RELATED TERMS: Design Practice and Functionalism; User-Centred and User-Driven Design
As defined by Koskinen and Thomson (2012: 77) co-design is a community centred methodology that designers use to enable people who will be served by a designed outcome to participate in designing solutions to their problems.
This assumes a utilitarian, design-as-problem-solving approach. It should be noted that designs may, in solving one ‘problem’, generate others. An alternative approach is to suggest that design may be most valuable in problem-setting, that is, in considering what are the parameters of a problem, rather than simply problem-solving.
References
Koskinen, T. and Thomson, M. (2012). Design for Growth & Prosperity. Brussels: European Commission. Available from https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/a207fc64-d4ef-4923-a8d1-4878d4d04520 [Accessed 10 October 2014].
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