On Monday just gone we went to a conference as part of Copenhagen Design Week entitled What Keeps You up at Night?

This was the question posed to a handful of leading international companies, and it was there answers to this question that would form the 4-hour conference at The Danish Design Center. It sounded pretty interesting, and it didn’t disappoint.
We were treated to talks from Alice Rawsthorn, Design Critic from the International Herald Tribune; Clive Van Heerden, Senior Director at Philips Design – Design Probes; Francois Lenfant, Manger of Global Product Design, Developed Markets, GE Healthcare; and David Kester, Chief Executive, Design Council UK.

Although each had their own particular spin there was a very evident dominant theme – and we don’t just mean design.

Designing for people, for humanity, is what these companies see as the future of design. As Francois put it, GE Healthcare’s designers’ ultimate goal is human benefit – what better goal can there be?

It was clear to see how designers are being involved in societal aspects today – they’re being recognised as beneficial for governments – even the UK Cabinet has a behavioural insights team. Designers are no longer just called in to make a leaflet look pretty and fold the right way, they are used, as David Kessler said, to nudge social behaviour and encourage changes within society, changes which focus on the fundamental ways we work, play, and live. By focusing on user-centric solutions the hope is that problems we witness in society today can be totally avoided in the future – even before they even begin.

The sobering fact presented to us by Clive was that 70% of populations will live in cities by 2050, highlighting the immense urban sprawl we’ll soon be facing. The way today’s comparatively small cities function, from power plants to water treatments, just won’t work in the future. Bu it’s not just industrial processes and solutions that will have to be redesigned – it’s just as much how society will function and cope with such a huge amount of people being crammed into urban spaces – not to mention the millions of youths that feel neglected by governments and the rest of society. This is where designers can make a difference. They can be involved in entire projects, from start to finish, projects that involve, empower and enrich, projects that range from a closed loop toilet water treatment process to youth projects.

Examples during the conference were;

Studio H

Studio H is a high school design/build curriculum for rural community benefit. Based in Bertie County in North Carolina (the poorest county with one in three children living in poverty and only 27% of 3rd-8th grade students passing the state standard for both English and maths), the one-year programme is offered to Junior-year students and provides college credit, a summer job, and a hands-on opportunity to build real-world projects for the community.

Loops by Participate

Loops is a project involving young people who are typically regarded as trouble by society and the media. They are locked in to their communities and never have a chance to break free from the downward spiral they are so often caught up in. Loops is a social enterprise that aims to expand young people’s purpose and possibility. Piloting in 2009, and now going live in 2 locations, Croydon and Brighton, it is now preparing to roll out nationally.

FARM: shop

As part of a council supported project to help regenerate parts of Dalston, FARM: shop is a groundbreaking urban agriculture centre which will include a community café, an events venue, and workspace, and will offer fresh produce directly traceable to a farm or grown in the shop itself.

It was fascinating and incredibly encouraging to realise these themes were running through every talk regardless what sector or country they were from. Design and society is a theme we’ve touched upon here in this blog in regards to Denmark and there are many, many other initiatives going on around the world – not least in the UK.

They say design can’t save the world, that it can only help, but if these projects and this passion were anything to go by, we’d say design can come pretty damn close.

“Change before you have to.” Jack Welch, ex-CEO GE

This was going to be a tweet, but let’s face it – 140 characters is never enough. Well, quite often, but not in this case anyway.

Over the 1st and 2nd of June, ExpoManagement 2011 is being held in Madrid. It’s the ninth of such meetings, and is designed especially for leaders who anticipate change. It’s a collective meeting of minds, where experts debate ideas and trends, and where those leaders who dare to act, and who are capable of generating new opportunities for driving change, meet to push these changes that can have profound effect on the future. You can check out the programme to the ExpoManagement 2011, although it’s only available in Spanish.

Designit is excited to have two guys heading to Madrid in June, Mikal Hallstrup, and Humberto Matas. The conference is divided into themes, and both our guys will be speaking on June 1st, under Marketing and Innovation. While Mikal focuses on inspiration for businesses, and design experiences, Humberto will concentrate on innovation and people, innovative educational experiences.

Ultimately, both are focusing on the importance of the user; user-centric design for services and experiences that can improve life, and society. Design is not just about a great product, or smart catalogue. More and more we’re seeing design popping up in everyday situations, examining how design can help us make the world a better place.

If you’re in Madrid, and like design, you should definitely check it out!

Yeah, there was no way that was going to be a tweet!

We’ve developed a few iPhone apps since the AppStore opened July 2008. Just out of curiosity and for the fun of it. Our latest app is Fit to drive? –  designed to increase awareness of drinking and driving.

We’ve had a lot of debates too – also with sceptical clients that still consider iPhone and apps a passing trend – let’s wait and see if that lasts. No reason for iPhone optimised websites either. Hey, approximately 2/3 of total mobile surfing happens on an iPhone. Go to the café next door, ask two people – one with iPhone and one without – whether they have been online with their phone. The iPhone user will say yes, the other is likely to say no.

Our feeling is that it will not only last, but skyrocket. Apple currently dominates this new market because it created it. App-thinking defines the future for a lot of services delivered on mobile platforms. More than 2 billion apps  downloaded, turnover beyond EUR 2 billion and –  60 million iPhones sold according to TechCrunch. This tells us that those who still don’t believe in apps, better start believing.

What is more, if you add the numbers of iPod Touch sold, it becomes the fastest growing  hardware platform in consumer tech history. The iPhone, the apps and the unbeaten user experience of the iPhone have created a new opportunity space. Of course, leading today is not the same as leading tomorrow but it does make the other tech kings shudder.

Creating a successful app-store isn’t as easy. Google and NOKIA are trying hard. Apparently even the Danish AppStore grosses more in a single day than  Android Market in a year. What about Ovi?. Long way to go but together with Apple they’ll create a whole new category of on-line experiences.

Our point of view? iPhone or not, don’t miss the train – deliver your existing or new service via a mobile app. It’s key to your future.

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with a colleague of mine, Tine Park, who’s just returned from facilitating a workshop on hospital innovation in Chicago at EPIC 2009, an international conference on the application of ethnography and human-centred design in industry.

At Designit, we’ve been working at a Danish hospital with service innovation for a year now. And Designit’s EPIC workshop indicated that one challenge is universal for hospitals: humanising healthcare.

Participants of the workshop – among others healthcare professionals and decision-makers from the public and private healthcare sector in the U.S. – said there was a need to: 1) improve communication between staff and patients so that that patient’s understand their situation and role, 2) make people feel welcome and safe 3) meet the needs of users as individuals.

In other words, they expressed a need for increased focus on the person. The individual. Ensuring the system fits the user – and not the other way round. Create real solutions for real people – that is also the need identified at the workshop and most certainly by our fieldwork in at Odense University Hospital in Denmark.

So how do you do this? Well, it’s important to say that this doesn’t have to cost the earth. As an innovator / design thinker, you need to show respect for the complexity of hospitals and the constraints. You must accept hospitals’ evidence-based culture – then identify what to test and create the right test change conditions. Many small, incremental innovations can, when gathered, have a big impact. It’s not about changing everything overnight, but slowly starting a new mindset and a movement.

Another crucial point is commitment. As a decision-maker at a hospital, you need to ask yourself: are you really committed to this change process? Will you support it throughout the organisation – even when you meet opposition?

Interesting to see that the need for humanisation in the healthcare sector is more widespread than we’d thought. Hospitals are most definitely not immune to change, you just need to understand the dynamics and design your innovation process accordingly.

Just some thoughts from the field…

At a seminar in Copenhagen the other day, Joe Pine from Strategic Horizons told about ‘services you didn’t ask for’ which triggered some thoughts on service experiences in general.

At Designit we’re currently quite focused on the global trend towards self-service and DIY. Self-service – in most cases – actually also happens to be something you didn’t ask for, and rather insisted on not having. But new divisions of labour between service provider and service buyer are here to stay, so it might be worth thinking about!

All sectors and markets experience a shift in user behaviour and service perception towards a preference for self-service and DIY. Not only for user but also for service provider this means new opportunities.

Even ‘mission critical’ industries like health care will become self-care in a couple of years from now. Take prescription drug vending machines for example. Chance is, that we’ll end up prefer self-service. And be surprised how self-service-capable we are – at least if the self-service experience is well designed and with user-capabilities in mind.

Within DIY activities the trend also shifts and creates new markets. Have a look at these two examples. Why not source back your typical DIY tasks (if you are a male) to a service provider. Here is the EasyCarWash offer reinventing carwash experience: Park your car at work, book a wash and enjoy a hand-washed car when you leave the office. A standard car wash consumes minimal water and costs approximately €15 so its benefits are both economical and environmental!

Or book a multi-handyman on the internet and get all the stuff done that used to require serious DIY-skills or two or three different professions + coordination. We tried it and it works! Next thing, I guess, will be a mobile hairdresser in the Copenhagen office saving time and probably cost too.

New, reinvented ‘service agreements’ between the service giver and service taker is the future. These new services are services that you did’nt ask for, but end up loving them and recommend them to your friends. Their logic is irresistible – and that’s why they’ll grow and change the game in the sector.

So, all you big established service providers with dated business and service concepts – rethink, get into the new game – or loose it!

Governmental health care communication can be boring, finger-wagging and just a bit too lecturing. The result is that we don’t listen! So how do you get in touch with huge part of your target audience, engage them to listen and help spreading your message at viral speed? Here is a good example – it’s fun, entertaining, and works on your iPhone, too!  Click below to get the first (and fun) part. But you only get the full message by going to Computertan.com to get the sad end of the story. Anyway, if  you think you’re just a click away from getting the perfect tan online (like an unnamed colleague of mine here at the Copenhagen office did) you’ll be surprised.

Tired of getting out to refuel? Tired of getting hands and shoes ‘dieseled’ every time? Here is the solution. Automatic refuelling! It might be your most unrealised need.

The retailer will be happy as well. According to Fuelmatics, Easy-Fill® doubles customers per hour, increases their loyalty and rocket sales in shop! The latter is quite amazing as most auto-refuellers stay in their cars and never make it to the shop. Must be some new kind of remote shopping.

Anyway, I’m an automation geek and just I’m longing to do that drive-through fill up!

“What am I supposed to do with this thing?,” I asked myself while washing my hands and staring at a Hygiene Monitor. Apparently it is there to improve the airport toilet experience. I couldn’t help smiling, expecting some kind of service value moment to happen. But it just sat there…counting the minutes until next cleaning round. A lot of gear and very little substance. Over-designed and over-conceptualised? Mistake or innovation? You decide. Anyhow, I’d swop this monitor thing with a an organic wall, a SANIFAIR solution or simply maximise customer experience at security checkpoints instead.

Last week Designit Copenhagen hosted the first official meeting of the Danish Service Design Network. We had a great turnout – proof of the growing interest in this field. Inspired by networks abroad, it aims to further service design in Denmark by bringing together professionals working in the public or private sector, consultancies and academia.

The big turnout meant we only had time for introductions, so the purpose of the network still remains to be decided. I’m looking forward to finding out.

But what I do know for certain is that service design will play an increasingly important role – not just at Designit, where we are currently optimising service at Denmark’s largest hospital, Odense University Hospital, but also in the Danish design scene in general. Britain for one has led the way in Europe until now with service design and now Denmark wants to catch up.

To find out more about the network, contact: toke@radarstation.dk

Start taking notice of your (potential) female customers, was thrust of a seminar late last year at Copenhagen Business School. The seminar focused on how businesses can increase sales significantly by focusing on female customers. According to Helle Katholm Knutsen, women decide or influence a whopping 80% of all purchases! A GIANT business opportunity.

Many of Designit’s clients are starting to recognise this opportunity and requesting our expertise on how to best target the female segment. And we’re not the only ones. Here are examples of formerly male-focused companies that are doing what they can to get their foot on the female ladder.

Take for example Sydbank, which has a pension and investment service especially tailored to women. Or Q8, the chain of petrol stations, who is launching ‘Qvik To Go’, a new product series of healthy snacks and stations with new interior that appeals more to female customers. When Procter & Gamble Co. invented Swiffer, it was a result of considering how women feel while cleaning the house.

The business potential of the female segment is huge, so grab it!