Exploring co-design in the voluntary sector

Co-design is an approach to design that emphasises the creative contribution that can be made by potential users, clients and other stakeholders in developing products, systems or services. Co-design is widely used in the commercial sector to accelerate user acceptance and reduce product/service failure. Co-design is also becoming widespread in the public sector as a way of engaging citizens in design exploration. However, little is known about the capability of voluntary sector organisations, particularly small and medium sized organisations to undertake co-design activities; and resources that describe how to implement co-design tend to be oriented towards the needs and the context of larger commercial organisations. This paper presents findings from an ongoing investigation into co-design capability in small-and-medium-sized third sector organisations in the UK. The investigation combines an on-line survey, in-depth case studies and interviews.