BETA Innovation Model
SERVICE DESIGN I RESEARCH & ANALYSIS I FACILITATION I UI/UX DESIGN I GRAPHIC DESIGN
Client:
DCC BETA
Industry:
Public Service
Duration:
5 weeks
Tools used:
Miro, Figma, Zoom, Photoshop, After Effects, Keynote & lots of sketching
What is the solution?
An independent, centralised-platform that enables internal staff members of a county council to understand BETA while providing them with all the resources required to light the BETA spark in their organisation, empowering them to develop more innovative solutions to community problems, thus improving livability in the communities.
About the Client:
DCC BETA Projects is a Dublin City Council live mechanism for imagining, testing and implementing ways to improve the experience of life in the Capital.
It is a replicable and collaborative innovation model that experiments with new ideas outside of the traditional corporately-adopted policy and execution processes. To know more, please click here.
My Role in the Project:
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I conducted the research and intensive stakeholder interviews.
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I created ecosystem and stakeholder maps to clearly visualise the data collected.
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I conducted ideation workshops with the stakeholders to come up with the initial concepts.
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I created posters and infographics during protoyping phase along with co-designing the website to represent the freshness of BETA concept.
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I was also responsible to bring together all the different elements of our solution to form a comprehensive narrative for the client.
THE APPROACH:
We began with dissecting the brief from the client, followed by Desk Research to understand the different projects undertaken by the client followed by a thorough understanding of their website. More secondary research helped gain a perspective of the design principles followed by other countries undertaking similar initiatives.
Afterwards, we conducted Semi-Structured Interviews with the stakeholders: members from DCC, Project Lead, staff members from other counties in Ireland and others. The data were collected in Miro board and analysed through affinity mapping to derives themes, insights and challenges.
Brainstorming sessions between teams on Miro that helped ascertain the direction needed for the project.
The 35 challenges were further analysed and brought down to 2 problem statements shared below:
How might we prevent ambiguity when educating council staff about BETA projects, so that individual interpretation does not lead to incorrect implementation of the platform?
1.
How might we consolidate one person's (project lead's) extensive knowledge, experience and skills regarding the initiative, for potential champions so that they can create a BETA platform independently?
2.
Due to lockdown restrictions, an Ideation Workshop was facilitated online where these statements were presented to the participants and several ideas were brainstormed and refined into final concepts.
THE OUTCOME:
The design solution comprises of 2 components:
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Creating Awareness
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Accessibility to information
1. Creating Awareness
A couple of fresh-looking Posters were created as templates that could be displayed inside the county council buildings.
The intention was to encourage conversations among the county council staff members about BETA Projects and the value it can bring for the county and community.
An infographic was designed to be posted up inside the council buildings as it would:
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Provide a quick overview of BETA platform and its benefits
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Shows the ease of implementation
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Creates Visual Interest
2. Accessibility to Information
BETA INNOVATION WEBSITE:
BETA INNOVATION WEBSITE:
What it does:
Outlines the essence of BETA and its key aspects.
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Provides a toolkit for staff to successfully imagine, test and implement a BETA platform in their own counties.
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Builds credibility by demonstrating success through case studies.
How it does it:
Sets fixed BETA fundamentals and subsequent metrics to ensure desired outcomes.
What it looks like:
BETA INNOVATION HANDBOOK:
BETA Handbook is a supporting resource to the website.
It provides staff with the same collection of reliable and adaptable resources available in the website in a handy physical format.
Feedback from Testing:
We got on Zoom meetings with the users and discussed the prototypes with tham and received favourable feedback:
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All prototypes have Actionable Content
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There is clarity in Website Flow
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Case studies increase the credibility of the BETA initiative
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Easy to follow and understand
Opportunities:
From the feedback, we also derived opportunities for growth in the solution:
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- The message can be further restructured & communicated throughout each design.
- More definition is required about the steps needed for BETA implementation.
- Increase in the amount of information given at face value.
- Spend less time describing and more time giving directions.
Service Design Blueprint:
Pilot Plan for BETA Innovation Model:
Testimonial:
"I had the pleasure to work with Sindhu as part of a team of which she was a member. From the perspective of the client, she appeared to have the ability to both act as a close team member, and also to step forward as a leader when the project required it.
I was greatly impressed with the research and the solution that the team produced which entirely met my brief and needs."
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-- Shane Waring, Co-ordinator, Dublin City Council BETA