Co-designing a more inclusive organisation with a London museum

CollaboratEQ team, left to right; Lou Platt, Nishita Dewan and Kath Simpson

Nishita Dewan, the founder of CollaboratEQ, commissioned Kath to support her human-centred design project to co-design a more inclusive organisation for her client in the arts and science sector. Kath’s role was to help co-design the process, research methods, and facilitation as well as design engaging interactive activities and materials for workshops and deliverables.

The project applied the Design Council’s Double Diamond approach, going through the phases; discover, define, develop and deliver. To ensure we got a greater understanding of the organisation and to take them on a journey we engaged with 40% of the staff and worked more closely with a group of 17 participants. The smaller group represented a cross-section of the organisation that captured a broad range of experiences that influenced inclusivity in the workplace and who would then co-create solutions to address any opportunities and gaps they faced. 

Over four months we combined workshops, 1:1 Interviews, desktop research, group reflection, ideation sessions and commitment workshops to facilitate deep engagement and understanding. To further mobilise that type of openness we had the support of Lou Platt, an integrative therapist, counsellor and artist wellbeing practitioner. 

We delivered engaging and comprehensive visualisations of the research to inform a clear brief that supported the organisation to become more inclusive. Together we co-created a breadth of prototype categories and ideas to inform creative solutions and art directed a short video of the findings for the whole organisation to understand the inclusivity journey in a compelling way. As a result, the ideas are being implemented by The Access, Diversity and Inclusion team.

• Project deliverables

  Supported design-thinking and research methodologies.

  1-1 interviews.

  Creativity and ideation workshops.

  Co-designed workshops and materials.

  Co-facilitated four all-day workshops. Art-directed video content.

  Weekly blog content on organisation’s intranet.

  Synthesis of findings. Presentation design.

“I feel that being in a space where uncomfortable but essential conversations were welcomed and considered slowly will influence how I speak and what I speak about with colleagues outside of this process. The process has given me more confidence in my ideas and questions – which I often hold back or keep to myself.”

— Participant”