Resources
We co-created the resources available on this website in conversation with representatives from the global health community. Five types of users (or profiles) emerged that represent the different stages of a global health practitioner in his/her path towards adoption and implementation of design in his/her work. Click the tabs below to see which profile aligns closest to you.
I often fail to see the value design provides to global health projects. I don’t understand how designers who are not experts in our field can contribute to these projects. I want a simple definition of design with no jargon. I’m looking for hard facts that demonstrate design’s impact, its inherent limitations, and its risks."
I often don’t understand all these design concept and terms. I sometimes find that designers gloss over what we think is important and then say that we don’t understand design. I hear all the promises of what design can do, then I find they are entirely wrong. I see designers go and do field work, then they come back and tell us things we already knew from the start. What is the point?
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have heard a lot about design, and I am curious to learn about how it can contribute to my projects. However, I have not had a chance to try it out in any of my work and would like to know if and how I can do so. I want resources that help me understand the value of design, how it’s unique, and how it can work with other global health approaches."
The greatest challenge for me is that there is not an easy way that design fits into the project management structures of development programs. It is very hard to create a budget in a detailed work plan, if you don’t know what your intervention is for months. I was unable to understand the original proposal. I had to read it several times. I think people are scared of the timeline.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have been a part of global health projects where design was used, but I am not sure of the value it ultimately added. How is it different from other participatory approaches? What type of problems can it tackle? I want to see how design can contribute in a consistent, sustainable manner that can be measured in some way."
I think it is easier for me to recognize the impact of design on tangible product-based solutions, than on intangible applications or interventions. I have seen people become very enthusiastic about the use of design, but I wonder what parts of it provide actual impact. How do you measure and evaluate it? I have seen many ways where design was applied, with varying degrees of success. What makes me skeptical is that many people think because they have done it once, they know how to do it in any scenario.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have seen the value design brings to global health projects and have collaborated with designers, but I struggle to articulate the value of design to others. I want tools and resources that will help me talk about design more effectively."
Initially, it took me time to fully understand what design meant. How can I communicate what design is to others? We need a set of shared and commonly understood terms, so that we are all on the same page. I need to be able to defend a process that does not easily fit into traditional global health thinking and approaches.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I intimately understand the value design brings to global health projects and I regularly incorporate design into my work. I am comfortable talking about and advocating on behalf of design and hope to see it being used as one of the approaches in more projects. I want to talk about the value of design in a way that global health practitioners can relate to.
Let’s not claim that design can improve a specific amount of lives. We cannot say that. The methods have been fully tried and measured for impact. Personally, I think the limitations are not in design thinking itself, but in people’s understanding of how to use design thinking. As amazing as design thinking is, it take a bit of time, and we are not always afforded that time." That is the reality we operate in.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I often don’t understand all these design concept and terms. I sometimes find that designers gloss over what we think is important and then say that we don’t understand design. I hear all the promises of what design can do, then I find they are entirely wrong. I see designers go and do field work, then they come back and tell us things we already knew from the start. What is the point?
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I often fail to see the value design provides to global health projects. I don’t understand how designers who are not experts in our field can contribute to these projects. I want a simple definition of design with no jargon. I’m looking for hard facts that demonstrate design’s impact, its inherent limitations, and its risks.
The greatest challenge for me is that there is not an easy way that design fits into the project management structures of development programs. It is very hard to create a budget in a detailed work plan, if you don’t know what your intervention is for months. I was unable to understand the original proposal. I had to read it several times. I think people are scared of the timeline.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have heard a lot about design, and I am curious to learn about how it can contribute to my projects. However, I have not had a chance to try it out in any of my work and would like to know if and how I can do so. I want resources that help me understand the value of design, how it’s unique, and how it can work with other global health approaches.
I think it is easier for me to recognize the impact of design on tangible product-based solutions, than on intangible applications or interventions. I have seen people become very enthusiastic about the use of design, but I wonder what parts of it provide actual impact. How do you measure and evaluate it? I have seen many ways where design was applied, with varying degrees of success. What makes me skeptical is that many people think because they have done it once, they know how to do it in any scenario.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have been a part of global health projects where design was used, but I am not sure of the value it ultimately added. How is it different from other participatory approaches? What type of problems can it tackle? I want to see how design can contribute in a consistent, sustainable manner that can be measured in some way.
Initially, it took me time to fully understand what design meant. How can I communicate what design is to others? We need a set of shared and commonly understood terms, so that we are all on the same page. I need to be able to defend a process that does not easily fit into traditional global health thinking and approaches.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I have seen the value design brings to global health projects and have collaborated with designers, but I struggle to articulate the value of design to others. I want tools and resources that will help me talk about design more effectively.
Let’s not claim that design can improve a specific amount of lives. We cannot say that. The methods have been fully tried and measured for impact. Personally, I think the limitations are not in design thinking itself, but in people’s understanding of how to use design thinking. As amazing as design thinking is, it take a bit of time, and we are not always afforded that time." That is the reality we operate in.
Some of the questions I need to answer are:
I intimately understand the value design brings to global health projects and I regularly incorporate design into my work. I am comfortable talking about and advocating on behalf of design and hope to see it being used as one of the approaches in more projects. I want to talk about the value of design in a way that global health practitioners can relate to.
