Identify

Only those who ask the right questions will get the right answers.  It is essential for the success of a project to ask penetrative and to the point questions right from the beginning. Preliminary studies and expert interviews are tried and tested mediums to develop the best methods. Direction and approach to the project also decide the composition of the project team. The project team should be made up of members of the user group, representatives of the client and the minds & makers team. It will also include experts, stakeholders and ‘neighbourhood champions’.

Explore

In this phase, we develop a deeper understanding of the whole service system in hand. From the identify phase, we can develop innovative tools to help us explore, document and evaluate. With help from these tools, the users are put, into the scenario helping them to document, and become more aware of their own everyday culture. Through the users documentation of the scenario, the project team can gain deeper insights into the needs, motivations and behaviours of the target group. These insights are summarized to key findings and key challenges. On this basis strategic areas for the create phase are defined with the aim to translate the new insights into future opportunities. 

Create

Based on the key findings and strategic areas that we have developed together, the project team will generate the first innovative ideas through co-creation workshops. An open, motivated atmosphere and a high level of interactivity are essential for the quality and quantity of the ideas. Often in this phase, existing but undiscovered knowledge from our clients is exposed and incorporated into the knowledge pool. The nature and scale of the project may allow for an expansion of those involved, and include further members of staff, stakeholders, and experts from various disciplines. The minds & makers think tank can then develop new, future oriented and holistic strategies and concepts, based on the results of the exploration phase and the co-creation workshops. Our belief is that a holistic service system should be appropriate to the user and have well designed touchpoints, where the provider and user meet. The new service concept is then prepared and visualised in the form of illustrations, storyboards, films and prototypes. The results will then be evaluated jointly with the project team. In further project phases, the results would then be tested.

Test

To ensure that the chosen service concepts will withstand everyday use and pays off for our client, they will be tested for their acceptance, usability, viability and efficiency. The minds & makers Do Tank simulates the effectiveness of the concepts in practice with the help of prototypes. That means that concepts are evaluated through a specific time frame, by a chosen group of people, under real circumstances. The whole project team reflects on the results of these tests and the concepts are then refined.

Deliver

The tested and approved service offers and concepts are set out, visualised and documented. We help our clients through the implementation and any necessary arrangments such as in-house workshops, or briefings for external agencies.