MUO-E8012 - Design for Government D, Lecture, 28.2.2022-23.5.2022

This activity is to support formalizing and visualizing your final proposal.

1. Based on the ideal scenario (the what), define what needs to be designed (the how ) or your "object of design"
What action/instrument/material do you need to create to make change happen? Your type of intervention can range from governance, education, nudging... and so the object of design will be very different for each team, e.g. a new collaborative model, a touchpoint to nudge sustainable behavior... 

• Existing instruments (tools, materials, processes...): To decide what design intervention is the best for you, look at the key existing practices, documents, interactions, structures... that exist around your problem area. Is there a specific "thing" missing or broken, which could be improved to make change happen? Notice that the "thing" needs to be something tangible - physical or non-physical object, such as organizational culture, a tool for staff members, information for users, a legislation change, a new policy, an educational program, a new entity, or group for decision making... All of these are examples of instruments.   
• Use your stakeholder's existing capabilities: Consider your stakeholder's current responsibilities, resources, and power as part of your resources and design solution. What do they have in their power that could be leveraged?
• Consider the choice architecture principles (2012, Thaler & Sunstein): Who uses? Who chooses? Who pays? Who profits?.  Also consider ownership of the solution, who should be the "owner" or responsible for fixing this problem?

2. Visualise what needs to be designed
To visualize and communicate your design intervention there are different methods and techniques you can use, depending on your type of intervention. Below there are some inspirations from past DfG projects: 

• Governance models: DfG 2019 Aurora Network for Trust
• Strategy & Future visions: DfG 2021 Strategy for hiring people with disability
• Internal process, tools, and methods: DfG 2021 Unclouded; DfG 2021 Strategy for Finns Worldwide 
• Behavioural interventions: DfG 2020 License to Heat 
  
• New touchpoints and services: DfG 2021 Family Package
  

General tips:

• Use visual representations, graphics, and styles of illustrations that you are more comfortable with
• Choose the right level of fidelity. E.g. If you simulate a future-based scenario it is good to use graphic resources that denote that it is an 'imaginary' scenario and not real.
• It does not need to look polished! We are not doing interface design or final designs. 
• Keep your research link. Build scenarios that are informed by real human stories
• Define your solution entry point based on existing situations and interactions. E.g. For the DfG License to heat project, the team used "changing homes" as a trigger point for behavioral change. The intervention was then designed around the moment of changing the address with Posti or Kela. 

3. Communicate your proposal
Consider how to communicate your design intervention to those who are responsible to take this idea further and implement it. 

Personas, Storyboards, and Scenarios are fantastic tools to communicate the benefits of your solution by using a practical everyday human situation. You may need to choose one specific case and persona even though it could be applied to other situations, the more concrete the better! 

• Persona and storyboarding examples:
  - DfG 2020 Energy Ambassador program: https://vimeo.com/aaltostudios/review/425121994/ad26602e0d
  - DfG 2021 License to heat : https://aalto.cloud.panopto.eu/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=aafcdb67-bcee-4eb9-8fb1-ada600f20bec

• Contextualise your intervention into practice, work on a specific situation so that your proposal is translated into use
• Give your intervention a self-explanatory title! e.g. License to heat. 
• Get input from your stakeholders to learn how to communicate and frame your solution   
• Frame your solution as government action, using your partners' language – or the potential owner