In August 2012, Final Fling teamed up with Snook – Glasgow-based service designers who graduated from Glasgow School of Art. Together on a mission to change the world.
Barbara Chalmers from Fling and Lauren Currie hosted the day. A couple dozen people from health, care, hospices and charities joined in – leaders, senior managers, policy shapers and front line workers from universities, councils, governments, NHS and charity organisations. They came together in Glasgow’s Lighthouse to explore the question: “How can we do death better?”
What was apparent from the End of Life workshop was that it was people’s personal experiences of a loved one dying and not receiving the support services they needed at that time prompted interest in trying to improve their own end of life care.
Design for Death… results focussed workshop
We used stories and experiences, to identify the key touchpoints – points of emotional connection with a service. We then used insights about the user experience to identify areas for improvement; using design thinking, methods and tools to provide a framework within which to co-design new improved service experiences.
“I believe that considering end of life care shouldn’t just happen at the end of life,” said Barbara. “Dying well should an experience that has been designed well.”
“Barbara and I want to harness the diverse range of networks, skills and talents that were in the room,” said Lauren “and figure one way to do is to combine Snook’s talent for getting things done, idea generation and development with Final Fling’s network and sector specific knowledge and insight.
See the Final Debrief-DesignforDeath
Barbara and Lauren would be happy to work with any organisation to help them redesign their services. Email Barbara.