Six steps for adapting your design solutions to the right context

Six steps for adapting your design solutions to the right context

In a recent workshop, we were presented this quandary: ‘I get the challenge definition, but how do you nail down a solution’. I’m writing this blog to tackle this perhaps unspoken matter of contention for many working in Innovation and humanitarian programme design.

They hear about organisations such as UNHCR Innovation Service, companies like Ideo talking about ‘Design Thinking’ and think:

“While this sounds very good in theory, how on earth do I apply this in my job/on my project? I want to get moving and make an impact!”

Usually the first step of this process they can get behind (as noted above); work out what the challenge is. Sounds simple enough. By applying some of the innovation methodology this might differ from somebody’s traditional way of doing things; perhaps more bottom-up, and less top-down; perhaps a greater understanding where there are gaps / problems that people are facing, rather than what is important to us but they can more or less piece this together.

Where things get more tricky is as mentioned above how we can move from the arena of challenge identification, towards actually testing some solutions that start at least doing something but ideally make an impact in respect to our humanitarian activities. This is also from our experience where we and many others have become unstuck in delivering a solution.

UNHCR Innovation Service puts forward steps for Ideation and Experimentation that help people through this process and have identified numerous resources to support with this. It is a core part of the Innovation Fellowship; we support our Fellows through these processes and help unpack and explore over the course of the Fellowship different possible approaches to Ideation and Experimentation.

Yet for some these things don’t necessarily seem that concrete for people less familiar with the field. In our blog “What is prototyping anyway?” Sam Perkins outlines a bit about what ‘prototyping’ and ‘rapid prototyping’ practically mean in these Innovation processes / journeys that are often promoted by design-thinking gurus. While this provides a pretty straightforward assessment of what these are and how they apply, we still might be missing some numbers in this game of operational 

innovation bingo. How can you make that leap between having a challenge, and working out what you’re going to do about it in practical steps?

Beyond the resources outlined above I’m gonna let you in on the approach I take when I’m doing this. I’m going to use quite a bit of ‘tech’ terminology below (as that’s an area I work in quite a bit!) and while they outline a number of steps of what would apply in a software development context, taken in a more general form they can be applied anywhere. They generally take, as a given, a high level of engagement with end users prior to (and during) this process and also a ‘start small’ approach. We know that grand designs, while put together with the best intentions, are often the ones that hit the icebergs.

To note, while this process can help illuminate things that may have to this point been elusive to you, it may not guarantee successes and most definitely isn’t a formula for insta-creativity, alas that we must drum up ourselves by getting into the right headspace. It also isn’t completely linear. I’ve seen people come in at a later stage and go back to the first step of the process to get a project back on track