Three lenses to identify various shades of co-design, finding a balance between purism and pragmatism.

Instead of asking, “but is it co-design?”, these lenses are each a way of asking: “how much co-design is there?”

We’re closing down the Community of Practice I've worked so hard to build. It’s a slow sunset, giving us time to close well and honour members’ commitments to this community.

The language of co-design and systems change is becoming so ubiquitous — everyone is either asking for it or claiming to be doing it. But what do systems and co-design approaches really ask of us? And how do we work in ways which honour this in our work?

This post shares some of our experiences as co-design mentors in 2022, volunteering to support staff in a low resource environment, many of whom were undertaking co-design for the first time.

During a recent episode of Collaboratory, “Navigating Positionality and Power”, I reflected on personal experiences with navigating power dynamics as a strategic designer and co-design coach. This is the blog post I was invited to write to further explore these themes.

This article offers some insights for those interested in strengthening their practice in systemic and social design. It focuses in particular on the Systemic Design Practice Wheel, and illustrates how each of its five domains offers considerations for practice, by comparing systemic design to a dance.

This article is an edited version of my presentation about: who gets to design public policies and services; the limitations and potential of participation in co-design in Australia and New Zealand; and how the systems that we are part of shape our work.

The Co-Design Community of Practice (CoDesignCo) is a new online network for changemakers interested in learning and sharing about creative and participatory ways to engage diverse people in our work. In this post I share about the ideas and experiences that have inspired this new network, and what it offers members.

The use of nudge theory to inform policy interventions in response to COVID-19 has re-opened debates over the politically paternalistic nature of governing by ‘nudges’ and has given momentum to calls to include the more participatory elements of co-design into policymaking.

There are three key ways you can think about co-design if you want to begin to understand what makes it unique. It is a process, set of practical tools, and a set of principles.

There has been a plethora of claims in recent years about what co-design can do and why we should be using it, especially in the public sector. There is a risk that we are treating co-design as a “magic concept” or a “policy unicorn”.