Mapping out the design space
Are you at the start of a programme or project where you want to use a design-led approach? These worksheets help you map the ‘design space’ in your context: what room is there to think and act differently? They help you check whether all the necessary starting conditions are in place.
What?
Three A3 worksheets
Who is it for?
Designers and civil servants — at the start of a collaboration
How to use it?
The worksheets are intended as a conversation aid. Ideally, complete them together with your collaboration partners. It can be useful to complete the first two worksheets individually and then discuss any differences in your perspectives.
On the third worksheet, you map the design space in a diagram. This visualisation helps you assess whether all the starting conditions are in place to successfully use a design-led approach.
This tool in practice
Experience from the Werk aan Uitvoering programme:
Werk aan Uitvoering (WaU) is a government organisation established to structurally improve public services by making policy and implementation more human-centred, responsive and future-proof. Its aim is to help restore people’s trust in government. WaU’s role is to strengthen the connection between policy, implementation and politics. The joint further development of the implementation assessment for proposed legislation is one example. The implementation assessment examines whether a draft law is likely to achieve its intended effect without causing significant unintended negative consequences.
How the tool was used:
Design agencies theRevolution and Fundamentals were asked to help develop an improved version of the Implementation Assessment. As each assessment involves many partners, who can also differ considerably in their roles and perspectives, the focus was on strengthening relationships between all stakeholders involved in an implementation assessment.
From the outset, we used the essay Starting with a Design-led Approach to assess whether sufficient attention was being given to all six dimensions of a design-led approach. The designers’ proposal showed that the different dimensions were addressed at various stages of the project and that there was sufficient space to start working with a design-led approach.
As the project progressed, it became clear that the different dimensions kept returning and needed to be continuously discussed.
What this achieved:
By identifying the dimensions together at the start of the project, it became possible to refer back to them throughout the process. This created a shared awareness of the different dimensions and why they matter. The proposal placed a strong focus on improving relationships between stakeholders (one of the six dimensions). This worked well as a focal point and provided a clear perspective from which to consider and incorporate the other dimensions.
“The approach creates space to make abstract themes tangible, put relationships at the centre, and invite others into this way of thinking. By focusing on language, perspective and collective learning, it creates movement.”
This tool was developed by De Publieke Ontwerppraktijk (PONT) in collaboration with theRevolution and Fundamentals.