A Changing Landscape
It's no surprise that the world around us is changing, and fast! Here in Aotearoa, we must find ways to prepare for challenges like:
- rapid population growth and diversity,
- an ageing workforce,
- urbanisation,
- increasing inequality, and
- the decline of our environment and native species.
To respond to these challenges, we have to improve how we work, think, collaborate, and design our future.
The World Economic Forum, in 2020, published "The Future of Jobs Report". In it they predicted a list of the top 10 skills that would be most sought after by 2025. The report considers how a workforce might need to re-skill to address a complex world. The 10 essential skills fall into four categories.
One of those categories is problem-solving. In this category we can see five of the 10 key skills that we find in Human Centred Design (HCD) and Design Thinking (DT). Those five skills are:
- Analytical Thinking & Innovation,
- Complex Problem Solving,
- Critical Thinking & Analysis,
- Creativity & Originality, and
- Problem Solving & Ideation
These skills are essential across many roles throughout businesses, top to bottom. Building a workforce armed with these skills will be non-negotiable.
But, if these skills are already employed by designers, then why aren’t we putting more emphasis on design? And, to be blunt, why aren’t we taking design more seriously?
This is where Nimbl Consulting are stepping up. We recognise the need to embrace these skills to be successful as a business. Most importantly though, to support our clients and the people of Aotearoa.
Why Nimbl Need A Design System
All these challenges, we face them together. These are the challenges of us as individuals, as whānau, as communities, and as Aotearoa. Here at Nimbl our purpose is to improve the lives of all New Zealanders, and one of our principles is to be a force for good. So, it felt right that we develop a system to help us to deliver on our purpose and stay true to our principles.
Human-Centred Design (HCD) paves the way for innovation and meaningful change across Aotearoa. There's so much opportunity across government to be innovative and add value. But it isn't limited to the public sector. The private sector faces many of the same challenges. As well as greater competition and changing customers needs, a space to innovate and create is a must.
Much more than a process or a toolkit, HCD is a mindset and an approach, also often referred to as Design Thinking (DT). It's a philosophy! It's a way of working that guides designers to create solutions that truly address the needs of the people that we’re here to serve.
Our Nimbl Design Team developed a process that enables us to provide the absolute best support for our clients. There is an endless number of design methodologies out there, often cluttered with inaccessible jargon, and new ones popping up all the time. Here at Nimbl Consulting, our Design System approach is unique, aligned to our own 'Nimbl Consulting way' of working, created and developed by our innovative Design team. The Nimbl Design System is based on our Nimbl Consulting values that include our design principles, method, toolkit and much more.
The Nimbl Design System
Nimbl Consulting’s Design Compass (shown above in image 2) has our core parameters at the centre. The dotted line provides an example journey using some of the tools from Nimbl Consulting's toolkit, consisting of traditional HCD tools and processes, in addition to several of our own.
This approach gives us the freedom to move between the four stages of understand, define, imagine, and deliver. Moving through these can happen in any order, it's not linear. We work with clients to find the approach that best suits each design challenge.
We have kept the divergence and convergence within our process. There's so much benefit in going back, generating ideas and refining them down to find the gold. We're believers of iterating, prototyping and learning to develop the most meaningful solutions. This helps to make progress and value visible early. Taking this approach also reduces risk as we progress towards solutions and set up for success when it comes to implementation.
At the heart of our Design Compass is empathy and constant throughout all design work. Empathy isn’t something that only happens at the start something we bring in at certain points. It must be continuous throughout each journey we go on.
Get in Touch
To understand more or hear about how Nimbl’s Design System could help you or your organisation, get in touch. We’d love to kōrero.
Visit us online at www.nimblconsulting.com or email us at [email protected]