Problem framing expertise in public and social innovation

Public and social sector organizations are increasingly turning to innovation as a way to address the complex problems that society is facing. Design practice has already contributed significantly to public and social innovation, but to be effective at the public and social systems level, these practices must be adapted. This study investigates how five public and social innovation agencies adapted and used the core design practice of problem framing to address complex problems in society. The frames evolved according to nonlinear patterns through the co-evolution of problem and solution spaces. Practitioners adapted their framing practices to suit the complex social contexts by applying systemic design principles, pursuing multiple solutions and problem frames, and operationalizing wider research and thinking methods that align with the complex nature of each specific challenge. I argue that such practices require high-level expertise, and that capability building in public and social innovation should consider these emerging practices and levels of expertise. Keywords: Social innovation, Complexity, Design practice, Framing, Design expertis

Exploring design for dynamic use

Products that are used by varying users, for varying purposes in varying contexts (dynamic and diverse use situations) are difficult to design because it is hard to predict the situations in which the product will be used and consequently what this requires from the design. In our research we develop guidelines and the Envisioning Use workshop to support designers in dealing with dynamic use. The basic idea of both support tools is that an overview of possible users, goals and contexts serves as an evolving frame of reference for use evaluations in the design process. In the course `Design for Dynamic Use of the master Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) of the University of Twente students applied the developed workshop and guidelines to the design of a carrier bike for a real client. This paper describes the application and evaluation of the workshop technique by students. From this can be concluded that the workshop results in a structured view on the broadness of use situations and use issues. Therefore it is a valuable tool in setting the basis for a frame of reference of product use. For research purposes, a company was involved in the project to provide a real case. While this led to useful research results, students benefited from the collaboration as well by being able to do an exercise in a realistic design context and learning how to deal with client demands. Moreover, the company benefited from the involvement in education by gaining new ideas and insights

Designing social infrastructures for complex service systems

Services delivered through the public and social sector play an important role in addressing complex societal problems. Services consist of interfaces between service consumer and deliverer, and infrastructures that support the service deliverer. Infrastructures such as protocols, scripts and blueprints are often intended to control the behaviour of service delivers. This is a linear top-down view of service organisations. This paper presents a different perspective, using Stacey’s theory of complex responsive processes: service organisations are ongoing iterated patterns of relationships between human beings. Infrastructures for complex service systems can therefore be considered ‘social infrastructures’. Two case studies are presented that each describe the design of a successful social infrastructure, in the education and health sector respectively. To analyse the human-centred design practice of these case studies the author introduces the NADI-model, which identifies different levels of depth in needs and aspirations of stakeholders. The deepest level of this model consists of phenomenological ‘themes’. The model is used to show how themes explain the success of the social infrastructure in the first case study. The second case study subsequently shows how, using Dorst’s frame creation methodology, themes support designing social infrastructures for complex service systems

The Challenges of Human-Centred Design in a Public Sector Innovation Context

The world is increasingly faced with complex societal problems such as climate change, an ageing population, radicalising youth and chronic health problems. Public sector organisations have a key role in addressing these issues. It is widely acknowledged that tackling these problems requires new approaches and methods. Design, and in particular human-centred design, offers opportunities to develop these methods. In this paper I argue that a new type of human-centred innovation practice is necessary to adjust traditional user-centred design methods and tools to the public sector innovation context. This context involves different types of stakeholders with conflicting needs and aspirations, and requires a precise articulation of the value of human-centred design. I will propose a possible answer to these challenges through a case study relating to severe mental illness, in which we applied Dorst’s frame creation methodology, in combination with the NADI-model of Needs and Aspirations for Design and Innovation

Designing for Social Infrastructures in Complex Service Systems: A Human-Centered and Social Systems Perspective on Service Design

© 2017 Tongji University and Tongji University Press Service design is one of the keys to improving how we target today's complex societal problems. The predominant view of service systems is mechanistic and linear. A service infrastructure—which includes solutions like service blueprints, scripts, and protocols—is, in some ways, designed to control the behavior of service professionals at the service interface. This view undermines the intrinsic motivation, expertise, and creativity of service professionals. This article presents a different perspective on service design. Using theories of social systems and complex responsive processes, I define service organizations as ongoing iterated patterns of relationships between people, and identify them as complex social service systems. I go on to show how the human-centeredness of design practices contributes to designing for such service systems. In particular, I show how a deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of service professionals through phenomenological themes contributes to designing for social infrastructures that support continuous improvement and adaptation of the practices executed by service professionals at the service interface

The power of trust and motivation in a designing social system

Design is increasingly adopted in the public and social sector as an approach to tackle complex societal problems. To embed these practices in these sectors new agencies or labs have been established that work within or alongside traditional public and social sector organisations to design products, processes, services, policies and strategies, aimed at generating value for society. These public and social sector innovation labs borrow many methods and practices from traditional design professions, but at the same time a new unique practice is emerging that is tailored to the requirements of working in this new context (Yee and White 2015, UK Design Council 2013, Burns et al. 2006)

Exploring usability: design for dynamic and diverse use situations

This thesis discusses the relationship between the usability of products and the dynamics and diversity of use situations, and how this can be dealt with in product design processes. The usability of products is influenced by the situation in which the product is used. Consequently, when products are used in dynamic and diverse use situations (DDUS) the level of usability is diverse as well. For designers it could be difficult to predict these use situations and their consequences for usability. A study in design practice showed that designers often use knowledge of personal experiences or previous design projects for this purpose. However, this knowledge is often not shared between members of a product development team. This can negatively influence decision making with regard to choosing the best solution proposal or choosing the use situations which the product should accommodate. Moreover, it can negatively influence the external validity and focus of usability evaluations. Therefore a set of design guidelines was developed aimed at guiding designers in creating an explicit frame of reference of DDUS and the consequences for usability, and applying this frame of reference in decision making and usability evaluations. Furthermore, the Envisioning Use workshop technique was developed, which is aimed at sharing implicit and explicit knowledge of DDUS in a product development team, by jointly creating a first explicit frame of reference. Both the workshop and the guidelines were developed iteratively by applying and evaluating these supports in multiple design projects in both design practice and student projects. The evaluations showed that the workshop not only led to an explicit frame of reference of DDUS, but to a `shared vision¿ on product use as well. This shared vision was experienced as valuable in decision making processes. The application of the guidelines furthermore showed that working with an explicit frame of reference indeed leads to more focus in usability evaluations, and can improve their external validity. Finally the studies showed that `exploring usability¿ is a valuable approach in creating the explicit frame of reference. This approach combines exploring with verifying the connections between DDUS and usability issues

Understanding design for dynamic and Diverse Use Situations

The design research community acknowledges that usability and user experience are largely influenced by user characteristics, goals and contexts of use. For industrially manufactured products, these use situations are often dynamic and diverse. However, little guidance can be found in literature on the incorporation of dynamic and diverse use situations (DDUS) into the design process. This paper explores this issue by means of an analysis of user centred design literature and an empirical study of design for DDUS in design practice. We retrospectively studied three projects in which a product with DDUS was designed. Based on this study, we identified different effective strategies executed by design practitioners to analyse DDUS. We also observed difficulties in designing for DDUS. These difficulties include the identification of relevant aspects within this broad spectrum of use situations and sharing knowledge of product use between team members. We conclude that there is a need for guidance in the creation of flexible frames of reference of product use that evolve with solutions in the design process, particularly for design projects that cannot rely on the reuse of such a frame of reference from similar previous projects. © 2014 van der Bijl-Brouwer & van der Voort

Thinking and Exploring Use Situations

Within design teams, knowledge of the variety of situations in which products are used remains often unshared. Furthermore these 'dynamic and diverse use situations' are not always applied consistently to contextualize use evaluations. This paper describes the development of guidelines to deal with these issues in the design process. The initial guidleines were aimed at generating and applying an evolving explicit frame of reference of product use that could be used to set up use evaluations, to share knowledge of product use and to inspire solution generation. an application of the guidelines to a carrier bike by four student teams showed the added value of using the frame of reference in setting up use evaluations, the value of explorative activities to create explicit frame of reference, and unexpected benefits of the additionally created mindset