Co-design’s many names
Co-design many names, influences and counterparts actually mean it’s much more mature than you may have thought.
Co-design (a.k.a co-operative design or participatory design) is not that new. Some parts of the world – eh hem, Scandinavia – have a rich history of collective problem-solving. Looking back and more broadly working with people for research and design is a trend that has been building for over 60 years now. It originated in social research and community development. Thus, there are many more tools out there and a lot more evidence around “co-designish” practices than you may think.
‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’? is a phrase that comes from Romeo and Juliet. It can be interpreted as what really matters is what something is, not what it is called.
Here’s a small selection of labels I’ve seen:
- Experience-based co-design (EBCD)
- User-centred design
- Human-centred design (HCD)
- Empathic design
- Cooperative design
- Participatory design
- Participatory action research (PAR)
- Action research (AR)
- Cogenerative research
- Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
- Semiotic mediation
- Hermeneutic phenomenology
- Humanistic psychology
- Co-creation (including co-design, co-production and co-futuring)
- Critical design and design fiction if created with others
- Applied ethnography and applied design research
- Generative design research
- Contextual design
- Open design
And if you want to keep on looking, some of these disciplines also use co-design approaches but call it something else: meta design, slow design, social and inclusive design, transition design, usability testing or person-centred care. I am sure there are plenty more too.
