

78% increase in thefoodservice institutions involved collaboration across dishes, andimproved in salesofhealthy

CASE STUDIES STEP 1 discrete problems Design for

important part of the mix. mix. the of part important on not is focus the but specific services so ladder, muchas capabilities the of that 1 can be an step still is This technology Humanising reducing costs. to increase the efficiency of public service delivery, improving user experiences and, again, Conversely, designers may at times actively and creatively seek out tech solutions in order on failed tech implementation. identified and met and solutions will be tested with low-cost prototypes to reduce wastage technology is used, design can significantly mitigate costs. Real user needs will be better Far from advocating major public sector outlay on technology, we are saying that when the link between technology and design: Design-led innovation’s three modes of working are a good way of understanding design thinking can ensure it is used well and economically. And where the public sector does engage with technology, as it sometimes must, innovation or major technological spend, but some of the same principles still apply. Innovation wins in the public sector are not dependent on high level technological technology can do more than they first imagined. engaging. Very often, when design thinking is applied to technology, people find that the to work hand-in-hand with designers in order to deliver innovations that are usable and Some companies, notably Apple, are increasingly aware that technologists often need Technology is still the first thing that many people think of when they think of innovation. allow us to use it. create the websites that service designers who happen, but it is web and Technologists made it perfect example of this. use. The internet is a something people can makes technology into accordingly is what and create solutions discover their needs to engage with users, this is. Design’s capacity suggests how fundamental The title of this chapter User engagement

and end users. technologists, doctors the bridge between methodology can be for instance, design field of medicine, specialised areas. In the it will often be in When new tech is applied, Multidisciplinary teams

web video telephony? could be cut out using public officials, for instance, journeys to see doctors or technology. How many even in exploiting existing sector is currently lagging novel they are. The public quickly forgetting how to assimilate them easily, work well, people tend day. When these things and services we use every touchpoints in systems has provided key years now, technology Already and for many Systems

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Title: Designing Faces Run by: 03 Medical Applications Group at the National Centre for Product Design and Development Research (PDR) Designing in Cardiff Metropolitan University, 30minutes Location: Faces Cardiff, Wales, UK Around 30 minutes £480per operation of surgery time can be saved Since surgery costs around £16 (€19) per minute, a conservative Clever implementation of computerised tomography (CT) estimate would be a saving of scans and 3D printing by designers has revolutionised £480 (€570) per operation facial reconstructive surgery, cutting the times and increasing the success of operations.

What was the problem/challenge? While product end users may be surgeons What was the result? Given the financial constraints faced by the or prosthetists, it is the patient who Financial savings are difficult to establish UK National Health Service (NHS), value for must ultimately benefit. For this reason, accurately, but are estimated as follows: money in product adoption is at the forefront design processes are led by those who of decision-making processes. Surgical understand the patient needs best. After –– Around 30 minutes of surgery time can planning is a prime example of a clear initial preparation, MAG typically engages be saved. Since surgery costs around need for patient-specific solutions that are the prescribing clinician via the internet. £16 (€19) per minute, a conservative economically viable, capture innovative ideas This collaborative approach is crucial to estimate would be a saving of and reduce the complexity of introducing new ensure that the prosthetic device is viable £480 (€570) per operation. medical technologies. The key challenge is to for use in surgery, ensure compliance with improve the predictability and efficiency of medical device regulations and meet each –– Conventional facial prosthetic techniques surgical procedures. patient’s unique set of surgical, prosthetic, can require multiple patient visits over rehabilitation and technical needs. a period of three days. With design-led, clinically viable techniques, this can be What did they do? reduced to one day, implying significant The Medical Applications Group (MAG), What did they deliver? based in the National Centre for Product Previously, surgeons performing cost savings. This is in addition to Design and Development Research (PDR) at reconstructive surgery would have improved patient outcomes, more Cardiff Metropolitan University was formed progressed directly from a CT scan to surgery, flexible and efficient working procedures in 1999 to pioneer patient-specific medical cutting and bending the titanium mesh sheet and reduced likelihood of complications solutions using design to innovate in surgical implant to fit on the spot. Based on the scan, and repeat surgeries. planning procedures, tackling over 500 cases MAG instead uses CAD software and 3D each year. printing to create a model of the skull and In essence, design here is a means of then a “jigsaw” piece, precisely designed to understanding the needs of a variety of Design plays a crucial role in linking the fit the area needing repair. This is used to stakeholders (clinicians, researchers, patients clinician’s surgical knowledge to the capability fabricate the titanium implant. This makes and model makers) and connecting them of advanced manufacturing technologies. surgery easier and faster, which is better both with cutting-edge technology for solutions MAG operates in the areas of facial prosthesis for the patient and for costs. that are user-centred and viable. (replacing features such as noses or ears) Thank you to Dr. Dominic Eggbeer, National Centre and cranial reconstruction (skull implants) for Product Design and Development Research (PDR) applying research knowledge to develop at Cardiff Metropolitan University design-led solutions based on a state-of-the- art technology platform. It has pioneered the use of 3D computer aided design technologies in these areas and spends significant amounts of time observing current prosthetics practices and identifying opportunities for technology to improve processes.

Find out more www.cartis.org Design for 42/43 3 discrete problems 2 1 1

Title: Mapping the Danish design sector Run by: 04 Danish Design Centre, in association with the

Institute for and STEP Big the Ministry of Business Systemic Location: data Denmark change The rise of digital technology has made it possible Still at step 1 of the ladder, this section presents some larger to capture, store and review unprecedented amounts scale service design projects that entailed a more intensive of data, sometimes in entirely new ways. focus on wider systemic circumstances.

The technological possibilities for presenting contract workers can more easily slip the data are huge. With interactive, 3D digital information gathering net. A web application interfaces, data can be rendered dynamic, such as LinkedIn, where professionals allowing users to move easily between register their skills and specialisations, comparisons of different data sets, combine now makes it much easier to capture this data from different sources, break it down information. Furthermore, one could, into sub-categories and view it in relation to in theory, overlay information from other relevant information such as maps. LinkedIn and other sources onto a Google Map, providing an easy way of quickly The Danish Design Centre, in association understanding which kinds of design with the Copenhagen Institute for Interaction capabilities exist where. This use of , are currently working on projects network data is known as web-scraping and to map, respectively, the design sector in offers a level of data richness previously Denmark and innovation and business unavailable. Map over the Internet growth in Denmark. The point is to synthesise the technology and In creating a picture of national design the data into something people can use and capacity, one would previously have been that meets their specific needs. Designers hampered by the fact that, where it is can work with data users to determine

relatively easy to acquire data on design these needs and then design data displays CASE STUDIES agencies and organisations, individual accordingly, making this complex, dry and ungainly information into something useful, engaging and desirable.

Shipping routes

Find out more www.siliconangle.com/blog/2012/10/30/3d-big-data-visualization-helps-fighting-cancer-with-karios3d www.wired.com/insights/2012/11/3d-visualization-big-data www.infoworld.com/d/big-data/fighting-cancer-3d-big-data-visualization-205645 3 44/45 2 1

Title: Reducing violence and aggression in A&E/ 05 Design Challenges Run by: UK Design Council/ Reducing violence PearsonLloyd Client: and aggression in A&E Department of Health Location: Multiple sites, UK This was a hugely complex project aiming to tackle a stubborn problem not just in a single hospital, but across hospitals nationwide in the UK. The design team used research and intensive observation to accumulate the necessary insights and developed three solutions. It is too early for a complete evaluation, but initial results are promising.

What was the problem/challenge? The researchers also identified six As many as 56,000 physical assaults occur “perpetrator characteristics”: in English National Health Service (NHS) –– Clinically confused hospitals each year.4 In accident and –– Frustrated emergency (A&E) departments the problem –– Intoxicated of violence and aggression is particularly –– Anti-social/angry difficult to solve due to the diversity of –– Distressed/frightened patients seen. In 2003, the National Audit –– Socially isolated. Office estimated that violence and aggression towards frontline hospital staff cost the NHS at least £69 million (€81.32 million) a Three overlapping areas for innovation year in staff absence, productivity loss and were identified: additional security – and the figure may now –– service be substantially higher.5 Some hospitals –– information spend tens of thousands on police support to –– environment. prevent violence. From this, six briefs were issued in a national What did they do? design challenge to select a design team. The Design Council began with in-depth Design agency PearsonLloyd was chosen desk research on violence and aggression in and awarded a £150,000 (€180,000) A&E. This spanned three months and cost inducement grant to develop solutions. £9,000 (€10,600). They led a multidisciplinary team comprising user-centred and service design knowhow in Three NHS Trusts (in Chesterfield, London conjunction with psychological and clinical and Southampton) were selected as partners. expertise and capability for evaluation. Two ethnographic research companies spent over 300 hours in their A&E departments, at a cost of £65,000 (€76,500). They identified nine “clusters” of “triggers” for aggression. For instance, cluster seven, “Perceived inefficiency”, cites triggers such as unprofessional signage, impersonal patient handovers and complicated paperwork.

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/challenges/Health/AE/ 46/47

The team went back to experience A&E What did they deliver? firsthand. Following the Double Diamond The four themes were distilled into three approach, they familiarised themselves with outputs, which are still at prototype stage. environments and processes. They refined The designers felt it was vital that it be the six national design challenge briefs into possible to use their solutions in any four overarching themes: A&E throughout the country.

— Arrival: creating positive first impressions Guidance and managing expectations. This was A modular signage system to give key because the start coloured the entire 1 patients information and reduce experience and was often disorientating. anxiety. The central component is large signs explaining where one is, used — Waiting: mitigating frustration. Research everywhere from car parks to waiting showed that patients’ perception of A&E rooms to the ceilings of ambulance bays. experience was almost entirely of waiting, A “process map” leaflet explains the A&E often without knowing why. journey. Live information, e.g. about waiting times, appears on digital screens. There is also potential for touchscreens — Guidance: alleviating the stress of the unknown. Frustration is considerably and smartphone apps. worsened by a lack of information. Survey respondents wanted information above all. People A new staff-centred reflective practice 2 using cognitive learning to support work — People: building healthy relationships. Research showed that current procedures with patients, boost morale and help tended to instill a “me vs. the system” recover from stress. A vertical cross- What difference did it make? “This should be in all Emergency mentality among A&E visitors. section of staff are trained and then pass “Patients are on learning to colleagues. They acquire To date, three NHS sites have adopted one or Departments” – Patient new ways to greet patients, answer asking us fewer more of the solutions: Newham University questions and ensure everyone starts the questions which Hospital, Southampton General and St “We should have done this [install the A&E experience positively. In parallel, Georges, South London. There is feedback Guidance signage] a long time ago.” they are encouraged to notice incident has freed up from Newham, which is very encouraging: – ED Matron levels, reflect on experiences, and feed our time.” back to management. “Since installing the Guidance signage A detailed evaluation framework has – Emergency Department we’ve seen patients regulating each been established to assess both the Toolkit Receptionist other’s behaviour, which is saving staff’s benefits and costs of the design changes. This is about disseminating the research time. The other day, someone started Evaluation study results are expected 3 findings throughout the NHS, laying shouting about not knowing why he in Summer 2013. out the causes of aggression and giving was waiting. Another patient got up advice on how to address them. It is and told him to read the signs.” Thanks to Chris Howroyd, UK Design Council intended for existing A&E staff, but also – Emergency Department Clinician for architects and designers working on (Charge Nurse) new builds. “The signs show that we know what we’re doing, that we are organised and that we have a plan for people’s care. This is reassuring to our patients.” – ED Clinician (Senior Sister)

“Patients are asking us fewer questions which has freed up our time.” – ED Receptionist

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/challenges/Health/AE/ 3 48/49 2 1

Title: Make it Work Run by: 06 live|work Client: Make Sunderland City Council Location: it Work Sunderland, UK

Designers looked at existing support for workless people and found that, while there was a great deal available, it was disconnected and difficult to access. They made it easy for services to communicate and service users to get the help they needed – with impressive results.

What was the problem/challenge? Designers from live|work and public sector Six million people in the UK live in managers set out to help “hard-to-reach” households where no one works, costing people (those not attending job centres), taxpayers an estimated £13 billion (€16 including those on Incapacity Benefit, billion) a year in benefits. The long-term overcome the barriers to employment. unemployed face barriers to getting back to work that tend to increase exponentially the Over a three-month project, the design longer they are out of work. These include team talked to and shadowed 12 long-term health and social problems, lack of skills unemployed people to build up a picture of and drug and alcohol dependency. their needs and experiences. They also talked to service staff, discovering the extensive In the City of Sunderland, 26% of working- but sometimes confusing array of support age people were economically inactive, services available. with almost four times as many people claiming Incapacity Benefit (benefits for ill Creating a map of service users’ progress and disabled) as the ordinary Job Seekers from unemployment to work showed that, Allowance. There was no active attempt while their journeys were similar, their needs to get Incapacity Benefit claimants back were diverse. Relevant support existed for into work. Council budgets were being participants, but they all had a problem significantly stretched both by benefit payouts accessing and combining the right services and by solutions that had little to no impact. for them. They needed personal support (e.g. from voluntary sector organisations What did they do? such as addiction support groups) but One NorthEast, the Regional Development also access to opportunities controlled Agency for the North East of England, asked by government agencies (training such as service design agency live|work to run a could be got through the job centre). A more pilot scheme with Sunderland City Council coordinated approach was needed in which to explore how the long-term unemployed all the potentially relevant organisations interact with employment services and worked together in coalition. develop innovative ways to reach and support individuals into work. To develop this concept the team asked 250 representatives of public and voluntary sectors organisations to make a proposal for how they could contribute to the coalition. The only requirements were that they collaborate and share data.

Find out more www.livework.co.uk/our-work/Sunderland-City-Council www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Northern-Way-worklessness-pilot/ www.designcouncil.org.uk/Case-studies/Northern-Way-worklessness-pilot www.livework.co.uk/our-work/Sunderland-City-Council Find outmore found work in the automobile industry. He trained as a forklift truck driver and James’s confidence and capabilities. training and job seeking services to build through the network, were also able to access rehab and work experience organisation that, misuse issues. He was supported by a small programme on leaving prison with substance One success was James who joined the whom they could offer help. share information and spot users to and made it easier for organisations to relationship with another organisation) re-registering each time users started a in the system further down the line (no entire network. This cut out bottlenecks with one meant registering with the with the others. Essentially, registering programme, the data could be shared easily registered with any organisation in the When a long-term unemployed person or disability. caregiving, being over 55 and physical illness dependency, mental health issues, long-term main barriers to work: drug and alcohol coordinated support around five of the organisations worked together to offer Over a nine-month pilot, a number of these What didtheydeliver? £62,000 on getting the average average the getting on claimant back to work back claimant Department of Work Department and Pensions says it Incapacity Incapacity Benefit rational to spend rational to spend is economically is economically (€73,000)

per person for Make Make for person per it Work is less than Workit less is The a The £5,000 Thanks toBen Reason,live|work to a saving of 90%. is less than £5,000 (€6,000). This amounts The average cost per person for Make it Work person on Incapacity Benefit back into work. £62,000 (€73,000) on getting the average Pensions, it is economically rational to spend According to the Department of Work and reduction in welfare spend. was saved from the public purse through was that over £360,000 (€422,000) calculated by an independent evaluation, was £180,000 (€211,000). The return, The total cost of running the programme 1,000 people, of whom 275 found work. The scheme has supported more than What difference did it make? (€6,000) (€6,000) verage cost cost verage

90% This amounts This amounts to of asaving

CASE STUDIES STEP 2 capability Design as

staff more sophisticated about procuring design required. design when procuring services about makes sophisticated more process staff design of understanding addition, In solutions. towards work quickly to non-designers Diamond, visualisation Double and prototyping the can be as used by such tools departments. and multiple Techniques and and systems to concern relate still central the they still are design needs User larger for as projects. issues is day-to-day for capability useful as problem-solving agile and joined-up A operate they way the – in particular, the change way to they deliver but for for citizens. just not projects, discrete thinking design adopting public bodies about is sector This capability. as Design Design Ladder, Sector Public the of 2 step to move here We Embedding

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Title: Design Leadership for Public Services 07 Run by: UK Design Council /Design Lewisham Associate, Sean Miller/thinkpublic Client: The London Borough Housing Options of Lewisham Location: London, UK This example was initially thought of by the client as a service redesign (and actually delivered service outputs), but its key output was a cultural change that embedded design skills among staff. This arguably improved the service more than the service design outputs because it made staff better able to meet user needs long-term. It suggests that the ideal way to embed design thinking in organisations is simply to get staff involved in learning by doing.

What was the problem/challenge? Frontline staff were armed with tools and What did they deliver? What difference did it make? The London Borough of Lewisham’s Housing techniques so they, rather than the designers, Three of the ideas from the workshop were The support Lewisham received from Options Service provides information and could go out to find and fix problems. This prioritised on the basis of their suitability Design Leadership for Public Services had advice for people in need of emergency was key, says Miller: “In the current climate, for design projects. These were developed far-reaching benefits. Staff morale improved, housing. Like every public sector department, with councils having only limited funds, it into prototypes: staff absences reduced, money was saved and it faces pressing challenges: increased makes total sense to invest in training staff customers now enjoy a more efficient and demand from service users, reduced budgets to take on things themselves. Engaging them — Right First Time was about improving appealing Housing Options Service. Efficiency for service provision and growing pressure to through a design-led approach ensures better first-time interactions between customer savings of £368,000 (€433,250) have been move towards greater personalisation buy-in and provides a framework that can be and service. This involved “re-scripting” identified against the borough’s design project of services. repeated elsewhere.” what staff say when meeting a service investment of £7,000 (€8,250). user. The aim was to reduce repeat The service’s Housing Options Centre was Lewisham commissioned a design agency visits by improving questions asked and Work on the prototypes is ongoing, with often extremely busy and service users could to train Housing Options staff in video information provided. storyboards, in particular, delivering not always determine their entitlement to ethnographic research techniques, giving promising results. However, the most support quickly or easily enough, causing them the capability to better record, — What Next Doc? was an information important change is cultural. Equipping stress for both visitors and staff. understand, share and get closer to the design idea to help customers understand staff with research skills and involving them barriers users were experiencing. Video each stage of the Housing Options process. in co-design fostered strong engagement What did they do? material was used in an ideas workshop to A follow-up letter after each meeting both with the project and the broader aim The borough turned for support to the Design prompt service improvement suggestions explains what happens next. New fact of improving service. It helped staff Council’s Design Leadership for Public Services from staff. This session alone generated sheets more clearly and accurately present empathise with customers and reflect on the programme. Organisations participating in around a hundred different ideas. the housing options available. part each played in service provision. the programme are allocated an experienced Design Associate to guide a strategic service — Storyboards was about using comic-strip Lindsey Grant, Transformation and review and identify areas for improvement. style to show customers what Development Manager, says: “Things Some of these become commissioned projects to expect in various situations. These like prototyping transform how we work. It’s on which appropriate design agencies appear on walls in reception and printed not just about jumping to a pilot phase. We collaborate with the organisations. materials. This visual approach would help can redefine things to make sure it’s right bridge cultural and literacy divides within before we start investing. Design will be Lewisham’s diverse local community. integrated into our methodology as another tool for transformation.”

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/case-studies/lewisham-council 54/55

Efficiency Design project savings of investment of £7,000 £368,000 (€8,250) (€433,250)

Lindsey Craig, Policy and Strategy Officer, says about using video: “We found it’s a really “Design may seem an good way to get staff bought in. It’s much upfront cost, but if you more difficult to argue against than a report. It also allows customers to tell the story in their engage with it and work own words. People obviously feel comfortable with people who do it being filmed, and I didn’t expect that.” well you develop lasting In particular, as the borough’s own presentation skills to take forward into on the project shows, a focus on end users, other projects. Design which it refers to as “customer insight” has become central to their work process.6 isn’t something to be scared of. It’s just a new The model for this success has proved transferrable. Staff members who adopted way of looking at things.” new methods are now training colleagues. The borough’s Transformation and Development – Lindsey Grant, Transformation team are using the new skills to look further at and Development Manager at the London Borough of Lewisham issues of temporary accommodation.

Peter Gadsdon, Head of Strategy and Performance for Lewisham, says: “In order to improve you need to admit that you get things wrong. So at a strategic level I think design can be helpful to a council or the public sector and at a practical level with staff it is also very useful in empowering them to make changes to the way they work.”

Thanks to Peter Gadsdon and Lindsey Grant, Lewisham Council

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/case-studies/lewisham-council/ www.slideshare.net/localinsight/putting-customer-insight-into-practice-peter-gadsdon- lewisham-council www.dansic.org/category/design/ webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://blogs.bis.gov.uk/publicsectorinnovation/ author/peter-gadsdon-head-of-strategy-and-performance-cus/ 3 56/57 2 1

Title: Government Digital Service Run by: 08 Cabinet Office, UK Government Location: Government United Kingdom Digital Service

In most respects, the UK government’s redesign of its digital services is a service design project – albeit a particularly large, complex and impressive one. However, as a best-practice example of government providing services to citizens, it has the potential to spread design knowhow far and wide throughout government.

What was the problem/challenge? What did they do? UK online government support services – Minister for the Cabinet Office, Francis Directgov and Business Link, plus hundreds Maude, led the change. In direct response of other agency and department websites to Lane Fox’s report, he set up a new – had become sprawling, inefficient and Cabinet Office team, the Government “Users aren’t people who leave a Quick Answer page Underpinning all GDS’s work are their often irrelevant. Since they were set up in Digital Service (GDS) with a core purpose of without visiting another, the more the design ten design principles. In line with their 2004, the nature and potential of internet ensuring government offers digital products on gov.uk for team know users have found what they were own tenth principle, these were issued usage had changed drastically. Most people and services at least equal to the digital looking for. The bank holiday page has a online and quickly went viral. fun or to be 8 now have access to the internet and think of experience delivered by the giants of the web. bounce rate of nearly 90%. it as the first place to look for information However, as the team of leading designers impressed 1. Start with needs and services. In parallel, technological and developers soon discovered, this was with our web The new simplicity was also informed by capabilities for harnessing complex data sets not just a matter of duplicating best-practice the principle of designing for extremes. 2. Do less have grown, meaning that user needs can be commercial work. design skills. In working to provide a readability option 3. Design with data better understood to create more responsive for dyslexic users, the team eventually They need to get 4. Do the hard work to digital experiences. As Ben Terrett, GDS Head of Design, says, the decided just to make the site simpler for make it simple site was built with “a relentless focus on the something done everyone. They were much helped in this As a further incentive to change, the user.” The team found that users engaging and they want by consultation from Léonie Watson, chair 5. Iterate. Then iterate again. economic downturn is driving government with government services want simplicity of the British Computer Association of the 6. Build for inclusion to think about smarter solutions to problems and speed. “It’s about looking for the bones of to get it done Blind and a screen reader-user herself. both old and emerging. Now more than ever, the needs,” says developer Frances Berrima, as quickly as 7. Understand context public services need to increase efficiency and “Users aren’t on gov.uk for fun or to be While asking themselves questions about 8. Build digital services, convenience and be cheaper to run. impressed with our skills. They possible.” the cutting edge of digital services – “How not websites need to get something done and they want to would Apple do car tax?” for example – the Internet entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox’s get it done as quickly as possible.” – Frances Berrima, design team also drew inspiration for their 9. Be consistent, not uniform developer for GDS 2010 report, Revolution not Evolution, stripped back look from the UK’s tradition of 10. Make things open: it makes things advocated for a new era of government For instance, user research showed that great public sector design. , better services that would be “digital by default”.7 people were often looking for what the team famous for her work with on

Lane Fox’s recommendations imply has come to refer to as the “Quick Answer”. UK road signage, was enlisted as an adviser. You can read about these high quality design: digital media offers Most people visiting the VAT page, for Gov.uk uses a font, New , based on in more detail at governments a uniquely effective method of instance, would be looking for the standard her road signage font, designed to be as clear engaging with citizens, but only if delivered rate: 20%. The team therefore placed it front and readable as possible. www.gov.uk/designprinciples through well designed channels. and centre. The usability of pages is measured with “bounce rates”. The more

Find out more www.gov.uk www.digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk 58/59

Replacing DirectGov and Business Link with the new service has already saved There are estimated annual savings from a shift to digital by default of roughly £55-70m (€65-82 million) £1.7bn (€2 billion)9

What did they deliver? The site’s lessons are likely to spread by “Just a few days Lane Fox’s report recommended having osmosis, in particular, to the numerous clear of its beta just one domain as the first step in making agencies and departments now on Inside it simpler, clearer and faster to access Government – and this is very much the mode, gov.uk government information and services. intention, with all code for the site made already looks Gov.uk enacts this consolidation. available open source. to have set the Information has been completely What difference did it make? bar high for rationalised. In the past, for instance, to get Overall, gov.uk provides an object lesson digital public a complete picture of government policy on in how in-depth design engagement with Afghanistan, one had to look in no less than diverse user requirements, complex data services across nine different places. It is now all together at sets and state-of-the-art interaction can one location. create a simple, streamlined service machine the world.” that brilliantly answers the needs of both GDS also has a digital engagement team users and government. The site won the – Mark Sinclair, 2013 Design of the Year Creative Review working to improve the way citizens interact with government online as well as Award. UK Prime Minister David Cameron introducing digital tools into day-to-day commented that it enhanced “the modern government operations. relationship between the public and government.” Sitting within gov.uk, a new site area Gov.uk won the called Inside Government will replace In March 2013, in the UK House of UK Design Museum over 350 government departments and Commons, Francis Maude said the Design of the Year agency websites. government was, “committed to ensuring Award for 2013 that as we reform the delivery of public services, they are designed around the needs In line with GDS’s ten design principles, of the user, rather than, as has been far too the new site looks much simpler than often the case in the past, designed to suit DirectGov, while the back end and the user the convenience of the government.” understanding are much more sophisticated. Unlike most other government websites around the world, gov.uk has very few Meanwhile, as a best-practice example, the images, using them only when necessary. site is a trailblazer for government service innovation internationally. In the US, answers.honolulu.gov and utah.gov already User understanding did not just inform show the influence. Tim Brown of IDEO has the design, it is on-going with the design said, “The UK is leading the way in using team continually accumulating data on user design to create a singular digital service for behaviour to refine the experience. its citizens.” Open-source guru Tim O’Reilly has declared the work the most important piece of user interface guidance since the original Mac principles from the 1980s.10

Thanks to Ben Terrett, GDS

Find out more www.gov.uk www.digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk Design 60/61 3 for policy

STEP Strategic design in government We now come to step 3 of the Public Sector Design Ladder: Design of policy.

Where design techniques are introduced to policymakers, the response is enthusiastic. This is because these techniques meet real needs:

1. User focus 2. Visual thinking 3. A joined-up process 4. Risk mitigation 5. Inter-departmental So the same principles that work in service design are Too often at policy level, and communication As noted by strategic through prototyping working applicable here. In addition, policymaking is often not the first questions asked Thinking around policies designer Bryan Boyer Risk is a major Policymaking roles are quick enough to keep up with policy needs. Design are about cost savings and tends to be done in words policymaking is often shot consideration for often clearly defined and offers real potential for making it more agile. not who an application, and numbers, making it through with disconnects: policymakers and can be a this tends to prevent service or policy is for. This difficult to communicate one group analyses, great inhibitor of new ideas. policymakers from working is a paradigmatic example them to stakeholders and another recommends, Design overcomes risk across and beyond their Significant challenges remain for designers, however, of a false economy. also rendering internal another implements. with prototyping. Distinct departments according to in understanding the challenges of the complex Solutions that do not meet communications around Recommendations may from piloting, which tends need. Design disciplines policymaking landscape. This is not a simple matter of real needs are wasted effort them cumbersome. Design be passed from hand to to be done on a large scale such as user journeys transplanting service designers into a policy context. and expenditure, no matter mitigates this by showing hand with no definite (e.g. a whole town or area), quickly identify where how cheap. Moreover, how ideas work simply and endpoint. Design-led prototyping can be done at different departments need It must also be admitted that relatively little practical focusing on user needs quickly, facilitating quick innovation, by contrast tiny scale initially, working to work together and visual work has been done in this area, though what has has rarely increases costs and buy-in from and easier is a joined-up, complete up from, for instance, communication facilitates often creates savings. collaboration among innovation process. a cardboard house to a this. To this we can add born promising results. The problem is a vicious circle: CASE STUDIES diverse stakeholders. real house to a street to a that design’s capability policymakers are reluctant to try new processes without town. This assumes some for multidisciplinary team a strong evidence base and, without trying them, cannot degree of initial failure, but work is highly relevant to develop a strong evidence base. sees it as “smart failure” policymaking, where such from which learning can a multitude of different We will look at some examples before further reflecting be applied to the next disciplines often informs on the challenges. Note that, while the examples are prototype, designing out the process. risk with each iteration. mainly from central government, design thinking can apply at either local or central government level. 3 62/63 2 1

Title: Helsinki Design Lab Run by: 09 SITRA, the Finnish Innovation Fund

Location: Helsinki Finland Design Lab

Helsinki Design Lab was created by SITRA, The Finnish Innovation Fund, in 2009 to advance strategic design within government. The idea was that while strategic design was an accepted discipline in business, it was new territory in government and was going to entail development of new ways of thinking and working.

Helsinki Design Lab was created by SITRA, “I don’t know that Finland needs a policy for The Finnish Innovation Fund, in 2009 to design so much as it needs policy by design.” advance strategic design within government. – Bryan Boyer, Strategic Design Lead, SITRA The idea was that while strategic design was an accepted discipline in business, it was new The lab developed the Helsinki Design Lab territory in government and was going to Studio Model – a structured engagement entail development of new ways of thinking between experts and designers aiming to “I don’t know The team members immersed themselves Design Exchange was a placement and working. rapidly generate a “sketch” for a systemic in the challenge over the course of a week. programme, embedding strategic designers redesign. The lab completed three Studios, that Finland On day one they received a series of lectures as full-time employees for a year in ministries The lab’s rationale had three parts: one on dropouts from the education system, needs a policy from experts. On day two they visited a and municipalities. Again, the objective –– Top-down government responses to one on sustainability and climate change and school and spoke to as many people there was a shift towards a more citizen-centred problems tend to be reactive, addressing one on the ageing population. Subject areas for design so as possible, including the principal, teachers, approach to policymaking. The first symptoms in isolation rather than were suggested by government ministries, much as it pupils and caretaker. In the afternoon they placement put a strategic designer in the engaging with the often complex web encouraged by the lab to give them problems got to know the wider context, visiting places town of Lahti’s urban planning department. of factors that create a problem – what “they were fed-up of thinking about.” needs policy like family counselling centres and sports Her role was to engage citizens in the design the lab referred to as “the architecture by design.” clubs. They spent the next two and a half of the town’s train station. The point was of the problem”. For the studios, the lab put together days developing proposals for improvement to get citizens to help write the brief, multidisciplinary teams small enough and the last half day presenting these to a not just give them a series of design –– Government can always find a supplier – Bryan Boyer, jury of policymakers. submissions to evaluate. to facilitate conversations, but with the Strategic Design when it knows what it needs, but has expertise to provide a rounded view. So, for Lead, SITRA fewer options sourcing support with example, the Education Studio, which looked These intensive studios were experiments and In a similar vein, but at a more systemic framing a problem. at the problem of school dropouts, included not necessarily intended to produce tangible level, Brickstarter is about improving the –– What analysis is available to government, a policymaker and practicing physician effects. The real result was in understanding often cumbersome interface between e.g. from management consultants, from the Ministry of Health, a principal how to approach policymakers and get the citizens and government institutions. tends to be separate from execution. from a top secondary school in Sri Lanka, multidisciplinary teams working together. The idea is that, with the aid of social media This is inefficient. a developmental psychologist, a professor and mobile apps, the potential exists to from the Harvard School of Education and In addition to these investigations, the lab smooth this process and facilitate genuinely All this is in line with fundamental service an educational software specialist. There piloted a number of more complex and long- participative governance. The core of the design methodology. The aim now was to were two designers and their main role was to term projects. Of particular relevance here project is a prototype web service through apply this to government policy. Bryan Boyer, coordinate and synthesise the conversations are Design Exchange Programme (DEP) which citizens can work towards building Strategic Design Lead at SITRA, described and engagements. and Brickstarter. ideas into proposals and projects. Included the lab’s purpose as being “designing in this is crowd funding capability adapted decision-making”. from services like Kickstarter.com, potentially creating a new source of project capital.

Thanks to Brian Boyer Find out more www.helsinkidesignlab.org www.seeplatform.eu/docs/SEE%20Platform%20Bulletin%20Issue%208.pdf 3 64/65 2 1

Title: MindLab Run by: 10 The Danish Government Location: MindLab Copenhagen, Denmark

MindLab was established in 2002 as a Danish government unit to facilitate use of design methodology by policymakers.

Throughout most of the postwar period, with user needs, sometimes through industrial and business policy has been co-design with ordinary citizens. On the designed in close cooperation with business other, through prototyping, they could organisations. In Denmark, as in many produce more workable solutions and other countries, there has traditionally been communicate them to decision-makers so as an assumption that parliament would adopt to have a good chance of implementation. business organisations’ proposals largely wholesale. This works reasonably well as MindLab was placed in the Ministry of long as known policies are merely being Business Affairs close to the Minister and the adjusted and there is no need for major policy Minister’s advisers. The MindLab management changes. Larger policy changes, however, and team developed the layout of the lab are often difficult to implement within so as to facilitate design activities such as existing organisational frameworks. It has multidisciplinary teamwork and visualisation. been estimated that nearly three quarters of all public projects in Denmark failed, and that many development projects are never presented for political decision-making and subsequent implementation.

The transition from the industrial era to a global knowledge economy made this issue a matter of urgency, raising the need for radical policy rethinks and, therefore, radical new approaches to making policy. In the old model, civil servants facilitated dialogue between industrial organisations and supplied legal and legislative expertise. They did not themselves play a decisive policymaking role. That changed during the early 2000s. They continued to fulfill old roles, but also presented new policy suggestions.

MindLab was established in 2002 to augment this process, staffed with a team of ethnographers, designers and public policy specialists. It was not supposed to develop policy, but use design methodologies to coordinate project teams. On the one hand they could help cut across disciplinary and departmental silos and engage more directly

Find out more www.mind-lab.dk 66/67

“Our society in general, and our public sector in particular face grand challenges. The need for innovation has never been more critical. Designers’ capability to holistically understand problems, user needs and global trends, need to become a fully integrated method of public sector innovation.” – Lars Mikkelgaard-Jensen, Managing Director, IBM Denmark and Chairman of the Danish Design Centre

MindLab carries out regular surveys of its cultural change, it achieved a score of 4 or more. partners’ perception of its services. It is On the question of whether its contribution measured on a variety of criteria and partners overall is valuable, the latest score was 4.50 assess MindLab on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 against 4.35 in the previous evaluation. being the highest rating. In 2007, MindLab came under new There is considerable satisfaction with the management, and the primary focus shifted unit. On the crucial question of whether it from policy to services. The lab was established as an internal MindLab’s three main areas of activity: contributes to inter-ministerial cooperation and consulting unit funded by the Ministry’s existing budget. For the preparation of each Project assistance where MindLab new policy proposal, a ministerial team was helped colleagues develop and test new established. It was up to each team whether 1 ideas with the citizen at the centre it used MindLab or external consultants. Training where MindLab conducted MindLab got off to a flying start because it courses and provided methods to offered services that were tailored to policy 2 colleagues so they could implement development and, at least at the time, did user-centered projects. not exist elsewhere. Projects in which it participated included educational reform and Research where MindLab cooperated cutting through red tape for new businesses. with Danish and foreign universities on, It also, more self-reflexively, looked at how to 3 among other things, PhD projects where systematically prototype, test, and scale up the research takes place in MindLab. public sector policy and services. MindLab has a staff of about a dozen employees It was originally intended that MindLab and handles approximately ten development should serve the Ministry of Business Affairs, projects a year. but other ministries approached to be granted access to its services. Large private Steen Østergaard Jensen, Head of The companies also showed significant interest in Danish National Board of Industrial Injuries its work. commented, “When you listen to the victim’s perspective, it suddenly becomes very clear why all actors must cooperate. Here the partnership with MindLab has been very rewarding, because they can continue to remind us why a shift in perspective is important.”

Find out more www.mind-lab.dk 3 68/69 2 1

Title: The Behavioural Insights Team Run by: 11 Cabinet Office Location: Intervention The Behavioural London, United Kingdom Insights Team

The majority of government policies are dependent on – or of a randomised seek to affect – people’s judgments and decisions. A range controlled trial (RCT) Population is split into Outcomes for both to test a new ‘back to two groups by random lot groups are measured of interventions can be used to influence the population, work’ programme from regulations that restrict choice to tax incentives and persuasive marketing campaigns. The problem is they are often time-intensive, high-cost and built on an outdated understanding of human behaviour. The result is a range Control of programmes with a firm rationale but minimal impact.

Looking for work Found work The Behavioural Insights Team – commonly Their process follows four distinct steps. known as the “nudge unit” – was set up by the coalition government in July 2010 to “find Understand the system in question, Outputs The results speak for themselves. Over innovative way of encouraging, enabling and e.g. how Her Majesty’s Revenue and The team has worked with almost every the past two years, the team has identified supporting people to make better choices for 1 Customs (HMRC) collect income tax, government department from health to public savings of at least £300 million (€353 themselves.” A small team of psychologists to identify the outcomes of interest energy. They have influenced policies million). Improving tax repayment rates has and economists apply insights and methods and relevant behaviours. to increase the uptake of loft insulation, already generated £30 million (€35 million) from behavioural science to the design of encourage organ donation, prompt the of extra revenue annually, while the text policies, demonstrating how small changes to Build your insights around why these payment of court fines, reduce fraud and messages have reduced the number of bailiff the context in which people choose can have behaviours occur and ways to change increase the payment of tax debts. interventions by 150,000, saving a further a dramatic effect on behaviour. The aim is to 2 them, e.g. make a process easier or more £30 million. This goes well beyond the goal of find low – or no – cost interventions that can social. For example, when HMRC made simple achieving a ten-fold return on the cost of the have a rapid impact within the current term. changes to tax letters, explaining that most team and they are continuing to expand. Design the intervention. people in the local area had already paid their taxes, repayment rates were boosted How embedded is design? 3 by around 15%. Similarly, personalising text The Behavioural Insights Team have done a great job of raising awareness of the use Test and adapt the ideas using message reminders led to greater repayment of court fines. of behavioural insights – with astounding 4 randomised controlled trials where results – but more could be done to possible. incorporate design thinking. The outputs are often low-cost changes The basic principles of this process can to existing communications. On a larger scale, the team most recently worked Many of the team’s early projects were be applied to many domains and system, constrained by a clear set of required from tax collection to criminal justice. with Jobcentre Plus on redesigning their service at a centre in Essex. Three changes deliverables, leading to small alterations that introduced commitment devices and of existing mechanisms. This is a smart expressive writing were tested using a strategy for delivering noticeable impact randomised control trial over six months, (pick the low-hanging fruit) but it may miss demonstrating a 15% increase in the number the importance of design going forward if the of people leaving benefits within 13 weeks. It goal is to support people in changing their is early days but a promising start to a wider own behaviour in order to alleviate pressure range of cross-country trials. on the state. In short, the team is still operating within the traditional policymaking paradigm of patching together expedient solutions for cost savings. There is none of Find out more design thinking’s reframing of problems by www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/behavioural-insights-team looking at the wider systemic context. 70/71

The team is clearly practicing some principles interventions are feasible and viable, of design, however: the use of behavioural focusing in on the strongest opportunity. insights ensures a people-centred approach, The most traditional design skills – simply they have begun using observation to sketching concepts – are often a quick better understand the user experience; the and engaging route to doing this and to Design and policy – from emphasis on randomised controlled trials engaging multidisciplinary teams for a ensures they are testing, albeit at the end more systemic overhaul. rather than throughout. But although to practice is an explicit step in the team’s process, there Academics and policymakers are often is a question about whether its use is more accused of underestimating the importance functional or strategic and embedded. There of creativity and overestimating the degree The approaches to policy discussed so far One way of looking at this, with the benefit are no designers on the team. Design can be to which, once the knowledge of the have been rightly cautious and experimental. of hindsight, might be that HDL and practiced without “designers” per se, but this problem is in place, the ideas will look after MindLab, in its policy phase, never sought MindLab skipped a step on our ladder: Step equates to saying that anyone who has read themselves. This blindspot does not avoid to take the lead in policymaking, but applied 2, in which design process becomes part of the book “Nudge” has a good understanding design but deploys it inexpertly. Policy is design knowhow to coordinate civil servant the organisational culture. Without this, of behavioural science. always being designed one way or another. work. Helsinki Design Lab (HDL), working could they realistically expect to get enough If the Team continues to leave designers out more methodically to define a design institutional buy-in to get design thinking As the problems become more complex, of the equation, they will not avoid design, approach to policymaking, also saw designers accepted in high-level policymaking? these issues will become more important. but rather devise their own haphazardly, as facilitators – and learners. In their teams Understanding the need is only half the and, as a reinvention of the wheel, it will of experts and policymakers, designers were This in mind, we conclude this section with challenge. The less well defined the context be less effective. very much in the minority. No designer a case study that, while it clearly has a logical is, the more important it is to decide – using hubris here. place in Step 2, has its eye on Step 3 and may divergent and convergent thinking – which Thanks to Ed Gardiner, Warwick Business School point a way forward.

Strategic Design is only possible “when design is integrated into the DNA of organisations, creating new opportunities for designers with a strategic aptitude to migrate from studios and ateliers to integrated positions, embedded within organisations and governments.” – Helsinki Design Lab13

Find out more www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/behavioural-insights-team 3 72/73 2 1

Title: Design thinking for the civil service Run by: 12 UK Design Council Supported by: Design thinking for Department of Business, Innovation and Skills the civil service Client: UK Government Location: United Kingdom Workshops for civil servants in design methodologies.

What was the problem/challenge? What did they do? There is increasing recognition in The Design Council has done extensive government that policy needs to do things work over the years to introduce design differently. Objectives include better methodologies to businesses and local understanding user needs, doing more government. Through its Design Leadership with less and breaking down silos. The UK programme, it has begun to offer training in government’s Civil Service Reform Plan these methodologies to civil servants from calls for the Civil Service to be, “pacier, more across central government departments innovative, less hierarchical, focused on and in the Policy Profession. The Policy outcomes, not process,” and policy that is Profession is the community of professional “linked to implementation,” leverages a “less policymakers within the civil service, headed narrow range of views” and finds “new ways by Chris Wormald Permanent Secretary of delivering services.” 14 at the Department for Education. The Profession’s priorities are: Despite design thinking’s promise of being able to meet these needs, barriers to –– ensuring everyone involved in adoption include: policymaking recognises that what matters, ultimately, is change in –– low awareness of the benefits of design the real world thinking methodologies and principles –– making better, more efficient, among UK civil servants innovative and joined-up policy –– the complexity and cost of tendering for –– making and delivering policy in government contracts, which is prohibitive better ways. for many small design companies –– the limited scale and scope of design-led policymaking so far, meaning there is limited evidence for this kind of work –– lack of networks between local authorities and central government departments for knowledge exchange on successful interventions.

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/Insight/Policy/What-were-doing www.civilservice.gov.uk/networks/policy-profession 74/75

What did they deliver? What difference did it make? The Design Council, supported by the Satisfaction rates were measured using Department of Business, Innovation & a post-workshop survey. Responses were Design and policy – the Skills (BIS), recently partnered with Civil overwhelmingly enthusiastic, with 99-100% Service Learning. The result was a half- participant satisfaction rates and 100% way forward day introductory interactive workshop on agreeing/strongly agreeing they would applying design to policy challenges, given apply design to their policy work as a result to a cross-departmental group of senior civil of the session. servants from the Policy Profession. The Given design thinking’s potential to make For designers, this is the same attitude workshop included: This is a new area of Design Council work policymaking more agile and reduce the risk with which they ideally approach the and has not yet been fully evaluated. A clear of new policy implementation, it is vital that needs of service users. The task remains –– examples of how design has already been measure of effectiveness will only be possible these approaches continue to be tried. The the same: designers seeking to engage with applied to policy challenges when enough time has passed to see whether good news is, this can itself be done with little policy are looking to provide a service to participants take up these processes, whether risk, at low cost on a limited scale. policymakers, not supplant them. As such –– examples of how design principles have they pass on the learning to others and, they will need to devote time to learning from helped both public and private sector ultimately, how much difference is made However, for this to work, no one should policymakers and understanding their needs organisations to change to policy effectiveness. However, the initial be fooled into thinking the process will as directly and experientially as possible. –– hands-on work with key design responses strongly indicate already that these be without its difficulties. Expertise in The question of how work on this might methodologies including prototyping, skills meet real needs in terms of civil servants’ designing services, even highly complex proceed informs one of the recommendations visual mapping and user observation day-to-day work and long-term aims. ones, will not necessarily translate directly to of this report. policymaking. Designers seeking to work in –– an expert-led session on applying Thanks to Ellie Runcie, Pauline Shakespeare policymaking will need to acquire new skills Policymakers, for their part, even at their design principles to policy development and Camilla Buchanan, UK Design Council and understanding. Again, Helsinki Design most receptive, will want to see that new and implementation Lab showed acute awareness of this, their methods can meet solid evaluative criteria. –– hands-on training in achieving innovative, experimental studios essentially being an Ideally, here at the ground zero of this kind tangible, people-centred results. attempt to understand policymakers’ needs of work, such criteria would be established. so that design can define its methodological Then, as early adopters among policymakers Presentations were given by a mix of guest offering to them. take the first leaps of faith, evaluations of speakers who have been through design their projects could be used to increase thinking programmes and exercises. The buy-in exponentially. workshop was delivered by two Design How then to proceed? “With care and due Associates, part of a network of expert design diligence” is probably the answer here facilitators recruited and trained by the for both designers and policymakers and Design Council to deliver design-led coaching possibly, also, “with humility and receptivity.” programmes. The Design Associates are leaders in their field and have experience across a range of sectors, working for organisations such as Philips Design, Tesco and the NHS. They also facilitate a suite of Design Council Design Leadership coaching programmes for universities, SMEs and public sector organisations.

Find out more www.designcouncil.org.uk/our-work/Insight/Policy/What-were-doing Design for Public Good 76/77 The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies

Recommendation Build design thinking into government and 02 public policy practice

In order for the European Commission to promote design thinking in government, it is logical that it embeds it in its own working methods. This should not be a sudden or expensively engineered change but start small, with short designer-led workshops or training sessions showing teams how to apply design thinking to existing challenges.

Successful adoption of these processes will be a direct benefit to European Commission working practices, provide an evidence base and should also help European Commission staff advocate for these methods.

Member States and municipalities should:

–– seek out design resource for policy-level work, ideally in their own countries or, if it is unavailable, from expert design organisations and agencies abroad. –– start small, with training, workshops and small-scale service projects. –– share information within the Commission and with other countries trying these design approaches.

Design organisations should actively seek to grow the market by offering the public sector small-scale training sessions, workshops and project leadership in partnership with the design sector. Design for Public Good 78/79 The Public Sector Design Ladder and case studies

Build your own design industry Recommendation for public sector innovation Build a strong design sector that can offer 03 strategic and service design to the public sector How do the industries arise that make this There is, obviously, no hard-and-fast The European Commission should support this by: kind of innovation possible in the public method of building up these competencies sector? And how do you build an industry if in a country, but the Danish approach gives you don’t already have one? some guidance. Service design builds on –– facilitating the sharing of learning and best practice – such as case studies skills from management consultancy, or evaluation reports – via online or physical networks and events. In the UK, service design arose around 2000, market research and, as we have already –– ensuring that design project case studies follow a standard template and with a handful of agencies that effectively said, web and interaction design. are categorised according to the three steps of the ladder so a picture of created their own demand. Often founded by That means many of the relevant skills are the effectiveness of outcomes achieved at these levels can be built. former web and interaction designers, they present in some form in many countries –– ensuring design-led innovation projects are eligible for European funding discovered a receptive clientele among both already. The point may be to give them streams focussed on innovation and public sector renewal. corporate clients and local authorities looking objectives around which to coalesce. to create innovative services. Meanwhile, existing knowhow in countries Member States and municipalities wanting to build design capabilities should: In Denmark, conversely, the demand was like the UK, Denmark and Finland also discovered and nurtured by government. means there is a wealth of expertise to In 2006 the Danish government, noting draw on, both from the public and the –– assess the strengths/weaknesses of their design sector and set targets for a need not being fulfilled by companies private sector. improvement (see the design ladder for a framework for this). running technological innovation projects, –– learn from those with experience in design-led public services and ran the Danish Programme for User Driven policymaking. Innovation. One surprise result was that design firms or design schools participated –– build these skills into design education from school level upwards. in nearly half the projects. Another was that the demand for this kind of design-led Countries may wish to learn from the Danish or UK experiences of boosting innovation work was not just confined to design sector capabilities, or contact the authors of this report for advice, training business, but existed in the public sector. and direct assistance. This led to a programme for service design. Participating design agencies said this latter The design sector and design organisations should build awareness of programme spurred them to create new and capability in supporting the public sector as follows: service design competencies to improve public services as the Danish public sector –– Design organisations should raise awareness among designers of the market emerged. public sector as a potential market/client. –– Designers should build knowledge of service and strategic design approaches, ideally through direct contact with those who have pioneered them. –– Given that strategic design is an emerging field, designers engaging with it should also seek to gain direct experience of the policymaking landscape and contribute to the development of the discipline. Design for Public Good 80/81 Evaluation: Measuring the impact

Evaluation overview Evaluation:

In the complex process of political On this basis, the OECD identifies six key Principle 1 might seem Measuring prioritisation it can be difficult to maintain principles for good evaluation practice: obvious, but evaluations focus and attract resources to a specific policy are generally aimed at area. This applies in particular to areas such programme managers and government officials, who as design that are on the edge of or outside Evaluation should lead often fail to discuss results the impact mainstream politics. Good evaluations provide to policy change. with policymakers. an evidence base that can be crucial in making 1 the case both for specific design policies and Principle 2 is essential so for design overall. They also provide a basis for Evaluation should relate to that current policy can evolve into better policy in design policy improvements. current policy (as opposed 2 to old policy). the future. Unfortunately, there is no specific literature Principle 3 leads to clearer on evaluating design policy, only material on specification of objectives Evaluators should be and evaluation budgets innovation policies where design policy may in at the start. and brings the evaluation be included. Even here it is difficult to find a 3 criteria to the attention of single state-of-the-art approach. There is a the policymakers. selection of the most interesting literature on Evaluation techniques the topic at the end of this section. should always use the most Principle 4 in most cases, appropriate method. means organisations 4 in a programme should The Office of Economic Cooperation and be compared to similar Development (OECD) has published material companies outside it. Evaluation should apply to all on evaluation of innovation policies and policies and programmes. 15 Principle 5 addresses programmes . The basis for its work is 5 existing inequity in the way that there are two fundamental conditions policies and programmes that must be present for evaluations to be International comparisons are evaluated. really helpful: should be made where 6 necessary. –– They must be seen as an ongoing, integral part of improving policy, not a one-off. –– A programme or policy must have clearly specified objectives from which to determine success.

Thank you to Jørgen Rosted, former Director of the Danish Design Centre and former Permanent Secretary in the Danish Ministry of Business and Economic Affairs for his substantial input on this section. Design for Public Good 82/83 Evaluation: Measuring the impact

Evaluation of Output, Outcome, Objective design in one organisation, or specific design or Goal innovation projects. The truth, as some case Given the need to establish evaluation criteria studies in this document show, is that such Evaluation case studies alongside the formulation of new innovation projects can have much broader effects, policy, it is crucial to agree a vocabulary of meaning that the real return on investment is categories. Many approaches are in current higher than it initially appears. use, with none having precedence, but the 16 OECD provides a useful glossary. Goals tend to represent the real desired endpoint of policy: socioeconomic effects A comparison of design programme evaluations Here are the key terms, using, for illustration, such as productivity, exports, employment a hypothetical project in which a leaflet is levels and health. It would therefore seem to The evaluations of two similar schemes in the UK and Denmark, both aiming to increase distributed to small and medium enterprises make sense to evaluate policy from this point business’s understanding and use of design, help to illustrate how outcomes can be measured. (SMEs) encouraging increased use of design: of view. This can rarely be done in advance, however, but previous assessments of Output – The basic result of an intervention, socioeconomic impacts for similar policy can e.g. the number of SMEs who received the inform decisions. leaflets. Design icebreaker scheme The results showed high satisfaction: 41% of Evaluations can be expensive, so methods The Danish Design Icebreaker Scheme companies said they had continued to work Outcome – The effects of an output, must fit needs. It is a good idea to properly provided grants to small-to-medium with designers and 16% said they planned to. e.g. the number of leaflet recipients who define these needs at the beginning of a enterprises (SMEs) that had not used This nearly met the established quantitative increased their use of design and thereby design project. Evaluation of objectives design for five years. The scheme ran from outcome. Despite this, the Ministry of grew their business. is usually the ideal, but can be extremely 1998 to 2001 and was managed by the Danish Business Affairs closed the scheme. Its expensive and difficult. For instance, how do Design Centre. From 1998 to 2001 more than original objective was to increase design use Objective – The higher-order outcomes you find out, in our hypothetical example, 400 companies received design project grants in SMEs. The evaluation showed that about to which an intervention is intended to that distribution of the leaflet has had a ripple and about 120 different designers or firms 200 SMEs would probably continue to use contribute, e.g. increased use of design effect in terms of increasing design use among participated. It cost around €1m per year. designers, but according to the ministry this among SMEs nationwide. The programme businesses nationwide – even businesses couldn’t justify costs. might have targeted only a limited number of that did not receive the leaflet? There might The stated purpose of the scheme was “to give SMEs directly, but with a view to creating a have been such an increase during the small businesses incentives to use a designer This shows how managers, in being unaware ripple effect, influencing others. relevant period, but this is a correlation, not a associated with a development project.” of policymakers’ objectives, can focus demonstrable cause and effect. on narrow outcomes that are ultimately Goal – The higher-order objectives an Evaluation inadequate for validation. With greater intervention is intended to achieve, e.g. increase At the UK Design Council, “logic models” The Business Promotion Agency, which awareness of objectives, the managers might in exports resulting from more widespread use are increasingly being used to map out how allocated money to the scheme, formulated have devoted resources to passing on learning 17 of design among SMEs nationwide. activities lead to outputs and outcomes. a quantitative but narrow outcome as a basis from participating companies to others. But, However you tackle it, there is clear value for the evaluation: “70% of the participating in looking only at satisfaction and likelihood An immediate outcome might be so convincing in mapping the link between a project companies have had a satisfactory yield from of using design again, they might also be said that there is no need for more costly or programme’s input and activities, the using a professional designer and 60% of the to have measured too narrowly. By focusing evaluations of objectives or goals. At any rate, outputs delivered and how these contribute participating companies will now regularly more on real outcomes for individual evaluation of outcomes is always the first step. to achieving outcomes and objectives. There use designers to solve design tasks.” businesses, they might have built a case isn’t a clear distinction between outcomes study resource that could have been used to and objectives, as one leads into the other; Objectives are key to generating political The Danish Design Centre, which ran convince other SMEs – regardless of whether often it is a case of a wider perspective or of attention and resource allocation, but difficult the scheme, evaluated it in 2002 with the Icebreaker was continued. longer time frames. to evaluate, perhaps especially in a design supervision of a consultancy firm, Advice context. Design interventions tend to deliver Analysis. A questionnaire was sent to all results that look limited: increased use of participating companies and no attempt was made to examine possible improvements to the programme or compare with a control group. Design for Public Good 84/85 Evaluation: Measuring the impact

Designing Demand Primary research consisted of contacting Outcomes for the design industry Conclusion The UK Design Council’s Design Leadership companies by phone, email or web survey. Finally, the evaluation demonstrated that Designing Demand’s evaluation gives a Programme, Designing Demand, funded by Additionally, 25 design agencies were the programme benefits the design industry. clearer picture of its value than the Icebreaker the Department for Business, Innovation contacted to attain a perspective on the The programme results in businesses evaluation. By evaluating a wider set of and Skills (BIS), is a national coaching impact for the design industry. Secondary continuing to engage design agencies after outcomes more clearly reflecting benefits programme that promotes strategic included analysis of the initial their design coaching. for participants, it more accurately showed to business to help boost commercial meeting reports from the design associates whether the programme was making a performance. The programme aims to embed and, where available, end of project reviews. – 68% of design agencies that were difference and whether that difference was design tools, techniques and management Secondary research also included analysis subsequently engaged or commissioned desirable and cost-effective. within business. Since 2007 it has supported of the reporting provided by the Design stated that the programme had brought over 2000 SMEs, and intensively coached Associates to the delivery partners. them additional clients with whom they The programme has received continual over 700 of these, to use design as a business would not have otherwise connected. government investment and is now becoming development tool. The programme has supported over 700 a self-sustaining business model. – 57% of design agencies reported that the businesses through coaching. The evaluation programme had protected jobs. Evaluation included 249 businesses and achieved a In 2012, Design Council commissioned response rate of over 80%. – Suppliers expected to generate further an economic evaluation consultancy to fees of over £214k at an average of £25k evaluate Designing Demand. This is the Business outcomes: return on investment, per firm, emphasising the success of the first picture of the programme impact boosted capabilities programme in converting previously on business nationally. It builds on three The evaluation showed strong returns: For inexperienced and reticent design users separate evaluations undertaken in parts of every £1 businesses invest in design, they can into continued investors in design. the UK between 2011 and 2012, updating expect over £20 in increased revenues, over them and adding data for the rest of the UK £4 increase in net operating profit and over £5 The feedback from designers reinforces to create a complete picture. The evaluation in increased exports. In addition, businesses what businesses have said: a significant focuses on outcomes for the businesses that reported boosts to confidence, strategic majority of the programme participants are participated, and on outcomes for the UK thinking, brand and business identity. now committed to ongoing investment in government relative to its investment. design as a core business function as a result Government outcomes: returns to the of the programme. Business outcomes measured public purse and increased use of design – Pounds returned for every pound invested An assessment of returns to public sector by the business in design as a result of funding that supported the programme the programme, including increased showed strong impacts: £5.67 gross value operating profit, revenues and exports added (GVA) and £3.75 net value added (NVA) for every £1 of public investment. – Strategic Added Value such as impacts on organisational culture and capabilities. Businesses were also found to be more likely to use design after the programme. Before the Government outcomes measured programme 55% viewed design as integral to – Gross Value Added and Net Value Added business, compared with 98% afterwards. for every £ of public investment

– Full-time jobs created and safeguarded The evaluation also found that 2,460 net – Additional exports generated. full-time-equivalent (FTE) jobs were created, safeguarded, or anticipated as a direct result of the programme. This is the equivalent of six net FTE jobs created or safeguarded per intervention. Design for Public Good 86/87 Evaluation: measuring the impact

Two healthcare design evaluations

Let’s now look at two comparable evaluations for healthcare design projects. These are still about evaluation of outcomes.

Design Bugs Out £125,000 to the Helen Hamlyn Centre and Reducing violence and aggression in A&E have not. Once data from patient exit surveys, Making Britain’s hospitals cleaner and safer £108,695 to private sector businesses, the Working in partnership with the Department ethnographic observation and interviews has become a top UK government priority. project has secured additional investment of Health (DH), the UK Design Council has has been collected, it will be analysed to Well publicised problems with Healthcare of £132,867 from the Helen Hamlyn Centre completed a programme of work that will determine the impacts. Associated Infections (HCAIs), especially and £944,805 from the private sector, which “identify and develop ways that design can MRSA and C. Difficile, have created demand would not otherwise have occurred. It is help tackle the difficult issue of violence The economic evaluation will estimate the for new ways to reduce their spread. estimated that for every pound of Design and aggression towards NHS staff, with a costs and benefits as a result of the design Council pump priming, the Helen Hamlyn particular focus on accident and emergency changes. The objective will be to identify the Design Bugs Out was initiated by the UK Centre has invested a further £1.06, and the (A&E) departments.” outputs and outcomes associated with the Department for Health and launched in private sector a further £8.69. design changes for each hospital – and then to August 2008 in partnership with the UK Evaluation apply an economic value to each of them where Design Council. The evaluation also found evidence of The programme evaluation is currently possible. A full analysis of costs incurred and “strategic added value”; i.e. non-quantifiable underway and will be completed late costs savings will also be made. A cost-benefit By September 2009, the project had led to benefits arising from the wider coordinating 2013. The approach involves (i) an impact model for each hospital will be developed. the development of 11 pieces of furniture and influencing role of the Design Council in assessment and (ii) an economic evaluation. and equipment designed to eliminate dirt taking forward the Design Bugs Out project. It has identified the key outcomes for different Conclusion traps, make cleaning quicker and easier and, stakeholder groups, such as the Department of This is a significant improvement on the ultimately, reduce the incidence of HCAIs. Conclusion Health, hospital senior management, hospital methodology for Design Bugs Out because The obvious omission here is evaluation of staff, and patients and visitors. Because it measures the intended outcomes – both cost savings are an important outcome, Evaluation infection rates – and tallying any change here reduced violence and cost savings. Bugs In January 2010, the Design Council with the work of the project. This would have an economic evaluation and cost-benefit measured some important outcomes, but, commissioned Ekosgen to evaluate the been impossible due to the sheer number of calculation are included. Other outcomes while its overall objectives were impossible to project. Evaluation aims were to assess factors that can be behind infections and the include reduced violence and anxiety, measure, evaluated too early to capture the impact and efficacy and identify benefits and difficulty of attribution. What was eventually increased wellbeing at work, reduced staff measurable value it created. This indicates different types of impacts that have occurred possible – and was carried out by the sickness absence and improved staff morale. the care with which evaluation needs must or are anticipated in future. Evaluation Department of Health – was microbiological be assessed. While it is generally right for methods included secondary research, tests to evaluate the efficacy with which new The impact evaluation has a three-stage evaluators to be in at the start, each project’s interviews with stakeholders and the design products could be cleaned. Results from this evaluation methodology (baseline, short- needs are different. teams. There was no clinical evaluation and were extremely positive, implying huge gains term post-test and long-term post-test). the study does not show how much each of in both sanitation and efficiency. The original Each stage will combine an element of Thanks to Sabeen Sidiqui and Chris Howroyd, the eleven products will reduce HCAIs. evaluation was carried out while products qualitative and quantitative data collection, UK Design Council were at prototype stage, meaning this kind of providing insight into the likely impact of The evaluation found evidence of a good rate testing could not yet be done. the design interventions from a number of of return for public sector investment. From different perspectives including clinical and an initial pump priming investment of non-clinical staff, patients and visitors. The methodological approach for the impact assessment compares two “treatment” hospitals that have implemented the design solutions and two “control” hospitals that Design for Public Good 92/9288/89 Evaluation: measuring the impact

Some evaluation literature Recommendation Build the evidence base and impact measurements for design innovation

OECD (2007): OECD Framework for the UK Department for International 04 Evaluation of SME and Entrepreneurship Development (2012): Broadening the Range The European Commission should support this by: Policies and Programmes. of Designs and Methods for Impact Evaluation –– initiating a detailed study on best-practice evaluation of service and strategic design, so OECD (1998): Best Practice Guidelines UK Charities Evaluation Services, Using a that it can deliver clear guidelines on this as an integral part of knowledge sharing. for Evaluation, PUMA Policy Brief No. 5, Theory of Change: http://www.ces-vol. –– making good evaluation integral to funding applications for design innovation projects. May 1998 org.uk/tools-and-resources/Evaluation- methods/making-connections-tools –– opening research budgets for work on the impact of design on innovation and making it a rule that innovation programmes such as Horizon 2020 include work on this. FORA (2007): Concept Design – How to UK HM Treasury Green Book (framework for solve complex challenges of our time, appraisal and evaluation of all government This approach is underpinned by the European Design Leadership Board report, Design www.FORA.dk funded policies, programmes and projects): for Growth and Prosperity, which recommends that design be better embedded in the EU Jody Zall Kusek and Ray C. Rist (2004): http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_ research, development and innovation programme, Horizon 2020. Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring greenbook_index.htm and Evaluation System, The World Bank, UK HM Treasury Magenta Book (guidance The design sector and design organisations, and others running design projects, should Washington, D.C. on evaluation for central government, but make the case for themselves by ensuring that they: also relevant to local government, charities Papaconstantinou, G. and Polt, W. and the voluntary sectors): http://www. –– record information and write case studies so as to clearly demonstrate both methods and (1997), “Policy Evaluation in Innovation hm-treasury.gov.uk/data_magentabook_ outcomes (and, where possible, meeting of objectives). and Technology: An Overview”, OECD index.htm –– begin evaluations at project start to create a baseline. Proceedings, Policy Evaluation in Innovation and Technology – Towards Best Practices, –– use a control group wherever possible. OECD, Paris.

Storey, D.J. (2000), “Six Steps to Heaven: Evaluating the Impact of Public Policies to Support Small Businesses in Developed Economies”, in D.L. Sexton and H. Landstrom [eds.], “Handbook of Entrepreneurship”, Blackwell, Oxford. Design for Public Good 90/91 Endnotes and credits

Endnotes and credits Design for Public Good 92/93 References

References

Creative and Cultural Skills (2008) “Creative and Cultural Skills Economic and Design Week, 11 March 2013, “Gov.uk goes worldwide” Demographic Footprint”, pp. 4-5. 10 http://www.designweek.co.uk/analysis/govuk-goes-worldwide/3036144. 1 http://nse-cms-001.hstexc.nseuk.net/LinkClick. aspx?fileticket=f7xi%2BZKo4Bg article?cmpid=DWE05&cmptype=newsletter&email=true&ern %3D&tabid=600 Sharing Experience Europe –Policy Innovation Design, SEE Platform Bulletin Issue , 12 March 2013, “Local government can improve public services by 11 8 – December 2012, “Helsinki Design Lab: An Interview with Bryan Boyer” hiring designers” http://www.seeplatform.eu/docs/SEE%20Platform%20Bulletin%20Issue%208.pdf 2 http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/12/local-government-improve- public-services-designer?INTCMP=SRCH 12 Ibid. Source on malnutrition among the elderly in Denmark: 3 http://www.ddc.dk/kommunal-madservice Helsinki Design Lab blog: “What is strategic design?” 13 http://www.helsinkidesignlab.org/pages/what-is-strategic-design 2011-12 figures released for physical assaults against NHS staff 4 http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/3784.aspx 14 http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/reform “A Safer Place to Work: Protecting NHS Hospital and Ambulance Staff from Violence OECD (2007). OECD Framework for the Evaluation of SME and Entrepreneurship and Aggression” 15 Policies and Programmes 5 http://www.nao.org.uk/press-releases/a-safer-place-to-work- protecting-nhs-hospital-and-ambulance-staff-from-violence-and-aggression-2/ OECD (2002). Evaluation Aid Effectiveness 6. Glossary of Key Terms in Evaluation Lewisham Council slide show: “Putting Customer Insight into Practice” 16 and Results Based Management http://www.slideshare.net/localinsight/putting-customer-insight-into-practice- 6 peter-gadsdon-lewisham-council For guidance on using logic models see: http://www.wkkf.org/knowledge-center/resources/2006/02/wk-kellogg- “Directgov 2010 and beyond: Revolution not Evolution, a report by Martha Lane Fox” 17 foundation-logic-model-development-guide.aspx https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/directgov-2010-and-beyond- 7 revolution-not-evolution-a-report-by-martha-lane-fox

Government Digital Service (GDS): “Bank Holiday story – is it really simpler, clearer, faster?” 8 http://digital.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/2012/07/31/bank-holiday-story- is-it-really-simpler-clearer-faster/

Government Digital Service (GDS): “What are the savings from digitising transactional services?” 9 http://publications.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/digital/efficiency/#what-are-the-savings- from-digitising-transactional-services Design for Public Good 94/95 Photo credits

Photo credits

Page 2/3 Page 42 Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA (Top) Matt Britt, CC-BY-2.5 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5 (Bottom) Grolltech, CC-BY-SA-3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bysa/3.0 Page 6 Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA Page 43-47 UK Design Council Page 9 (Top to bottom) Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA; Danish Design Centre; Ben Terrett Page 49 live|work Page 12/13 Ben Terrett Page 51 UK Design Council Page 24 UK Design Council Page 53-54 UK Design Council Page 25 (Clockwise from top left) MindLab; UK Design Council; Danish Design Centre Page 57-59 Ben Terrett Page 26 (Clockwise from top left) UK Design Council; Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA; UK Design Council Page 60-63 Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA Page 27 UK Design Council Page 64-67 MindLab Page 29 Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA Page 73-91 Helsinki Design Lab, SITRA Page 33 UK Design Council

Page 35 MindLab

Page 37/38 Hatch & Bloom

Page 41 PDR, Cardiff Metropolitan University Design for Public Good Authors

Authors

This publication has been written by the following Supported by Sharing Experience Europe - SEE SEE is a network of eleven European members of the SEE Platform. partners sharing knowledge and experience on how design can be integrated into regional and national policies to boost innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, UK Design Council UK Design Council Danish Design Centre social and economic development. The Ailbhe McNabola The Design Council champions great design. The Danish Design Centre is an independent, aim of SEE is to pool knowledge, share John Moseley For us that mean design which improves lives government-funded organisation established experiences, stimulate debate, develop new Bel Reed and makes things better. As an enterprising in 1978. DDC’s focus in relation to the thinking and build rapport and credibility charity, our work places design at the heart design community and business sector is in order to influence policy at regional and Danish Design Centre of creating value by stimulating innovation on collecting, communicating and testing national levels. Tanja Bisgaard in business and public services, improving knowledge about the main factors that Anne Dorthe Jossiasen our built environment and tackling complex influence design and how design can continue From 2012 to 2015, SEE is operating as Christina Melander social issues such as ageing and obesity. to be a driver for innovation and growth in part of the European Commission’s We inspire new design thinking, encourage the future. The DDC’s mantra is “design that European Design Innovation Initiative. Design Wales public debate and inform government policy makes sense”, and its key knowledge areas are SEE is led by Design Wales at Cardiff Anna Whicher to improve everyday life and help meet new materials, new technology, and big data. Metropolitan University. tomorrow’s challenges today. Aalto University www.ddc.dk www.seeplatform.eu Jaana Hytönen www.designcouncil.org.uk Otto Schultz

Design Wales Aalto University Design Wales is part of the National Centre for Aalto University works towards a better Funded by European Commission Product Design and Development Research world through top-quality research, In 2010, design became one of nine priorities (PDR) at Cardiff Metropolitan University. interdisciplinary collaboration, pioneering for innovation in the European Commission education, surpassing traditional boundaries, policy, “Innovation Union”. As a result, Design Wales champions design by supporting and enabling renewal. The national mission the Commission established the European companies and public bodies to use design of the University is to support Finland’s Design Leadership Board, a committee more effectively, enabling designers to further success and contribute to Finnish society, its of 15 members that produced the report, their skills, conducting research to support internationalisation and competitiveness, “Design for Growth and Prosperity,” and practice and leading networks in the UK and and to promote the welfare of its people. the European Design Innovation Initiative Europe to influence policy. (EDII) composed of six projects, one of which www.aalto.fi/en/ is SEE. www.designwales.org In 2013, the European Commission will be producing an Action Plan for Design in Europe. It is the European Commission’s vision that by 2020 design should be a well recognised element of innovation in European, national and regional policy.

www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/ innovation/policy/design-creativity/