Societal challenges have become increasingly pressing. They affect us all: politicians, citizens, government officials, business professionals, NGOs, designers and researchers. Truly understanding and tackling these challenges is difficult, because no single stakeholder or organisation is responsible for them, and everything is connected, interwoven and in a current state of flux and change. This results in challenges becoming orphaned and stakeholders unable, or unwilling, to make all kinds of important decisions. In this book, we have introduced the Co-Design Canvas, a practical and easy-to-use instrument that can support multi-stakeholder coalitions and/or facilitators to flexibly plan, conduct and evaluate a co-design process or initiative around societal challenges. This night, the author, Professor in Societal Impact Design Wina Smeenk presents this work.
About the book Co-Design Canvas
In this book, we have introduced the Co-Design Canvas, a practical and easy-to-use instrument that can support multi-stakeholder coalitions and/or facilitators to flexibly plan, conduct and evaluate a co-design process or initiative around societal challenges. It can be used by governments, citizens, businesses, non-profit organisations, knowledge institutions and many other stakeholders besides. The Canvas encourages coalitions to discuss and weigh-up eight co-design variables. These clarify the problematic context, stakeholders’ different interests, knowledge, experience and power. They also help focus on a joint purpose, the desired positive impact and concrete results from the start and ensure that everyone’s voice is truly heard. At the end of the day, the Canvas and its Manual will help people find common ground and to literally, read off the same page.
About the speakers
Dr. Wina Smeenk is appointed as a Professor in Societal Impact Design at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. She is also both founder and chair of the Expertise Network Systemic Co-design (ESC) – a network of five universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Next, Wina is lab lead for the Inholland Urban Leisure and Tourism Lab in Amsterdam.
Agnes Willenborg is Dean of the schools Creative Transformation and Art & Economics at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht. She has more than 35 years of experience working in the creative transformation space as a Designer, Strategist, Board Member, and Managing Director for some of the leading agencies. She also developed, executed, and managed educational programs for higher education in Digital Design, Creative Leadership and Transformation Design.
Claudia Meyer is a researcher at the Societal Impact Design Research Group and a lecturer in Creative Business at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. She brings to the table 15-plus years of cross-sector experience in Europe and Asia. Claudia’s research involves innovative teaching methodologies for living labs, with a focus on the Co-Design Canvas, Stakeholder Mapping, and Multiple Perspectives. Aside from academia, Claudia runs a boutique consultancy for design SMEs, guiding creative leaders and enhancing their marketing and sales strategies.
Dr. Koen van Turnhout works as professor Human Experience & Media Design where he researches the lived experience of smart, data-driven, products and services. Here he engages with the question of how can machine intelligence be used to make digital products and services more appropriate and meaningful? Koen is a specialist in the field of human-computer interaction, design methods and research through design and author of amongst others the “Handboek Ontwerpgericht Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek’.
