Camden Family Changemakers was a co-design project carried out in 2021 between Camden Council’s family services team, parents and family members residing in Camden, London College of Communication (LCC) MA Service Design and MA Data Visualisation students, two MA Service Design alumni, five academic staff members, the Service Futures Lab at LCC and the UAL’s Public Collaboration Lab. The project was based on three principles: deliberative dialogue, participatory design and design justice.
The partners came together to create a design vision for “good help” for families after the COVID-19 pandemic. As well as supporting the Council’s aims around its Early Help Service, and co-developing policies and services, the project produced a number of insights around how to do co-design in a non-extractive way, and the potential of visual and material methods both in policy and on the front line of council services.
The project has had impact on the way collaborative policymaking has been carried out in Camden Council, is being recommended as the “practice standard” to inform schools’ engagement with families, as well as being used as an exemplar for Camden’s “Build Back Stonger” education strategy, and directly influenced Camden’s successful application for funding from the Department of Education to expand advice and guidance provision in community settings, among others. It has also been used in developing the Health and Wellbeing strategy and the Camden Resilient Families Framework, and has been cited in conversations with Ministry of Justice and the Department for Health and Social Care.
We worked with a thoroughly inspiring group of Changemaker Parents from Camden, who, facilitated by Angela Tam and Laura Leahy (recent graduates and interns at Camden Council), designed a vision of Good Help for Camden Families after covid, and a manifesto.
Impact:
| Family Services | Education | Other |
| Presented and discussed in detail at the Camden Children’s Partnership Trust Board | Mentioned in conversations with the Department of Education | Ideas, language and approach reflected in Health and Wellbeing Strategy |
| Ideas, language and approach influencing the Camden Resilient Families Framework and informing the programme refresh. | Cited in Camden’s new education strategy, ‘Build Back Stronger’ and its implementation plan | Mentioned in conversations with the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care |
| Directly influenced Camden’s successful application for funding from the Department of Education to expand advice and guidance provision in community settings – _with roles for residents in this work. | Recommended as the ‘practice standard’ to inform schools’ engagement with families | Influencing approaches to co-design and support for families in hostels and temporary accommodation |
Here’s the parents’ story:
We worked with a thoroughly inspiring group of Changemaker Parents from Camden, who, facilitated by Angela Tam and Laura Leahy (recent graduates and interns at Camden Council), designed a vision of Good Help for Camden Families after covid, and a manifesto.
See all the student proposals here:
The students’ journey:
If you have an hour on your hands, this is our presentation to senior leaders from Camden Council, national charities and bodies, working towards implementing the vision and the Service Design proposals.
Project partners and participants:
MA Data Visualisation Students:
Qian Zhao; Liming Ye (Freddie); Jiaoyan Yang (Joyine); Ziwei Lin (Zoey); Xiaoran Sun (Ran); Yaqi Zhang; Moosa Khan; Devika Sharma; Ritika Periwal; Sohana Mohanty; Yidan Zhang (Dan or Bella); Peilun Li (Nathan); Chun-I Wang (Gina); Sayali Wandhekar; Giselle Dsouza; Mary Claire O’Brien (Claire); Guo Chen; Qingnan Liu (Tako); Sara Picozzi; Trisha Rathod; Dixita Suresh Patel; Vini Garg; Marina Michelle Filiba Barcelo (Maru); Fianda Van Kuler; Isabel Karina Brooks (Isa); Nirali Jain; Jiaming Liu (Ming); Danwan Zheng (Dan); Jiarong He (Raven); Chen Adler; Sampada Muralidhar; Luyi Xu
MA Data Visualisation Students:
Samantha Shannon; Elena Etta; Yannan Ning; Imogen McNally; Catherine Aitkin; Jana Tauschinski; Xin Gu; Sicong Qiao; Yi Chen; Tatiana Dunenko; Martyna Glock; Syennie Valeria
MA Service Design and MA Data Visualisation Academics:
Dr Silvia Grimaldi; Veron Lai; Megha Wadhawan; Dr Hena Ali; Henrietta Ross
Public Collaboration Lab:
Prof. Adam Thorpe
Service Design Interns:
Angela Tam; Laura Leahy
Camden Council:
Becca Dove; Elaine Crouch
Camden Expert Parent Group:
Abdul; Alina; Amina B; Amina T; Ammara; Ana; Caroline; Jesmin; Jo; Josephine; Luthfa; Mahad; Mary; Michele; Nadine; Natalie; Osob; Rani; Rukshana; Salina; Samina; Tomina; Uba
Partners:
Camden Council Family Services; UAL:LCC MA Service Design; UAL:LCC MA Data Visualisation; UAL Public Collaboration Lab
Date:
2021
Funder:
Camden Council
UAL Team:
Dr Silvia Grimaldi
Veron Lai
Henrietta Ross
Dr Hena Ali
Megha Wadhawan
Links:
Publications:
Case study featured in: Salinas, L., Grimaldi, S., Lujan Escalante, M.A., Prendiville, A., Lagedamont, M., Ali, H. (2023 forthcoming; peer reviewed and accepted) Teaching Service Design: pedagogical reflections. ServDes, the Service Design and Innovation Conference, Rio de Janeiro Brazil. Linköping University Electronic Press.
Service Futures Lab 