Deborah
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Comments
Ivo
Paul
From our discussions at the launch event there was an large variety of ways people spoke about different types of design, the kind of skills required to do these different types of designing and the value placed on each of these as well as who is doing the designing.
In terms of designers working in the public sector I think your definition is spot on Ivo, I think that the skills designers are taught in formal education can be applied in other areas, but this is so broad that it is difficult to label it.
If we are talking about designers working on projects like the ones we do here at thinkpublic, using techniques such as co-design then I think that by calling it something like “participatory design” is accurate but would not necessarily apply to other areas of design…
...do we need to define it for other people to understand what it is?
jez
i would be worried that, by trying to define this kind of design as something other than the general terms such as ‘graphic design’, you would run the risk of alienating public sector design ‘buyers’ further. there are more and more terms popping up to describe designers (mostly authored by the designers themselves!).
years ago (when life was simple!) a graphic designer would work in all sectors, and would ideally apply his/her work ethic of designing with thought, care and compassion to convey a message with clarity and beauty that was functionial, within budget and did the job. or is that something i have just read about in books?!
William
Debs – the other half of this is a designer’s critique of the non-design of public services.
I’d sort of really welcome this over at Ideal Gov, but perhaps we can start it here and do some cross-postings.
I mean, take everyday experiences of public services, and do a professional critique of them from a design perspective. What’s good, what’s wrong, and the Wibbies.
We could do some public service design awards (with blooper awards too)
Also we should expore the COSt of non-design.
The day we produce an authoritative report saying poor design is costing the Treausry £80-120m/yr, we’ve got a market :-)
Deborah
That sounds like an interesting challenge to any designers that join this network and beyond! Where should we start, have you got a public service in mind?
I love the idea of ‘good public service design awards’, we could have a team of secret shoppers using and rating the services and giving design recommendations as feedback.
Rachel
If Service Design agencies already do this as part of their research phase, could they be engaged to add their reviews (with clients’ permission, naturally) to this?
Also – if trying to promote the use of design in public services, could independent reviews of services be done post-service-consultancy to rate the improvements, and possibly provide good case studies to nervous public sector investors? Those who have invested would also be able to see proof of the value of their investment in design.
This may be too political an idea, with too many different companies’ objectives to consider. What do you think?
The man from the design council on the radio this morning defined design as “turning ideas into products or services”.
This fits with the idea that anyone is a designer and that there are already lots of of people in the public sector who are already designing.
A designer therefore is someone who is trained in turning ideas in to products of services. What we do then is a particular type of design; “participatory design”?
Monday 26 November, 2007