Design games as a tool, a mindset and a structure Kirsikka Vaajakallio

Summary
Co-design, as discussed in this dissertation, includes all those views
above, i.e. co-design, co-creation and participatory design. They all can
be associated with the idea that people are creative if provided with an
appropriate setting and tools. As mentioned earlier, we are talking here
about an arranged situation with a predesigned structure, task and a facilitator
who is responsible for guiding the situation. The outcomes of these
situations are not always “really designs but rather a common understanding
of the complexity and visions and ideas for improvement” (Mattelmäki
& Sleeswijk Visser 2011, p 10).
What is important is the creative interplay between the existing and
imagined and support for it through a set of playful and tangible design
material, an aspect that I will discuss later in this and next chapter. Codesign
is also about making the familiar unfamiliar and vice versa, as was
described by Halse (2008). Although I use the term co-design most of
the time to describe specific co-design gatherings, activities or design
processes, I sometimes also use creative collaboration as a synonym to it.
Creative collaboration shares, approximately, the same meaning, but it is
purposefully left ambiguous to cover wider application areas, including
service design that will be introduced briefly next.
2.1.3
Widening
scope
of
design
The movement towards user experience and co-design has been influenced
by the changes in society at large, which has put attention to human-centred
solutions in several societal levels and domains. We need more holistic
approaches to improve the environment, products and services we are continuously
in touch with and surrounded by in our daily life. For instance,
digitalization, new communication channels and ubiquitous technology,
among other technological achievements, have brought up new opportunities
for peoples’ everyday life by affecting delivery, distribution of services,
user interfaces, user interaction, and thus the whole user experience.
Customer behaviour has changed in line with the technological development;
while technology has become intertwined in daily practices, people
increasingly demand more options to satisfy their personal preferences.
Besides the opportunities and needs the new technological landscape
has brought up, design competence has been seen as novel approach to solve
complex challenges such as increased chronic illnesses, social problems
and environmental changes. For instance, Cottam and Leadbeater (2004),
who have been working with societal issues in UK, call for more integrated
perspective on social, economical and ecological sustainability. According
to them, for instance health services could be changed by studying the traditional
structures from different angles, including that of design methods.
They call their approach transformation design (ibid.). New multidisciplinary
research institutes and centres have been established to tackle the associated
problems. For example, there is Mindlab in Denmark and Participle in
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