Understanding Co-Design Practice as a Process of “Welldoing”

Abstract

Co-design and other associated design approaches often deploy creative and making approaches in facilitating collaborative practices. In a therapeutic setting, engagement in creative and making activities have been associated with improvements in people's well-being, yet when deploying these as part of co-design practices, these outcomes are often overlooked. This paper presents the results from a series of workshops that focused on the well-being benefits of participating in co-design practices. The research uses Max-Neef's (1991). Theory of Needs to explore how innate human needs might be satisfied through participation in co-design practices, and demonstrates how this framework might be used for planning and evaluating co-design practices through a wellbeing lens. Finally, it suggests that future generations of design practitioners would benefit from exposure to the consideration of co-design as a process of “welldoing.”