Busayawan Lam

Design standards for product end-of-life processing

In 2006, the British Standards Institute (BSI) published BS 8887-1 ‘Design for Manufacture, Assembly, Disassembly and End-of-life processing’ (MADE) subtitled ‘General Concepts, Processes and Requirements’. This was the first British Standard to address design for efficient post-consumer product reprocessing. By designing and planning for remanufacture, much of the embodied energy and production investment can be retrieved after the consumer no longer requires the original item. Therefore, end-of-life products become an asset rather than a liability. Design for disassembly facilitates efficient deconstruction and thus enables materials to be recycled with minimal loss of purity, thus maximising their value. The analysis presented here is based on the Standard Industrial Classification codes of companies and organisations that have purchased BS 8887-1. These data are considered in relation to the influence of environmental legislation. Company age, size and location, as well as ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications, are discussed. This paper concludes by suggesting suitable directions for the continued distribution and development of this environmentally, economically and socially beneficial standard.

Unearth Hidden Assets through Community Co-design and Co-production

Abstract This paper discusses main findings of a pilot study, which explored how co-design and co-production could support asset-based community development. Increasingly, community developments have shifted toward an ‘asset-based’ approach, which concentrates on uncovering and mobilising existing assets in a community to create new opportunities. The study experimented with different co-design techniques to investigate how they could help identify unrecognised assets. Four pilot studies were conducted with key stakeholders in four communities. The study brought together researchers and local communities with the objective to co-design, co-develop and co-analyse the pilots. The results suggested that co-design was perceived as empowering. In most cases, it was ‘people’ that were regarded the most important assets in a community. Engaging people in a creative process could help them appreciate their skills, knowledge and creativity, and recognise themselves as assets. This research advanced the knowledge in Social Design by demonstrating how co-design could support community developments.

On the Role of Digital Consultation Tools in Public Space Design: A Case Study

Organizations increasingly rely on digital tools, such as social media, to harvest public opinion on a variety of issues ranging from brand reputations to political debates. One area in which digital tools have great potential is in consultation on design of public spaces. Public organizations are expected to consult with users of a public space before, during and after occupancy. Digital tools could increase the effectiveness of this consultation because: (i) they are available 24 h and do not rely on the presence of researchers and (ii) data are collected and analysed using automated methods, allowing faster decision-making. Despite these potential advantages, little is understood about how digital and non-digital consultations compare in practice. This paper reports on a live trial with a prototype digital consultation tool called VoiceYourView, which was co-designed with stakeholders and used to canvass opinion on the refurbishment of a major metropolitan library. Over 6 weeks, we used a variety of methods to collect comment from 600 users. VoiceYourView solicits opinion in unprompted form—it does not ask specific questions as in a survey—so users can say anything they like at any time. VoiceYourView carries out real-time analysis of data collected and uses public display screens to summarize comments-to-date in situ. Our research methods focused on observational studies conducted ‘in the wild’: this allowed us to capture user interactions with VoiceYourView in a realistic setting. Our findings indicate that VoiceYourView encouraged more positive feedback than non-digital methods. We also find that positive comments in general contain less actionable information than negative comments, and unprompted comments have similar actionable content to prompted comments. We suggest that this pattern in soliciting more (traditionally difficult to obtain) positive comments with VoiceYourView versus traditional survey methods implies that digital consultation tools of this type can complement existing channels.

Design and Creative Methods as a Practice of Liminality in Community-Academic Research Projects

Abstract This paper aims to explore the types of spaces and experiences that are created by design and creative practices. More specifically, it focuses on how design and creative practices can engender transformations in the mindset, knowledge, emotions and social relations of people who participate in such practices. To do this, the paper investigates the concepts of liminality and liminal spaces, and the relationships between design/creative methods and liminal spaces using insights from four case studies. The results reveal that design and creative practices may create liminal spaces in many ways, such as neutralizing the working environments, encouraging people to experiment with new ideas and helping them express themselves more freely.

Creating a Tool for Measuring the Social Value of Design

Abstract Social value has been measured for many years predominantly for values created by NGOs, social enterprises, social ventures, and social programmes. However, because ‘value’ is a highly subjective concept that often has ‘soft’ outcomes, it is challenging to find a measurement tool which satisfies all parties involved in social value creation, especially in the commercial sector. In this complex environment, a viable means of measuring the social value of design will enable organisations to use design more effectively to increase their societal contribution and competitiveness. This research aims to identify key considerations to produce a guideline which can be used to create desirable tools for measuring social value of design, by conducting in-depth interviews with companies and two workshops with postgraduate students and professionals from a range of backgrounds. It is recommended that the tool should have three levels: (i) an overview with a qualitative approach, (ii) a financial level with a quantitative approach, and (iii) a balanced level with both a qualitative and a quantitative approach.

Enhancing service development and service delivery through co-design

Co-design has potential to help voluntary organisations deliver better services, since it encourages users to co-create services that will be delivered to them. However, the extent of codesign practice in the voluntary sector is unknown. Thus, our research investigated current state of knowledge of co-design in this sector. A mixed-method approach including an online survey and interviews was employed. The results showed that levels of understanding of co-design among respondents varied greatly. Whilst some participants have successfully applied co-design, others have not heard of it. Iterative prototyping, which is a central feature of most design approaches, was rarely applied by voluntary organisations when designing services. Where organisations were making use of designers, this tended to be in specialist domains, e.g. web design, but emerging disciplines, e.g. service design, were unfamiliar to most respondents. Lack of awareness and understanding may be a major reason of the slow adoption of this approach.