Design Intervention_5W+1H
What, Where, When, Who, Why, How of Design Intervention
In particular, this blog reflects my own practices and the acquired knowledge I synthesised regarding my experiences in several design intervention workshops from both facilitator's and participant's points of view.
First, I would like to share my interpretation of a design innovation catalyst. I used to think design innovation catalyst was like a well-planned project that a group of strategists or designers undertake to help with business transformation. It was too narrow. I have a more explicit understanding after week 2's learning: It can also be a role or a title for individuals. One can define the real problem among the soil of departments in the organisation. One is responsible for merging, visualising design tools, and then presenting them to stakeholders. One can paraphrase research results to the target audience's language to start a harmonious communication with them. Catalysts do not own an exclusive piece of knowledge or experience. They aim to share insights and inspire others to pass on in the company's culture to simultaneously encourage everyone to make a change. In this case, the design innovation catalyst can be a facilitator to access design research more engagingly in design interventions (such as workshops and design sprints).
What is design intervention?
The term "Design Intervention" was abstract for me to understand in the first few weeks. However, it is more commonly used as a research method in today's practice. The topic of Collective Intelligence(CI) appeared in community participation and was discussed during the learning journey. Researchers indicated the CI could bring a more positive design outcome while the innovation catalyst holds an intervention in a collaborative environment that allows participants to co-design and co-create. Thus, it shows that design intervention has perspectives on participatory design. It is not only in the designer's domain. Still, it can be seen as a human demographic approach to reach non-designers, such as transdisciplinary partners in selected organisations who conduct juxtaposed perspectives with reciprocal messages.
Moreover, With our lecturer's guidance from an industry or organisational context, design interventions are acts of 'coming between'. Here are my interpretation of "Coming between":
It is like seeking the essence of the problem from the headstream;
triggering the real emotional attachment from the commonage;
Letting the participants liberate their concerns, aspirations and imaginative horizons;
more importantly, collecting a diverse range of perspectives for further deliverable outcomes.
Design interventions can not be completed without establishing and utilising appropriate methods, building tools and approaches to help reveal chaos or even resolve a complex problem with the power of collective intelligence. The form of a design intervention is based on the set-up research goal to meet the aim and objectives. When an intervention is created, it also produces a design space, which involves different levels of participation, engagement and activism. The intervention results vary depending on how many constraints and boundaries a catalyst is designed in each unique research circumstance.
There is more to discuss in the "Why" and "How" sections.
Why do we need design intervention?
““Co-design Supported Organization Changes by nurturing collaboration attitudes, expanding perspectives about social issues and releasing latent human abilities and assets”. ”
The value of design interventions is various in each case during the research phase's aim and objectives, also depending on the creative forms of experience and dialogue. They are keys to accessing the anthropological perspectives related to the targeted crowd. For Instance, symbolic mediums are used in the participatory design process to protect the sensitivity and privacy of vulnerable groups of people and exchange more subjective and personal messages and information the researcher can investigate; to liberate latent messages. (Instead, participants tend to be superficial about the facts, they only tell impersonal stuff). Design intervention, sometimes as practical applications, can bring benefits like educating a specific purpose in the firm or industry, creating positive consciousness for better development, active and enhancing the organisation's culture by raising awareness, etc. In general, design intervention is delivering values from the matter of engaging, encouraging, and empowering participants.
Ways to determine the value of design Intervention (in general):
Business KPI's
Quantitative measures (statistics)
Qualitative measures (Stories/anecdotic of change)
the direct correlation between the outcome and design intervention, "Would the 'outcome' happen anyway/ or the intervention is attributable to it?"
Evaluating the design intervention
An objective process of understanding how an intervention is implemented. It is about all the interconnection of how whom, and why.
Traditionally a retrospective analysis.
Better design & build the evaluation from the start - in the intervention planning!
It needs to be robust and effective.
Tool of Evaluation - Logic Model
It shows the thinking behind the design, as a framework for defining aims and objectives for design intervention, and how to meet the aims and objectives. It is also vital to understand the current and future stages of the organisation.
Inputs: Summarising any facts, problems, discovery results...
Activities: Designed and delivered to achieve an intended thing.
Outputs: Immediate. Results, data that were generated/captured. any artefacts that are produced from the activities.
Outcomes: Changes that result from outputs. if the objectives are achieved and realistic. (continue on Pg5 )
Impacts: Deliver the bigger picture.
When and Where does design intervention fit?
The form of knowledge and outcomes is based on where the designer facilitates interventions. In this semester, most of our practices of interventions happened at this stage where the catalyst is exploring, gathering deep insights&perception, and visualising complexities. In contrast, holding interventions the second diamond tends to validate data and eliminate assumptions to help form design solutions.
This is an example of where the design intervention is taking place. In this semester, we were encouraged to utlise a series of design techniques, and methods to design fun, engaging activities for our design intervention works. We wanted to know, feel and hear participants' inner journeys to discover the subconscious, latent and deep needs of our target markets in the previous research phase.
My Design Intervention experience:
I discovered that my group's design intervention activities have covered three stages of the Double Diamond process: the participants co-created and experienced:
To build understanding: Discover the pain points in the hybrid workplace;
To shape choices: Define the most urgent & important problems;
To Make decisions: Fast develop solutions (quantities rather than qualities. )
As facilitators, we can be triggered and inspired by some new findings throughout the workshop. There were data we gathered from post-intervention that was worth going back and researching again.
After all, the wicked problem can only be solved gradually with reframed and iterated Research & Design progresses. There is no linear design process.
Who (What kind of stakeholders) are involved in design interventions?
Stakeholder mapping is a critical part of designing the intervention. Address the right group of stakeholders who are
most relevant to the research/problem scope,
are willing/free to come
have interests in joining the workshop
have the power to make influence the team
There are also a few more things that need to be considered when inviting participants to the interventions:
Maintain a level of dynamics in the participants but not have over complex relationships. It is nice to have a cross-disciplinary point of view, though it tends to be harder and takes longer to break the ice than people coming from one team in the organization.
How to facilitate design interventions
Tips I learnt from experiences:
Create a detailed final intervention plan and rundown sheet, and follow the plan
Practice activities with tools and equipment as many times as possible with audiences to get feedback and make changes.
Practice with facilitators so that everyone is clear with individual tasks and can help each other out with backup plans when one is nervous.
Think about possible risks and prepare risk assessments.
Observation is important. Also be prepared to "save the awkwardness", like making a joke, and add explanations.
I also used the tool book called Universal Method of Design created by Bella Martin and Bruce Hanington to get inspired on designing fun, engaging intervention workshop activities.
Here is a list of possible design intervention ideas that can be considered in different stages of the Double Diamond Diagram:
· Workshops · Co-design Sessions · Pop-up stalls
· High/Low fidelity prototyping · Role play& Scenarios
· Photovoice · Observations · Site Visits
· Interview With Stakeholders · Surveys
· Cultural Probes · Mapping Activities
· Desk Research & Reading
““minimum effort
maximise results.””
What is your thoughts? Let chat about it!
