Reconnecting with the Public: Participatory Research and Co‐creations within and outside a Public Institution

Abstract

Despite constraints on face‐to‐face meetings and social distancing policies under COVID‐19, with the help of online tools, Brandnographer successfully conducted a series of online activities to facilitate stakeholders from different age and background to immerse themselves in situated scenarios, then to design and visualize their ideal public services in the future. This paper discusses how a participatory approach and design thinking framework have helped the researchers and decision makers collect thick data from the service users, transform user insights into prototypes for reiteration and concrete design principles. On the other hand, how the blurred identities in between observers, participants and designers have stimulated discussions and design possibilities by supplying real‐life scenarios and evaluation on solution feasibility.