Creative Hotlist

1. Creative Hotlist Jamae Lucas

2. ThinkPublic • We believe in a collaborative approach to designing things that address social challanges. We specalise in designing services, products and communications within the public, third and private sector.  We bring: • Our experience, insights and hands on approach to working with people and communities to tackle big social challenges • Our unique co-design approach that involves people, employees and customers in the design and launch of services. This ensures the service is practical and fits culturally  • Connections and partnerships that are right for your business and the communities you serve

3. Testing the Impossible • Working with the team at impossible we rapidly tested early stage prototypes with potential communities, gaining useful insights and feedback to help inspire and improve the impossible giving service. http://vimeo.com/66231332

4. Online public services manifesto • As we accelerate towards a world of public services that are “digital by default”, will consumer needs, hopes and expectations be met? To address this question, Consumer Focus commissioned thinkpublic to undertake detailed research into what really matters to consumers. “The Government Digital Service has a leading role in the future development of online public services. We’re glad to see research like this being shared widely, as this has been, to trigger further debate and act a resource for all who may need it. We’ll be looking closely at how we can build in many of these principles into our own design thinking.” - Mike Bracken, Executive Director of Digital, Cabinet Office http://vimeo.com/30536154

5. experiential service for travellers • We created a unique experiential service for travellers on Grand Central trains, helping the company support local communities along its routes.

6. Relative friends • Building on thinkpublic user insights together with published research from the Campaign on Loneliness, the Centre for Intergenerational Practice and others, shows that there is a growing ‘epidemic’ of loneliness across the UK, with associated problems around loss of identity and poor mental health. This is driven by changes to social structures, work environments and family and is exacerbated by generations becoming more disconnected from each other, with many people lacking both connection within the family but also those natural connections across the generations that promote mutual support and exchange. We have developed Relative Friends as a new social venture that helps people build family-like relationships with people in their local area. The service combines hosted social events, meetups and shared activities, with a safe online social networking environment, which together enable a range of isolated and lonely people to build caring and supportive friendships with people who live or work nearby. Our objective is to create meaningful intergenerational relationships with the support and exchange that family close by might provide, promoting engagement, empowerment and happiness. We have been running it at a small scale so far in London and Manchester and are looking for further funding to scale the service across the UK. So do get in contact if you would like to know more or you would like to help. Relative Friends won the Service Design category in the Design Week 2012 Awards, which recognises the best British design talent of the year. The judges said: Well-thought-through, clear and smart. Service design with real intent. Clever thinking that has an impact on people’s lives and community as a whole. http://vimeo.com/35378645

7. Ambulatory emergency care • thinkpublic worked with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement to design, develop and prototype patient experience touch points, for the new NHS Ambulatory Emergency Care (AEC) service.ealso created a short animation to help explain and introduce the service to healthcare professionals, which you can watch to find out more about Ambulatory Emergency Care and how it all works: • Our work began by visiting three AEC sites across the country, immersing ourselves in the service and capturing patient and staff experiences of the services. We ran workshops with members of staff to identify which elements of the service experience were working well and which could be improved. Some examples of our findings included observations that: • the word ‘Ambulatory’ confused patients • there was not enough information given to patients about the service before they arrived • the reclining chairs used on the ward rather than beds made “patients feel less poorly” • patients were happy to wait if they were informed why they were waiting • We collated our findings and shared them with AEC departments across the country, enabling them to make quick and simple improvements their services. One site even became overrun off the back of our improvements due to patient recommendations! • By the end of this process we narrowed the ideas down to a toolkit with 10 tools, which had been thoroughly tested with patients and staff. The AEC toolkit is due to be launched nationwide in October 2012. http://vimeo.com/47008581

8. youcankingston • Kingston Primary Care Trust (PCT) asked thinkpublic to carry out an engagement project in the Cambridge Road Estates. The PCT planned to redevelop Hawks Road Clinic and wanted a picture of local health and quality of life problems. We created the YouCanKingston project to engage local residents in identifying challenges and co-designing responses to better community health and wellbeing. We developed a presence for the project in the community using branding and murals on blank walls around the estate. We used social media and short,  informal interviews to gather feedback from residents to draw out key challenges that would inspire ideas and responses to leading more active lifestyles. Over 80 people took part in YouCanKingston. The ideas were extraordinary in their range and ambition and included an estate farm, seed-swapping, a graffiti wall and a skills exchange for residents in areas such as gardening, dance and computing. We presented these in a report to the PCT, which will inform their decisions in the redevelopment of the Hawks Road Clinic and other community-led initiatives in health and wellbeing. In July 2009, Design Week profiled YouCanKingston in their article, ‘thinkpublic battles health inequalities through design’. In April 2010, the YouCanKingston project was selected as part of the Creative Review Annual 2010. The Annual showcases outstanding creative work and is selected by a panel of leading design and advertising experts.

9. dementia: what motivates people to seek a diagnosis? • thinkpublic have been working hard (in partnership with the Design Council and Department of Health) to explore this question. Currently only one third of the UKʼs 750,000 dementia sufferers are ever properly diagnosed or have contact with specialist services at any time in their illness meaning the majority of people with dementia miss out on early intervention and specialist care. To date, much of the focus in dementia research has tended to focus on the role of the GP in formally delivering a diagnosis, but people in the person with dementia’s social network also play a key role in supporting them to take steps towards a diagnosis. Throughout our research we spoke to individuals with dementia, people in their social networks and GP’s to discover more about the motivations and barriers for seeking an initial diagnosis for Dementia. Key insights gained from the research include: • People don’t know how to talk about dementia • People are fearful of other peoples perceptions of dementia • People do not know what to do if they think someone might have dementia • The person who may have dementia is often scared of losing their independence • People don’t know what is normal for ageing and what are symptoms of dementia • thinkpublic have been working in the area of dementia for the last 5 years and we are interested in creating intelligently designed environments, experiences, services and products, which enable dignity and independence and contribute to removing the stigma which many people still experience around dementia. We are keen on having conversations with interesting and interested people around the following questions: • “How can we design ways in which people can keep their dignity when they have dementia?” • “How can we develop ways in which people with dementia can remain independent, or find new ways they can feel independent?” • “How can we create ways in which the stigma around dementia is challenged and reduced?”

10. The Freire project • The Freire Project is dedicated to building an international critical community which works to promote social justice in a variety of cultural contexts. We are committed to supporting activism and critical research in cultural, youth, community and media. • Named for Paulo Freire, this site emphasizes the impact of power relationships and demands not only examination in inequality, but active participation in doing good work. We are committed to global development through this site, highlighting its relevance with marginalized and disenfranchised peoples.

11. taboo • Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education is an academic forum for the study of teaching and pedagogy that focuses on the relationship between education and its socio-cultural context. Drawing upon a variety of contextualizing disciplines including cultural studies, curriculum theorizing, feminist studies, the social foun- dations of education, critical pedagogy, multi/interculturalism, queer theory, and symbolic interactionism, Taboo is grounded on the notion of “radical contextualization.” The journal encourages papers from a wide range of contributors who work within these general areas. As its title suggests, Taboo seeks compelling and controversial submissions.

12. sprinkle • Sprinkle was originally conceived in 2007 as a collection of student works from the McGill Sexual Diversity Studies department. We hope to widen this scope a bit, but continue to produce a queer-positive, critical journal that seeks to challenge the normative experiences that are often privileged within our society. In this vein, we hope to draw attention to queer history and experience as well as other issues of gender and sexuality, subjects not often addressed within classroom curricula. This journal hopes to draw from and appeal to a wide audience, and people of numerous identities and backgrounds. Sprinkle aims to lend legitimacy to the thoughts and experiences of young people, and produce an engaging publication.

13. Continuum • Diverse, Disciplined, Dynamic • Continuum is a global innovation and design consultancy. For three decades, the company focus has been to help organizations drive business innovation through the design of products, services and experiences that become part of the fabric of people’s lives.

14. Leveraged freedom chair • Continuum helped MIT’s Mobility Lab envision the next generation of the Leveraged Freedom Chair. With variable speed controls just like high or low gears on a mountain bike, the new off-road chair was impactful from the start in testing. It moved 76% faster on flat ground and got 51% higher torque on rough terrain. Most importantly, it delivered a newfound sense of emotional independence. • The award-winning wheelchair is actively being developed in the United States by Global Research Innovation & Technology (GRIT). GRIT plans to have a ridable prototype of the high performance chair by the end of 2013. http://vimeo.com/40100277

15. Allsteel • Pursuing their vision of a newly dynamic seating experience, Continuum created Inspire: a chair that integrates geometric ergonomics with natural style. Inspire keeps the user comfortable and focused through three patented technologies – back pivots, a seat suspension system, and flexible perforation patterns that ensure relief on skeletal pressure points. • The chair intuitively adapts to the body’s position, ensuring healthy postures. While its airy frame and movability energize space, Inspires form energizes users. • Expanding Inspire’s design elements into a wide product line, Continuum gave schools and offices a way to serve various needs with a single aesthetic. Chairs in the line can support tablet arms, seat cushions and gliders – whatever tools are most effective for keeping thinkers engaged. Finally, users know the comfort will last. An innovative design that is healthy for the environment as well as the body, Inspire’s sustainable and recyclable parts have earned MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle Silver certification and SCS Indoor Advantage Gold certification for air quality.