The application of co-design to public service design projects

What is it about?

Co-design focuses on involving representative users to contribute as experts of their experiences directly to the design of new service solutions. This study investigates how co-design can be applied to different public sector contexts. The focus of this investigation is the identification of challenges, requirements, and potential benefits that are specific to the application of co-design to the public sector.

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Why is it important?

Co-design, while increasingly discussed as a promising approach to service design, finds seldom application in the public sector. A key reason for this is that public service users are often distant, highly diverse and non-engaged thus making it difficult to put co-design into practice. This article provides hands-on guidance on how suitable users can be identified, recruited, and involved into the co-design process. It as such helps public sector organizations to develop new services that align with the needs and requirement of the respecitve users and in so doing reduces the risk of costly service failures.

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