What is Co-design?
Co-design is an approach to actively design with all stakeholders (e.g. employees, partners, customers, citizens, end users) in the design process to help ensure the result meets their needs and is usable. Gathering valuable insights by doing research, testing interventions, iteration processes, creating design principles and concepting are key elements in this design process. During this minor (English) at the University of applies sciences Utrecht I’ve worked with clients as Arriva, Solace and the Municipality of Utrecht (Gemeente Utrecht).
Clients of Solace, a research group on self-management for chronic pain patients, asked us to gather insights by creating interventions. An intervention is a way of validating certain assumptions by doing tests with the target group, this is also known as hidden-design. The purpose of the research was to find out how we could prevent relapse with chronic pain patients. The main purpose of the project was to conduct a lot of reseach for Solace, to help them getting more insights for their study.
By conducting interventions at the University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, the Dutch Design Week Eindhoven and at Adelante Care Centre Hoensbroek, I was able to develop my hidden-design skills. By doing pitches with a maximum of six minutes I’ve learned to communicate valuable information in a short period of time towards the client.
My role in this project was conducting interventions, analysing raw data, gathering insights, creating interventions, pitching and designing the final report.
Feedback
"Diederik is a down to earth guy, and nice to work with. His critical view helped us a lot and took our interventions to a higher level. Besides that Diederik knows how to translate things visually."
- Jesse van Beek, group member
"His energy and motivation was really nice to work with. During the forming of interventions he was sharp in his remarks and made sure the end result made sense."
- Sam van Gerwen, group member
"I really like working with Diederik. He is sharp, not easily satisfied and challenges everyone to get the best out of it. Also, he gives a good vibe in the team. He is relaxed but still motivated."
- Marieke Veneklaas, group member
