Good design as a strategy
We design for and with people
At dxw, we design services for our clients and their users.
Our clients are government departments, local authorities, charities, housing associations, and other public sector organisations. Users are the recipients of their services like teachers, parents and residents, plus any other people that benefit from or administer a service.
Good design is our strategy. That means we design services based on users’ needs, they have a clear purpose, and they help to solve a problem or improve something.
At dxw, we’re recognised for our ability to deliver great digital services for our clients. Over the last 12 years, we’ve learned a lot about design and research and how to take advantage of technology to deliver the best outcomes.
The value of good design
We’ve learned to value design thinking and design craft in equal measure, and that’s why we believe in the strategic value of good design.
Last year in August, we restructured our delivery and strategy teams and united all of our design related specialisms into 1 design team. The design team is now part of what we’re calling a delivery+ unit.
The delivery+ unit is made up of 3 teams: delivery (product managers, delivery leads), technology (developers, tech architects), and the (fairly) new design team.
The design team includes user researchers, service designers, content designers, a WordPress design specialist, and visual, interaction, and front end designers. It brings together all of our design and research disciplines into a single team.
Bringing people together in this way creates stronger links between research and design. We also want to facilitate and encourage skills to overlap, and help the fluidity of movement across the design specialisms for those who would like to move into other areas.
Designers at dxw are makers
The dxw design team is now formed of 17 (and growing) fantastic designers. We also have many dxw friends that come in to help when we need more hands and ears, or specific experience we don’t have in the team.
All the dxw designers (including me) come from different places and disciplines. We’re a really diverse team. Our backgrounds include engineering, art, product, graphic, print, brand and physical design, and biology. This diversity brings an amazing variety of perspectives, enriching our design abilities as a company.
Our designers work in multidisciplinary teams, alongside our tech experts and project leaders. Designers facilitate and lead conversations about design. They’re at the front end of the design process “channelling” the needs of the users, listening to the views from stakeholders, and facilitating discussions to reach consensus. All while pulling out insights that provide evidence and support for improvements to the products and services that we build.
We design for and with people. Our design outputs are user and client-friendly, we work collaboratively with those who’ll be using or be affected by services/products, and we test with them and their communities.
Above all, dxw designers are makers. Helping our clients to translate their strategies into products and services, and yes, sometimes even a report. We develop insights and abstract ideas into concrete artefacts, prototypes, hypothesis, and ultimately well designed products and services.
