Design Considerations

Design Considerations

Design considerations are like guidelines we write for ourselves to help inform the way we do things, like giving yourself a set of ingredients to work with. They can also be used to ‘test’ if what we’ve designed or intended will achieve what we need it to achieve. The concept of design considerations comes from design practice. Designers use them as a set of ‘constraints’ that dictate what they will design, whether this is like a set of materials for a shoe, or a set of needs for a service.

When we think about designing processes for social learning about the system, or engaging purposefully, we are trying to design for diverse perspectives or ways of knowing to be present to each other and learn and create new insight together. So design considerations help to connect us to the context and situation we are trying to create meaningful processes for.

We can use design considerations by responding to reflection questions which help to surface information about the context and system in which we want to engage. Design considerations can be used and returned to at multiple stages such as: identifying a list of system actors to engage, an invitation process, a workshop, and as a test to see if the activity sufficiently responds to the design considerations.

Accessibility:

This activity requires participants to engage is social learning

Output: The output from the process will produce a fair amount of written content, that should be reflected

on and used to adapt activities, processes and structures in your work. You may want to consider creating a poster or pamphlet that collects your summarized responses so they are readily available. You could use Canva to create a poster or pamphlet.

Approach: indicates the broadest set of activity, with the loosest defined procedure. It often is indicated by a Framework or Concepts, and can involve multiple methods and processes, and is often applied over many sessions, and the group of people can change over time.

Investment: low investment, medium time, low skill

Outcomes

• A series of guidelines which serve as criteria to help make decisions about how to:
• Who to engage in the system
• Design invitations and establish relationship with diverse system actors
• Design meaningful, accessible learning experiences

When and Why Do I Use This

Purposeful engagement > when we are feeling unclear about who to engage in the system, establish relationship with diverse system actors, design meaningful, accessible learning experiences