Improving the reporting of health research involving design: a proposed guideline

### Summary box The contribution of design to optimising global health interventions is increasingly recognised.1 The field of applied design is diverse and encompasses technical, creative and social skills and mindsets2; design may be carried out by expert designers or by ‘diffuse’ designers.3 Design for global health may involve design thinking,4 human-centred design,5 service design and codesign. And the use of design for global health has especially been promoted in relation to the concept of social innovation.6 7 There is already a tradition in global health of using approaches such as transdisciplinarity, perspective taking or empathy, working with participants from across the spectrum of needs, iterating and creating products or services that will improve the lives of those affected.8 For example, some global health researchers actively seek to include the community of those who are experiencing health challenges into research in a participatory way. Design seeks to accomplish a similar goal but with different perspectives, tools and strategies, and with a focus on innovation while recognising the potentially competing needs to reinvent versus innovate in the context of sustained existing knowledge and practice. There is a need to use design when …