How can I structure a co-design session?

// How is this chapter structured?

The aim of this chapter is to produce a general but at the same time complete overview on participatory design activities. We will provide the methodology, we will explain the details and we will show you how we have applied the theory to a practical/real life example.

(Beware: all the theoretical information is fundamental, especially if this is the first time that you are bumping into the co-design world.)

Therefore, first of all you will have the possibility to understand What is a co-design session, by reading its Definition and reflecting on its real meaning. Once you will have got the essence of the topic, you can read throughout the different Characteristics of the collaborative design discipline. We will then complete the methodological section by listing the different and peculiar Typologies and approaches of co-design.

In order to make you understand in an efficient way the theory we will move to a practical example, Our experience in co-design field. In this subchapter we will introduce our tangible experience and right after it we will explain the reason Why we decided to organize a co-design session.

Once you will have completed the Introduction you will have a basic knowledge of collaborative design activity.

This may be enough for you, but in case your aim is to organize and develop a participatory design session, we warmly suggest you to keep reading the Tips. These are pieces of cakes, simple rules that, if correctly followed, can allow you to achieve your goal in the most efficient way.

Each Tip will be divided in two: a general/theoretical description and a practical example related to our co-design experience.

In the end, in order to sum up all the contents mentioned above, we will provide a Survival table of contents for a co-design session, based on our opencare experience.