I’d rather have a bowl of Co-Creation

Co-Creation is by no means a new concept, variations of the process have been used since the 1970’s. But with the birth of the digital age, our world has become more connected than ever, which can bring better collaboration and communication between business and users. Allowing benefits for both parties and create a world of design truly fit for purpose.

For those not familiar with the concept, Co-Creation put simply, is a collaborative process of working directly with the end user to create a product that truly represents what the user needs. Design by the User for the User.

Background

As a Designer, I find it becomes all to easy to get so engrossed in the world of design, you often find yourself designing for the never ending feedback of the design world. Websites like Dribbble, Behance, Pttrns, etc that provides your inspiration and research can unwittingly isolate you from where the true research behind your design should stem from.

After Joining Red Ninja in 2014, I was introduced to a fresh way of working from my previous experience. Yet this Idea of Co-Creating with the user at first glance seemed useless. They have no design experience, they wont know what they’re on about… Almost immediately I realised that I was very wrong.

Recent Example

A good example, and probably most easy to understand example of co-creation is with a project seen recently in the media called Helping Hand. Helping Hand was a project based around connecting older generations with technology.

The Co-Creation process involved over 350 older people in a series of workshops focused on users being involved directly in the design process. From the workshops the participants said they often found day-to-day shopping difficult due to health & mobility issues. They had noted an interest in online shopping but they had some concerns such as security, privacy and personal understanding of technology. By thinking with the participants an easy to navigate shopping application was identified as a huge aid to get back their independence. A calendar was also integrated to inform the users of events in the community and help utilise the technology to improve their life on a social level.

Working this way showed the conversation, observation and understanding of users. It helped create a tablet application that engaged the users and improved living through technology. (Link 1).

My first taste of Co-Creation

One of my first Co-Creation projects was for a counselling and support service in Merseyside called Listening Ear. One of the many services they provided was a service called Butterflies. The Butterflies Service was designed to help children and young people with bereavement, loss and separation. The Client wanted to digitise this service into a Mobile App.

Now with many traditional design briefs, you listen to what the client wants and the client tells you what they think their users want/ need. This is often based on their own knowledge and experience, or on feedback from a researcher. So before you have even spoke with the client, there are some assumptions being made. It’s been like this for what seems like forever, and it seems like designers, clients and organisations have just accepted this is the way we work.

Trying to change this mindset has a few obstacles. Trying to help a client to understand the value of workshops and weeks-months-years of Co-Creation can be challenging. But Listening Ear Merseyside was on board, and more than willing to be aid the process in Co-Creating an App for the Butterflies Service. The Red Ninja Approach is based around 3 main principles that are ingrained into the Co-Creation Process. Listen. Think. Do. (Link 2)

Immediately from the beginning of the Co-Creation Workshops I realised that listening to the users of the service I gained an unbiased perspective on exactly what the service means to them. By unbiased, I mean, you cant get much more open honest than that of a group of users aged 4 to 16. They tell it exactly how it is…

By taking on board everything learned from conversations and observations together we explored all possible avenues for solutions. These formed a broad range of ideas for an app to help improve service users self esteem and confidence. To help put these ideas into workable solutions we drew in our own expertise from different disciplines to work along side the service users further. This helped to break down creative barriers that the users may face, and spark innovative ideas that as a designer you may never have considered.

I found this creative freedom (almost naivety) from the users balanced with the understanding from the experts in the discipline, to be unequalled. It gets your design brain working! It’s fresh and breaks down your own creative barriers.

By working this way you get much genuine & authentic outcomes. We found that the final mobile app genuinely represents the values of Butterflies as it’s from service from the users perspective, and helps users effectively.

But Co-Creation is not all plain sailing…

Negatives & Peril Prevention

There are some negatives to the process that aren’t always documented but can be prevented in most circumstances.

1. Motivating Users

Motivating and engaging the participants is always the first hurdle. It’s easy for the users to feel disengaged when introduced to what is sometimes an alien concept. Getting a good understanding of the subject from a personal perspective is vital. This is why listening is so important.

When it comes to the design side it’s all about empowering the users and giving them the confidence that they are what is important to this process. Encouraging them to generate ideas and collaborate in areas which they may not be familiar with. Recognising the overall shared goal between the designer, organization and user.

2. Communicating & working with non-design trained

Another sure-fire way to isolate the participants is using too much design terminology. Each day you work with other designers, developers and practitioners that are all familiar with the design process, so it’s easy to forget that not everyone thinks like this. In Co-Creation you can be working with people from almost any background, and if you don’t have a good level of understanding you risk isolating the users group almost immediately.

3. User Group

This can fluctuate massively, so it’s important to try and motivate the participants to attend every session and try to pick your user group wisely. This is also important if you want to get a true reflection of the market you are trying to reach. If your user group isn’t truly representative of this then effectively you’re product wont have nearly as much impact.

4. Client Input

I have found that the client often feels a need to take a back seat during the co-creation workshops, with a pre-conceived idea of what they want the product to be in their head. This again harps back to traditional ideas and that the client still isn’t fully invested in the Co-creation process. They are still using you as a middle man. The best way to break down this barrier is to try and get the client and members from the organisation involved as much as possible in as many workshops as possible. Get them to invest themselves in the concept of a shared objective.

5. Its not always pretty…

This was what I thought was going to be the hardest sacrifice in Co-Creation. Sometimes what you as designer within a team of experts think ‘looks’ slick, fresh and innovative, may not actually be suitable for the product or the user. Co-creation is about close collaboration with the user in all parts of the process. You may find that colours that provide a gorgeous UI don’t work for the product. It can be hard to take, but effective collaboration will bring the strongest end products better suited for purpose.

Conclusion

Co-Creation is a massively useful tool if you’re ready and willing to use it in the right way. But you can soon be providing your own obstacles if you’re not willing to adapt your traditional design thought processes.

At it’s best you can create a product that encompasses the true values of the company from both a user and client perspective. This design by the user for the user not only gives the product a more authentic and genuine feel, but often has a strong backing from the client and users who have invested themselves in the process. Seeing the benefits for the users and community at a personal level I feel reconnects you as a designer with the outcome. Helping you to remember you design for life, not just for criteria.

Related Articles

Link 1 — Helping Hand — http://www.redninja.co.uk/design-technology-work/age-friendly-technology/

Link 2 — Red Ninja Listen. Think. Do. — http://www.redninja.co.uk/design-thinking/

Link 3 — Butterflies App — https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/butterflies-listening-ear/id978336363?mt=8