The Barriers and Enablers of Co-design for Services

IntroductionThe growing scale and complexity of design problems has engendered a move towards more open and collective design activity where multiple stakeholders, particularly the end users but also professionals from other fields, are included as equal partners in the design process. Co-design, defined by Sanders and Stappers (2008) as the "creativity of designers and people not trained in design working together in the design development process" (p. 2), reflects a shift of focus from products to broader human goals and propagates the ability of design to tackle complex societal problems.At the same time, Western societies are moving into service-based economies. To improve their competitiveness in conditions characterised by diversification of customer needs, immaterialisation of products, flexible manufacturing methods and co-creation of value, businesses are shifting from goods-dominant to service-dominant logic, where services offered to customers in continuous interaction with them become the means of value creation (Lusch & Vargo, 2006).In this situation, service design has emerged as a new area of design practice and research that brings the user into the centre of the development of services (Kimbell, 2009; Mager, 2008). From its early focus on service touchpoints, service design has expanded towards 'designing for services' in broader multi-actor service systems where it can have more profound, transformative effects to organisations and people's lives (Meroni & Sangiorgi, 2011; Stickdorn & Schneider, 2010).The public sector, such as healthcare and social services providers, has begun to adopt approaches from (collaborative) design for services (e.g. Design Commission, 2013; Keinonen, Vaajakallio, & Honkonen, 2013). Thus, service design and co-design are gaining importance as part of the public innovation system. They can be applied for public policy making and implementation (Bason, 2014; Junginger, 2013) or in cities for addressing topics related to the urban environment and its services that are beyond the scope of the urban planning process (Design Driven City, 2015; Fuad-Luke, 2012).As co-design for services is increasingly utilised by public and private organisations, more knowledge is needed on the method-related, practical, organisational and other factors that impact its effectiveness and play a part in its diffusion.Focus and ObjectivesThis paper aims at shedding light on the prerequisites of co-design for services by identifying empirically grounded barriers and enablers that hinder or support co-design activities in cross-organisational networks that are developing services. The focus is on co-design as facilitation of collaboration rather than on participatory design with users. The paper is based on follow-up interviews that assess the course and impacts of six publicly funded, research-driven co-design projects in which designerly methods were used for supporting collaborative service development. The main objectives are:* To gain a more structured and comprehensive understanding about the barriers and enablers experienced in cross-organisational service co-design endeavours.* To increase the knowledge on the role, advantages/disadvantages and effectiveness of specific methods and skills in facilitating co-design for services.The study seeks to contribute to research and practice. It complements previous research through a cross-project analysis, with a focus on service co-design methods and skills. As a practical outcome, learnings from the case projects are brought to a broader audience, providing guidelines for developing the methods and practices of service co-design towards more leverage and viability.The paper begins with an overview of previous research from the fields of organisation studies and design, after which the case projects and the analysis method are opened up. The main findings are presented as 20 barrier-enabler couples, explained with the help of the data. …