Suchergebnisse

Co-design has the potential to help voluntary organisations deliver better services, since it encourages users to co-create services that will be delivered to them. However, the extent of codesign practice in the voluntary sector is unknown. Thus, our research investigated the current state of knowledge of co-design in this sector. A mixed-methods approach, including an online survey and interviews, was employed. The results showed that levels of understanding of co-design among respondents varied greatly. While some participants have successfully applied co-design, others have not heard of it. Iterative prototyping, which is a central feature of most design approaches, was rarely applied by voluntary organisations when designing services. Where organisations were making use of designers, this tended to be in specialist domains, for example web design, but emerging disciplines such as service design were unfamiliar to most respondents. Lack of awareness and understanding may be a major reason for the slow adoption of this approach.

The United Kingdom's social enterprise sector has grown radically over the past two decades, as a result of various government-led efforts to create an environment which enables social enterprise development. However, financial weaknesses still impede the sustainability and growth of most social enterprises. Typically, businesses recognise design as an important factor in the growth of their potential competitiveness which is crucial to making profits, and as a tool enabling stakeholders and organisations to work better as a system. Design is thus regarded as potentially playing a significant role in overcoming the financial weaknesses of social enterprises, in order to encourage their growth and sustainability. To date, few studies have been undertaken on the use of design for social enterprises, so there is insufficient data about the relationship between stakeholders and the role of design. This current research project proposes the need to study how encouraging the strategic use of design can address the growth and sustainability of social enterprises, from the multiple stakeholders' perspectives in the social enterprise ecosystem.