Design process and user participation

Balanced presentation by Axel Unger of IDEO Munich, on design process and its potential role in healthcare innovation. Gives a well-reasoned explanation of the processes user-centred designers use and encourages people commissioning design to 'design everything' i.e. think not just of the product but the context in which it's embedded (in service design speak 'the touch points'). I can't emphasise the importance of this enough. It also shows how IDEO involves end-users in design i.e. giving tools and supporting idea development, without making wild claims for participation and co-creation. Refreshing.

The talk includes PR videos of IDEO's work both with Mayo and Kaiser, both strong on user involvement and participation. Doctors from Mayo explaining that it's not the just the medical technology that's critical, but how it's implemented (pace the references to left and right brain!), and the Kaiser case study shows a participatory project to develop better processes for hand-overs including checklists and structured communication between medics and between medics and patients. IDEO claim that the Kaiser work has reduced both errors and the time nurses need to spend communicating with patients, and results in happier patients.