Co-Design

Co-design is a collaborative approach that brings customers, users, and stakeholders directly into the design process as active participants rather than passive subjects. Instead of just capturing user experiences through research, co-design enables users to work alongside designers in creating their ideal solutions. This participatory approach extracts tacit knowledge that emerges when users actively solve their own problems rather than simply describing them.

Tip: Focus on co-design for early-stage innovation where user creativity and problem-solving insights are most valuable for breakthrough solutions.

Traditional user research observes and captures user behavior and preferences, while co-design actively engages users as creative partners in developing solutions. Co-design sessions involve activities like scenario refinement, affinity diagramming, and paper prototyping where users contribute to solution creation. This collaborative approach reveals insights that can't be captured through observation alone.

Tip: Use co-design when you need creative solutions that users themselves would find valuable rather than when you need to validate existing design concepts.

Co-design and participatory design are closely related terms that both involve users in the design process. Participatory design originated in Scandinavian workplace democracy movements, while co-design has broader applications across industries. Both approaches share the core principle of involving users as design partners rather than research subjects, though specific methods and contexts may vary.

Tip: Focus on the collaborative principles rather than terminology - what matters is actively involving users in creative problem-solving processes.

Co-design may take longer initially but reduces risk of building solutions that users don't want or won't use. By involving users in solution creation, co-design ensures higher user acceptance and often reveals innovative approaches that internal teams wouldn't discover independently. The collaborative insights prevent costly redesigns and create solutions with built-in user advocacy.

Tip: Consider co-design as risk reduction investment - the upfront time spent prevents expensive mistakes and increases likelihood of successful user adoption.

Co-design works best for complex problems where user context and creativity are crucial, early-stage innovation projects, and situations where user buy-in is essential for success. It's particularly valuable for workplace tools, service design, and products that require behavior change. Co-design is less suitable for highly technical problems or when time constraints prevent collaborative sessions.

Tip: Choose co-design for problems where user expertise and creative input will lead to better solutions than expert-driven design alone.

Co-design makes customer-centricity tangible by literally putting customers at the center of solution development. Organizations experience firsthand how customer insights drive better design decisions. Following Tedde van Gelderen's Experience Thinking approach, co-design helps teams understand how customers experience brand, content, product, and service touchpoints in integrated ways.

Tip: Use co-design sessions to build organizational empathy and customer understanding, not just to develop specific solutions.

Co-design drives innovation by combining user creativity with professional design expertise, often resulting in solutions that neither users nor designers would develop independently. The collaborative process reveals unmet needs and innovative approaches that traditional research might miss. Co-design particularly excels at service innovation where user experience and operational delivery must work together seamlessly.

Tip: Position co-design as an innovation catalyst that generates breakthrough ideas rather than just an alternative research method.

We use structured collaborative techniques including scenario refinement, affinity diagramming, paper prototyping, journey mapping, and ideation exercises. Activities are designed to extract users' tacit knowledge while leveraging professional design guidance. Methods vary based on project goals, participant comfort levels, and the complexity of problems being addressed through collaborative design.

Tip: Select co-design methods that match your participants' communication styles and comfort with creative activities to maximize engagement and input quality.

Effective co-design workshops require careful planning, clear objectives, and skilled facilitation. We start with problem framing, use structured creative activities to generate solutions, and include evaluation methods to prioritize ideas. Workshops balance individual reflection with collaborative work, ensuring all participants can contribute effectively regardless of their communication style or design experience.

Tip: Plan co-design workshops with more time than traditional meetings - collaborative creativity can't be rushed and breakthrough insights often emerge later in sessions.

Participant selection balances representation of key user groups with individuals who can contribute effectively to collaborative creative processes. We look for users who understand their own needs deeply and can articulate their experiences well. Mixed groups often work best, combining different user types with relevant internal stakeholders who bring implementation perspectives.

Tip: Include participants who are both knowledgeable about their domain and comfortable with collaborative problem-solving rather than just focusing on demographic representation.

We use multiple engagement techniques to accommodate different working styles, including individual reflection time, small group activities, and various communication methods like sketching, writing, and verbal discussion. Skilled facilitation ensures all voices are heard while managing dominant personalities and encouraging quieter participants to contribute their insights.

Tip: Build psychological safety in co-design sessions by emphasizing that all ideas have value and that participants are the experts in their own experiences.

Our Experience Thinking framework ensures co-design considers all four connected experience areas: how users experience brand, content, product, and service elements. This holistic approach generates solutions that work cohesively across all touchpoints rather than optimizing individual elements in isolation. We also integrate co-design insights into broader experience strategy and implementation planning.

Tip: Look for co-design approaches that consider how solutions will work across all customer touchpoints rather than focusing on single product or service improvements.

Co-design works best when user creativity and professional design expertise complement each other. Users contribute domain knowledge, creative insights, and solution ideas while designers provide facilitation, synthesis skills, and implementation guidance. The collaboration produces solutions that are both innovative and feasible for development.

Tip: Frame co-design as partnership between user expertise and design expertise rather than users doing designers' jobs or designers interpreting user needs.

Technology can enhance co-design through digital collaboration tools, but physical materials like paper, sticky notes, and markers often work better for creative ideation. We adapt technology use based on participant comfort levels and session objectives. Remote co-design is possible but requires careful tool selection and modified facilitation approaches to maintain engagement.

Tip: Start with low-tech co-design methods that don't require technical skills, then add digital tools only when they genuinely enhance the collaborative process.

Our Experience Thinking framework ensures co-design sessions address all four connected experience areas: brand (how users feel about solutions), content (information and guidance needs), product (functionality and interaction), and service (support and delivery). This holistic approach generates solutions that create unified customer experiences rather than fragmented improvements across isolated touchpoints.

Tip: Structure co-design activities to explore how solutions will work across all customer experience areas rather than focusing only on immediate functionality needs.

Strong co-design solutions integrate across all four experience areas to create cohesive customer value. Brand concepts influence content tone and product personality; product concepts affect service delivery requirements; content concepts support both brand messaging and product usability. Co-design reveals how users envision these connections working together in their ideal solutions.

Tip: Use co-design sessions to explore how users want different experience elements to work together rather than designing each area separately.

Using Tedde van Gelderen's experience characteristics framework, co-design reveals user preferences across timing (how much time they want to spend), interaction (level of participation they prefer), intensity (depth of engagement they desire), coverage (breadth of touchpoints they use), and meaning (significance they place on experiences). These insights guide solution design that matches user expectations.

Tip: Explore experience characteristics preferences with users during co-design rather than assuming all users want the same type of experience depth and interaction.

We use co-design to map how solutions should work across brand communications, content strategy, product development, and service delivery. Users help design not just individual touchpoints but the connections between them. This creates coherent experience ecosystems that feel intentionally connected rather than accidentally coordinated across different organizational departments.

Tip: Include stakeholders from different departments in co-design sessions to understand implementation implications across the entire experience ecosystem.

Co-design reveals how users want to feel about and relate to your organization, informing brand personality, positioning, and promise development. Users contribute insights about brand characteristics that would resonate with them and help develop authentic brand expressions that reflect real customer values rather than internal aspirations about brand identity.

Tip: Use co-design to explore emotional and relationship aspects of brand experience, not just functional brand attributes or visual preferences.

Co-design helps users articulate their information needs, preferred communication styles, and content consumption patterns. Users contribute to content strategy by showing how they want to discover, evaluate, and use information throughout their journey. This collaborative approach ensures content serves real user goals rather than organizational communication preferences.

Tip: Include content creation and information architecture activities in co-design sessions to understand how users naturally organize and prioritize information.

Co-design reveals how users envision products and services working together to accomplish their goals. Users design integrated solutions that combine functionality with support, showing how product features should connect to service touchpoints. This integration ensures solutions work holistically rather than creating gaps between product capabilities and service delivery.

Tip: Design co-design activities that explore both self-service product interactions and supported service interactions as integrated experiences.

Effective stakeholder participation requires clear role definition, preparation, and skilled facilitation. Internal stakeholders contribute organizational knowledge and implementation constraints while external participants provide customer insights and creative solutions. We balance different perspectives to ensure all voices contribute value without any single group dominating the collaborative process.

Tip: Brief internal stakeholders on their role as collaborators and learners rather than decision-makers or subject matter experts during co-design sessions.

Stakeholder buy-in develops through direct experience with collaborative processes and seeing the quality of insights that emerge from user creativity. We start with pilot sessions that demonstrate value, then scale successful approaches. Buy-in increases when stakeholders see solutions they wouldn't have developed independently and witness user enthusiasm for collaborative results.

Tip: Let stakeholders participate in co-design sessions as observers or participants before asking them to commit to broader co-design initiatives.

Conflicting perspectives often lead to breakthrough insights when managed skillfully. We use structured facilitation techniques to explore different viewpoints, find common ground, and synthesize diverse input into innovative solutions. Conflicts usually arise from different priorities or constraints rather than fundamental disagreements about user needs.

Tip: Frame conflicts as opportunities to explore different aspects of complex problems rather than obstacles to collaborative design progress.

Executive support is crucial for co-design success because collaborative approaches require resource investment and organizational change. Executives set strategic direction and ensure co-design insights influence decision-making. Direct executive participation in sessions can be valuable but requires careful facilitation to prevent hierarchy from inhibiting collaborative creativity.

Tip: Secure executive commitment to act on co-design insights before beginning sessions rather than hoping for buy-in after solutions are developed.

Diverse perspectives require intentional participant selection across customer segments, departments, and organizational levels. We use multiple session formats and engagement techniques to accommodate different communication styles and comfort levels with collaborative processes. Diversity of thought often matters more than demographic diversity alone for generating innovative solutions.

Tip: Include edge case users and internal critics in co-design sessions to challenge assumptions and generate more robust solutions.

Common challenges include resistance to collaborative approaches, concern about losing control over design decisions, and difficulty coordinating multiple stakeholder schedules. Success requires clear communication about co-design benefits, structured processes that maintain productive focus, and demonstrated value through early wins and pilot projects.

Tip: Start with smaller co-design initiatives that demonstrate value and build organizational capability before tackling complex multi-stakeholder collaborative projects.

Co-design sessions typically produce innovative solution concepts, detailed user requirements, implementation insights, and stakeholder alignment around user-centered approaches. Outcomes include both tangible deliverables like prototypes and wireframes, and intangible benefits like increased user empathy and collaborative problem-solving capability within your organization.

Tip: Define both immediate deliverables and long-term capability building goals for co-design initiatives to measure both project and organizational impact.

We synthesize collaborative outputs into design requirements, user stories, and implementation roadmaps that development teams can act upon. Co-design insights inform both immediate solution development and longer-term strategic planning. The translation process maintains user intent while adding professional design and technical considerations for feasible implementation.

Tip: Include implementation team members in co-design sessions so they understand user reasoning behind requirements rather than just receiving final specifications.

Co-design success is measured through solution quality, user satisfaction with outcomes, stakeholder engagement levels, and implementation success of collaborative solutions. We track both immediate session outcomes and longer-term impact on user adoption and business results. Success metrics include both quantitative measures and qualitative feedback from all participants.

Tip: Establish success metrics that include participant satisfaction with the collaborative process as well as solution quality and business impact.

Technical feasibility is addressed by including technical stakeholders in co-design sessions and following collaborative ideation with feasibility assessment. We help users understand technical constraints while encouraging creative thinking beyond current limitations. The goal is finding innovative solutions that are both user-centered and technically achievable within resource constraints.

Tip: Include technical team members as collaborative partners in co-design rather than just feasibility reviewers after solutions are developed.

Co-design solutions benefit from testing with broader user groups to validate collaborative insights and refine solutions based on additional feedback. Testing helps distinguish between solutions that work for co-design participants versus solutions that work for the broader user base. We combine collaborative design with traditional validation methods for robust solution development.

Tip: Plan for both co-design development and broader validation testing to ensure solutions work beyond the collaborative participant group.

Solution integrity requires clear documentation of user reasoning behind design decisions, ongoing stakeholder involvement during implementation, and regular validation that implemented solutions match collaborative intent. We provide implementation support and guidance to ensure co-design insights aren't lost during development and deployment phases.

Tip: Create detailed documentation of why users preferred specific solutions, not just what solutions they preferred, to guide implementation decisions.

Long-term benefits include increased organizational empathy for users, improved collaboration capabilities, better solution adoption rates, and enhanced innovation capacity. Co-design builds internal capability for user-centered problem solving and creates cultural change toward collaborative approaches. These benefits compound over time through repeated application of collaborative methods.

Tip: Invest in training internal facilitators and establishing co-design processes to build sustainable organizational capability rather than relying solely on external facilitation.

We provide training in facilitation techniques, co-design methods, and collaborative tools that teams can use for ongoing innovation. Capability building includes both skills development and process establishment so organizations can conduct effective co-design sessions independently. We also provide coaching and mentoring support as teams develop their collaborative facilitation expertise.

Tip: Start capability building with team members who are naturally collaborative and enthusiastic about user involvement rather than trying to convert skeptics first.

Scaling requires establishing co-design processes, training multiple facilitators, and creating organizational support systems for collaborative approaches. We help organizations identify appropriate applications for co-design, develop internal expertise, and create governance structures that support user involvement in solution development. Scaling success depends on demonstrated value and executive support.

Tip: Scale co-design gradually by expanding successful applications rather than trying to implement collaborative approaches across all projects simultaneously.

Resistance often stems from concerns about time, control, or unfamiliarity with collaborative methods. We address resistance through education, demonstration of value, and gradual introduction of collaborative techniques. Resistance decreases when teams see the quality of insights that emerge from user collaboration and experience improved solution adoption rates.

Tip: Start with voluntary participation from interested team members rather than mandating co-design approaches that may generate resistance and poor outcomes.

Successful co-design requires dedicated time, skilled facilitation, appropriate spaces for collaborative work, and organizational commitment to acting on collaborative insights. Resource needs include both immediate session costs and longer-term investment in capability development. The investment pays off through better solution adoption and reduced development risk.

Tip: Budget for both co-design facilitation and implementation support to ensure collaborative insights translate into actual solution improvements.

Co-design alignment requires clear connection between collaborative objectives and strategic priorities. We help organizations identify where user collaboration will create the most strategic value and ensure co-design insights inform broader business planning. Strategic alignment prevents co-design from becoming isolated creative exercises without business impact.

Tip: Connect co-design initiatives directly to strategic business objectives rather than treating collaborative design as a separate innovation activity.

Ongoing support includes implementation guidance, additional facilitation for follow-up sessions, and coaching for internal facilitators developing their collaborative skills. We also provide frameworks and tools for continued user engagement and solution refinement. Support adapts to organizational needs and capability development goals.

Tip: Plan for ongoing support and iteration rather than expecting co-design sessions to produce final solutions that require no further development or refinement.

Co-design projects typically take 8-12 weeks depending on complexity, participant availability, and scope of collaborative activities. This includes planning, participant recruitment, session facilitation, synthesis, and solution development. Timeline varies based on whether co-design is part of broader experience design initiatives or focused collaborative problem-solving efforts.

Tip: Plan co-design timelines with buffer time for participant coordination and unexpected insights that may require additional exploration.

Planning includes objective setting, participant identification and recruitment, session design, logistics coordination, and stakeholder alignment. We also establish success metrics, prepare materials and activities, and coordinate schedules across multiple participants. Thorough planning ensures collaborative sessions are productive and well-focused on strategic objectives.

Tip: Invest significant time in planning and preparation - well-designed co-design sessions require more upfront work than traditional research but generate higher quality insights.

Scope depends on problem complexity, stakeholder availability, and organizational capacity to act on collaborative insights. We examine current challenges, innovation opportunities, and implementation constraints to define appropriate co-design boundaries. The goal is sufficient scope for meaningful collaboration without overwhelming participants or exceeding resource constraints.

Tip: Start with focused co-design scope around specific problems rather than trying to collaborate on entire experience ecosystems in initial projects.

Deliverables include collaborative session outputs, synthesized insights, solution concepts, implementation recommendations, and stakeholder presentation materials. We customize formats based on organizational needs and decision-making processes. Deliverables capture both tangible solutions and process insights that inform future collaborative approaches.

Tip: Request deliverables that support both immediate implementation and future co-design capability building rather than just final solution specifications.

Team involvement is essential for co-design success because collaborative approaches require active participation from internal stakeholders as well as external users. We design participation levels based on roles, availability, and expertise while ensuring all necessary perspectives contribute to collaborative solution development. Active involvement ensures better solutions and stronger buy-in.

Tip: Plan for meaningful team participation throughout co-design rather than expecting to hand off collaborative outputs to uninvolved implementation teams.

Communication includes regular progress updates, preliminary insights sharing, and collaborative session documentation. We maintain transparency about co-design processes and emerging insights while respecting participant confidentiality. Communication adapts to stakeholder preferences and organizational reporting requirements.

Tip: Establish clear communication expectations about what can be shared from collaborative sessions and how insights will be used to maintain participant trust.

Maximum value comes from clear objectives, skilled facilitation, appropriate participant selection, and strong implementation support. We ensure co-design creates both immediate solutions and longer-term organizational capability for user collaboration. Value increases when collaborative insights inform broader strategic decisions beyond specific project outcomes.

Tip: Define value metrics that include both solution quality and organizational learning outcomes to capture the full benefit of co-design investments.