Broadening Participation and Insight in Codesign through Online Connectivity

During the COVID lockdowns we moved our codesign activities, usually conducted in face-to-face workshops to online settings. We therefore created online adaptations of codesign techniques to achieve quality outputs. Fifty junior designers held virtual workshops with community participants to co-create a loneliness exhibition and a save-the-forest campaign. We argue that what we learned is of value for codesigning post lockdown. We found that online codesign broadens participation by supporting synchronous and asynchronous activities. Online participation helps those with time, mobility, or transport challenges, as they aren't limited to a single time slot or a physical venue, increasing possible participant numbers. Also, participating while isolated gave people a much-needed social connection. Our contribution demonstrates that online activities can contribute to positive, inclusive codesign evoking emotions, participation and empathy done with off-the-shelf software and people's existing technology. We propose the exploration of hybrid codesign to exploit the best of both worlds.