LICA 431 Design Directions Project Report
Research Team Haider Ali, Akmal Egbal, Aslami Yi, Zhao
Qiuchi, Zhang
Acknowledgements The research team would like to express their immense gratitude towards the members of Green Elephant and the tenants of Halton Mill, for their time in participating in this research. The team would also like to give a special thank you to Fiona Frank for her commitment to the research in facilitating the researchers with access to Halton Mill and the tenants, along with her most welcomed and gracious hospitality
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Abstract
Table of Contents
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About Halton Mill 5
Background
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Halton Mill Today
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Introduction
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Research Phase 1
Observations
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Floor Plan
Research Phase 2
Case Studies
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BMC
Offerings
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Introduction Personas
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31 33
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Creative Interview
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Ecology Map Customer Journey Map
Co-Design Phase
Introduction
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Preparation
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Findings
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How to Play
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Service Recommendations
Timeline
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Visual Signboards
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Art Installation
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Elephant News
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Conclusion
Motto
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Limitations
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Final Thoughts
Workshops
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Stakeholders
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Research Direction
SWOT
Elephant Book Club Cooking Elephants
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Party Elephants
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Inviting Spaces
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References 62
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Abstract This booklet reports the research process and outcomes of the LICA431 Design Directions major project. The project topic concerns service design methods for (social) entrepreneurship within the defined co-working space of Halton Mill (the client). It aims to be the basis for inspiration into the enhancement/improvement of the co-working environment currently present at Halton Mill and works towards providing potential recommendations to the advantage of the enterprise
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About Halton Mill Background
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o-working spaces are shared workspaces that can provide potential benefits in an uncertain economy. Vago’s (2011) explains it as, a space where telecommuters, freelancers, and others without a regular office can anchor their workday providing them a professional environment from which to conduct business. People who work together can have more opportunities to collaborate and share skills among each other and may be more productive.
Co-working has lots of benefits, however, the most challenging for a co-working space is to have a real sense of community to actually keep people there. It is not just a shared workspace but “a community of independent workers, telecommuters, and creative professionals who interact while still getting their individual work done� (Welch, 2012).
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a workspace with a soul
co-working initiative
HALTON MILL
encourages networking
Business to business
environment friendly Visually summarising Halton Mill as it is today
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Halton Mill Today
H
alton Mill (HM) is a co-working facility in Halton, just outside Lancaster, near the river Lune. It is a historical industrial building, built in the late 19th century. Having been a home for different kinds of manufacturing from woodcraft to mechanical elephants it gained acclaim in 2008 when housed under Luneside Engineering it did precision engineering for aircrafts.
A co-working facility in Halton. eco-friendly environment
Today HM encourages a community based working and learning experience in an ecofriendly environment. The building has been eco-renovated incorporating a new roof, windows and insulation. Heating is provided by a biomass boiler and solar thermal energy. HM is a project of Lancaster Cohousing and managed by Green Elephant. They provide a number of services related to co-working from rentable spaces and tenancy options to desk space available for temporary or permanent use. They provide business to business solutions and encourage networking and a friendly community for small businesses to flourish in.
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Research Phase 1 Introduction
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o begin the project of compiling a potential business solution for HM the team conducted a primary investigation, involving an observation into the working and structure of HM. In addition, in order to learn from other co-working concepts, the team looked into different case studies. Many methods were used to analyse the data, such as the Business Model Canvas, stakeholder maps, and a SWOT analysis etc.
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DESK RESEARCH
OFFERINGS MAP
ECOLOGY MAP
PERSONA
CO-CREATION
CASE STUDIES
PHOTO DIARY
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OBSERVATION
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CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
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LITERATURE REVIEW
FINAL PRESENTATION
CREATIVE INTERVIEWS
ESSAY DEADLINE PREP DESIGN BOOK PREPARE FINAL PRES.
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PROTOTYPING
LIT. REVIEW
WEEK 01
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SCENARIO CREATION
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
DESK RESEARCH
COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
IDEA DEVELOPMENT
PREP INTERVIEWS
CASE STUDIES
PREP PROPOSAL
CODESIGN SESSION
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PREP INTERVIEW
PREP CODESIGN SES.
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DRFT ETHICS FORM
AGREE W/ CLIENT
BUSINESS MODEL SWOT
CLIENT INTERVIEW
PROJECT START
Project Timeline PROJECT TIMELINE
INTERVIEW
Research Methods
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Corridors
Corridors
Upstairs Cafe
Outer Access
Rentable Unit
Roof
Rentable Unit
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Observations
R
esearch began with the team observing HM and its tenants. Throughout several visits, researchers realised the space being very quiet, inactive and dim. The building has very simple decorations made of recycled sustainable material and there is limited lighting in the corridors. Moreover, bits of the walls were peeling as the structure was still undergoing its renovation phases.
quiet, inactive and dim
Because of the geographical location, very few people were aware of HM. The quiet environment appealed to some and they chose it as workspaces. Although initially the team members had difficulties finding enough participants to take part in the research, the tenants slowly opened up later on. As part of the initial observations, team members tried to join some of the events available in HM such as a yoga sessions to get a better feel of its current working potential. However, this was a slight disappointment as the team encountered only three other members in the event.
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Cafe
The Hive
Atrium
Cafe
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Meeting Room
Floor plan of Halton Mill
Floor Plan
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ooking at the floor plan of HM one can see how it is set up to have large communal spaces that are separated from individual rentable units. The building is divided into two floors, there is a meeting room, a kitchen, toilets, an atrium and about ten units on the ground floor. On the first floor there also has a toilet and a kitchen. In addition there is a hot desking facility on the first floor called the Hive.
boxed in layout The facility has a boxed in layout ideal for manufacturing or storage. This became an apparent concern upon research further case studies of co-working spaces.
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Case Studies
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onducting several case studies the research team gained some inspiration. Some spaces distinguished themselves by offering open floor plans or extra facilities for their tenants. The studied co-working spaces are as follows:
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Cohub
DoES Liverpool
The Guild
WYND
super+super
Third Door
TechCube
Jellies
A community of individuals sharing a purpose built workspace in central Eastbourne. Cohub offers a free trial enabling potential customers to work in their hot desking area
A craft space and coworking area in Brighton. Different from Halton Mill, they have their own publication and handcrafted products which is a good way to increase income. Their own publications help them to increase exposure as well
A community of makers and entrepreneurs, which includes a coworking space, workshops, and event hub. It is famous for their Maker Night events and exhibitions to show what people made during events
A combination of workhub and nursery. They thrive on a core idea that parents should be able to be ambitious in their career and still be there for their children. Third Door can increase their income through this special service and even distinguish them from competitors
They offer a mixture of creative workspaces and meeting rooms. It is a new co-working space (hot desking) designed for those working in either the tech or creative industries
A world class space for technology startups in Edinburgh. Sporting an open ecosystem they want it to be an open hub for the whole community. TechCube has been built entirely with private capital, and with a specific goal of attracting international venture capital and angel investment into Scotland’s incredible startups
It has six different kinds of coworking spaces applying different pricing for each
An informal co-working event and creates a platform for clients to share their values and successful experiences all over the world. It is a community built and funded project making it very different from the others
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Business model evaluation of HM through Business Model Canvas
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Business Model Canvas
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he Business Model Canvas is an excellent tool which describes how an organisation creates, delivers, and captures value (Osterwalder, 2010, p. 14). Using this tool the research team acquired an all-encompassing view on what Halton Mill was about as a co-working space and how it distinguished itself from others. The uniqueness of HM is particularly expressed in the Value Proposition segment of the Business Model Canvas. HM is not just a co-working area
which offers space, but it is a workspace with a communal and eco-friendly soul. This attracts mainly people who seek a space which is less business-oriented such as designers, artists, ecologist (see Customer Segments). From a more critical perspective, the Business Model Canvas is a tool which provides a quick snapshot of an organisation, it does not prove that a business model is viable.
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Offering map of HM
Offerings
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n order to comprehend the vast offerings of Halton Mill in detail, the research team created the following offering map. The horizontal axis concerns the tangibility of the offering; from tangible to intangible. The vertical axis relates to whether the offer derives from the space or from the co-workers themselves. On examining HM’s offering one sees that the tangible elements are mainly created by the space and the intangible elements by the coworkers. This shows the importance of other tenants within a co-working area.
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Stakeholder mapping of HM
Stakeholders
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o get an overview on what kind of stakeholders are involved within and around HM a stakeholder map was created. The map shows the direct entities of concern for HM, the primary stakeholders being the tenants and the members of the Lancaster Cohousing community, and people with short term or small scale businesses.
Indirect stakeholders are for example the different kind of visitors and the local government who might not be concerned with HM unless in a particular scenario. An overview of the map reveals that most stakeholders are situated close to HM.
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Centered Location
Cost efficient/affordable workspaces
Eco-friendly and socially sustainable environment
Opportunities
Communal Management
Structural Problems Undefined Value Proposition
Synergy Constraints
Marketing and Exposure
SWOT Analysis of HM
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Extendable Services
Can use Tenants to Promotional Advantage
Expandable Venture for HM and Tenants
Financially unstable
Threats
Weaknesses
Strengths
Space for Events
Lack of Funding Low Demand
Adhering UK Business Rates
SWOT Analysis
B
y doing the desk research as described in the previous sections and conducting an initial interview with the teams contact point Fiona Frank, a Green Elephant member, the research team set up a SWOT analysis describing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of/towards HM.
lack of synergy... not for profit organisation... financially vulnerable...
Regarding strengths, HM does not only provide workspace but also offers an eco-friendly and sustainable environment. This attracts the niche category of people interested in a healthy work space. In addition, HM applies reasonably low rates which makes the workspaces highly affordable.
The weaknesses of HM are more worrying. The fact that it is a not for profit organisation, makes it financially vulnerable as income is needed to keep improving the relatively young coworking space. Furthermore, there is a lack of exposure which is reflected in the inactiveness of the space. Last but not least, there is a lack of synergy between the tenants. Even though HM deals with a ‘Good Neighbours’ (Spinuzzi, 2012) configuration, more interaction between the coworkers would be beneficial to the space. HM can use the tenants, who mostly have a broad network, to promotional advantage. This could be seen as a great opportunity with respect to potential threats, as HM is coping with a lack of funding and the low demand for co-working spaces in the area.
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Defining a research direction for HM through creative questioning
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HOW CAN SYNER GY BE MADE MORE VISIBL E?
SYNERG
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WC A TO N WE G WO RK ET PE TOG OP ETH LE ER? W H AT KIND O F INCRE CLIENTS CA ASE S YNERG N Y?
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INTERVIEW
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OBSERVATION
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BRAINSTORMING
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PHOTO DIARY
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IN CASE STUDIES
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SHADOWING
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CUSTOMER JOURNEY MAP
DESK RESEARCH
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CO-CREATION
LITERATURE REVIEW
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PERSONA
OFFERINGS MAP
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STAKEHOLDER MAP
PARTICIPATORY DESIGN
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COMPETITOR ANALYSIS
O YOU C L IE N T S D F O D IN K W H AT TTRACT NEED TO A
ERG Y
RESEARCH METHODS
SE SYNERGY
exposure
HOW CAN SYN
INCOME
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CAN THE PO T E N T IA L C L IE N T S A F F O RD T O S TAY O R C O N T R IB U T E?
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WHA TO NEE THER C R DED F O R E AT I V E INCR METH EAS O ING DS AR E INCO ME?
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BUT... IS HALTON MILL EQUIPPED AS A COWORKING FACILITY? WHAT ARE THE NEEDS OF EXISTING OR POTENTIAL CLIENTS? WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM OTHERS IN TERMS OF EXPOSURE, INCOME & SYNERGY? IS A COWORKING CONCEPT NEEDED HERE?
Research Direction
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he ‘weaknesses’ segment of the SWOT analysis, which derived from desk research and the initial interview with the HM management (Green Elephant), resulted in the research direction for the project.
In order to broaden the research scope the team complemented the research direction with tangible aspects: the lack of income and the lack of exposure
According to Green Elephant members the lack of synergy or interaction between the tenants was a major constraint. From the perspective of the research team it even felt like HM was only about renting spaces without any communal value. Tackling this lack of interaction between tenants would probably benefit the organisation the most, starting by making the space more vibrant. In order to broaden the research scope the team complemented the research direction with tangible aspects: the lack of income and the lack of exposure.
To form a strong base for the rest of the project, research questions were phrased both on how these three areas could be connected as well as individual questions. In addition, the research team formulated further other questions which could be seen as relevant on a higher level of explanation. Finally, these questions were linked to potential design research methods which would be performed further within the process.
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Research Phase 2 Introduction
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n this phase, the team needed insight into the facility from the tenants perspective. In order to get more useful information from them, they decided to use four different design research methods: persona, creative interviews, ecology map and customer journey map.
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Personas
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rom Cooper et al’s perspective a persona is a common tool used in interaction design to “identify significant and meaningful patterns in user behaviour and turning these into archetypes that represent a broad cross-section of users” (2007). Therefore, in order to understand individually each tenant’s strengths and weaknesses the research team decided to begin by distributing persona cards to HM tenants.
7 Participants Although many of them were too busy to participate, 7 persona cards were filled in and provided the team with initial insights concerning HM. These 7 personas were merged into one persona as they showed overlapping areas of interest.
Consolidated Personas
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10
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TOO BUSY
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already contributing
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Willing to contribute
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1 Geoff
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C to on Le Ha trib ve lto ut l of n ion M ill
m Pot e/ en Ex ti po al f su or re
ON CONTRIBUTION
Miles Doubleday Topbox Sandgazer Moonloft
In
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Co
lla
L bo eve ra l o tio f n
Catherine Pathe
Networking
Ethics & Atmosphere
Structural Problems
Creative Interviews prepared with tenants
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Best & worst experiences
systemic issues
Attractiveness Unaware Activity 0
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100
What would you add to Halton Mill?
83% 50%
Technical and business
Creatives
KINDS OF TENANTS
Creative Interview
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reative interviews were conducted to get a better understanding on how each tenant interacted with HM. After analysing the data, the research team found that a majority of the tenants were creative individuals or in some way related to creative industry. The best experiences for the tenants within HM were the sense of networking and ethical community provided, while their worst were
6 Participants related to structural and technical problems within HM. As far as how well they individually contributed to HM, even though many of the tenants were willing to contribute to the Mill’s development they were not aware of how they could. This expressed a lack of communication in terms of HM’s communal upkeep or growth. That said, there still were a few tenants that did contribute to HM in some way through volunteering.
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Lack of Interaction (Ground Floor/First Floor Divide)
Social Similar Professions Expertise Overlap
ise ert
Wo rk oti on Le arn Ne ing tw ork Te ing c Su hnic pp al ort
Pr om
Ad m
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xp gE ttin Ge
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What they can offer to HM
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Ecology Map Analysis
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Whaty they expect from HM
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Friends
tia
Networking
Pro
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Po
Share Spaces
Relationship with other tenants
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Ad
Art Projects
Pro
Building the future of HM
Ecology Map
T
he team continued by making an ecology map of the tenants to see their relationship with other tenants. An ecology map is useful as it represents “the system of actors with their mutual relations and can provide a systemic view of the service and of its context� (Morelli, 2007). The ecology map can be divided into three basic sections: what they expect from each other; what they could offer others and the overall relationship between the tenants.
7 Participants Analysing the data the team could see that most of the tenants could provide inspiration and networking skills to others as well as a helping hand. Most of them expect to learn something from others and get moral or technical support. As they shared spaces they had a networking relationship, but many of them agreed that there was a divide between the upper and lower floor that hindered potential synergy.
Ecology Maps prepared with tenants
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Enjoyable
Arrive at HM Walk dog Students arrive
Arrive at HM
Interact with others
Kitchen not cosy Have Lunch
Arrive at HM
Make tea and have chat
Interact with students
Check email and respond
Health Spa Yoga
Interact with others Have lunch outside
Preparations
Prepare teaching
Check social media + email
Frustrating
Leave HM Yoga
Leave HM Reception work
Process applications
Internet problems
Printing at Hive Interruptions during work
Leave HM
Limited Printing Facilities 9:30
Artist Studio
Jenny Natush
10:30
13:00
Mandy Reeves
Customer Journey Map prepared with three tenants of HM
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Painting lessons
17:00
Customer Journey Map
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Customer Journey Map was followed with three of the tenants describing their daily routine at HM to see their touchpoints and know more about their interaction with the services HM provides. The researchers found that these three tenants had very few areas of overlap so they rarely had a chance to interact. Also, their routines were
3 Participants
not very well-defined. Further insights related structural problems the tenants experienced, for example, the kitchen on the upper floor is not that cosy to have lunch together. As a result most of the tenants choose to have their lunch in their own spaces.
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Co-Design Phase Introduction
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pon completing initial research into the workings of Halton Mill, the research team began considering potential co-design techniques. Participatory design as the name implies involves individuals or groups designing through participation, to elaborate it entails, collaborative partnerships and co-construction of knowledge in analysis and co-construction of changes in social practices (Gregory, 2003).
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Research team preparing co-design session for Halton Mill tenants
Preparation Halton Mill functioned as a community, arguable as a family even
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I
t had earlier been established that HM functioned as a community, arguably as a family even, therefore it was necessary to devise a collaborative design session that involved that ‘family element’. It was important since the participants of this activity would be the tenants of HM. After evaluating potential activities that could be done as a community the team decided on a game as a co-design activity to come up with potential solutions.
According to Brandt and Messeter (2004) by framing collaborative design activities in a game format, it can arguably improve idea generation and communication between stakeholders, therefore this approach made sense. The game would have to be playful as well as intuitive in order to keep the flow of idea generation active. Above all it needed to encompass the originally defined weaknesses of the space in synergy, income and exposure. The aim was to come up with recommendations to enhance each or any of those areas.
Location Cards
Direction Cards
Question Cards
?
Three tier gameplay desgined for Halton Mill co-design session
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How the Game Plays
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he game was designed with a three tier gameplay fashioned in the form of a card game. Each player was allocated a Location card that functioned as a reference point to some physical point in Halton Mill, the cards that were drawable were a) the Cafe, b) the Outside area, c) Meeting Room, d) the Hive, e) the Corridors, f) the Atrium, g) Personal Units, and finally h) a pair of Wildcards which could refer any of the above or other areas of the drawers choosing. The second tier of play involved the participants drawing a Direction card. These functioned as instructions on how to think on the lines of their referenced locations. There were three possible outcomes to the cards either the direction of thought was a) a learning experience, b) an entertaining experience, and c) a physical alteration to the location selected.
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The final tier of play involved with bringing all the prior drawn cards into perspective with the use of a Question card. These cards were instructions on what the participants had to do with the above designated cards. Each round had one question with the second round beginning with a new set of drawn Location and Direction cards for a new Question card. The asked questions dealt with the areas of synergy, income and exposure in HM; a) how are you going to invite people to come to the indicated space, b) what activities can be done together in the indicated space, and c) how can the space be made more alive.
Findings the tenants were interested in seeing change that was not only practical but also had an element of play
A
s part of the gameplay the participants were to sketch, outline or define their imagined solutions according to the cards drawn on to provided sheets. Due to the way these rounds were designed it resulted in very quick bouts of idea generation. This was seen to be very helpful as a variety of different potential solutions arose from the rounds of play. Each round was followed by a short discussion between participants that followed up with further idea clarification.
7 Participants Findings varied greatly from very radical ideas that were playful in nature to ideas that were more practical in execution. This explained that the participants, the tenants, were interested in seeing change that was not only practical but also had an element of play much like you would see in activities families have. Get togethers, social events, interactions on a personal and community level were potential lines to think on for solutions that fitted the environment.
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Service Recommendations Introduction
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fter the co-design session, the researchers collected all suggestions. Analysing them to see how each suggestion could help HM the researchers divided it into a potential timeline comprising of 3 areas of short-term, mid-term, and long-term recommendations..
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Visual Signage example
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Visual Signboards Location Corridors, Atrium Term Short-Term
H
alton Mill is currently working on signage within and outside the building, with help from a tenant who is a graphic designer. However, the signage could become more expressive. The research recommends visual signboards on the door of each tenant which could be made by the tenants themselves. In order to keep these consistent and professional a simple template could be assigned, if imagined necessary. The rest is up to the tenant! These visual signboards could also be used in Atrium instead where potential visitors can see at one glance what goes on in the Mill.
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Resources Required
This is a low-cost solution. Nevertheless, it requires some time and commitment from the tenants. Halton Mill does not need to spend any money for this, it can be a personal choice.
Benefits
Synergy will be created by this solution as the tenants will get more insight about each other. This could lead to more conversations and interactions as well. Exposure will be created internally, creating awareness among the tenants. Also visitors may acquire a better impression of the tenants and might be attracted to see more of them personally, or perhaps be attracted through the free spirited nature of the signs.
Halton Mill Newsletter mock up
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Elephant News Term Short/Mid-Term
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dding to the visual signboards, which could be seen as snapshots, Halton Mill needs a defined monthly newsletter in which the current activities of the tenants and other activities could be promoted. This newsletter can be published digitally among Halton Mill members, but also within the local area. It could also be a completely online system. These visual signboards could also be used in Atrium instead where potential visitors can see at one glance what goes on in the Mill.
Resources Required
The solution requires time and planning. To ensure its success one of the members of the Green Elephant should be made responsible for this. In order to create more exposure one might need a small budget to promote the newsletter on local webpages. Adding to this a system of acquiring information from the tenants would need to be setup. There already is a newsletter system being using in HM and a further enhancement of that could be done.
Benefits
Synergy will be created as tenants will be aware of each others ongoing activities. Income could be created as local people would be attracted to make use of the hot-desking facility through this newsletter or even be attracted to events that could bring in income. Exposure will be created as this is a clear up-todate channel to the outer world.
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Collaborative Art Installation in Corridors
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Art Installation Location Corridors, Atrium Term Short-Term
Resources Required
n Art Installation can be created in many forms such as a wall painting, changing the existing decoration, using color to distinguish functional zones in Halton Mill, or a combined art project and various other methods.
Benefits
A
Collaboration and creative ideas. This project can encourage tenants to work more together also as a monthly exercise in synergy. It is also an opportunity for tenants to create a deep understanding of one another. At the same time, art installations can be a lesson to build team consciousness, understand others and how to collaborate with others. HM can organize these kind of creations every month or every year. It will become a way of promotion and enable more and more people to get to know Halton Mill.
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Woodcraft Workshop being held in Makerspace
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Workshops
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ne potential solution suggested through the co-design session was the possibility of workshops. HM has a variety of spaces they could each serve a location for a particular kind of workshop or skillshare session that the tenants could participate in.
Woodcraft Workshop
Location Lune Lab Makerspace Term Short-Term The Makerspace is a location designated for activities that are of a creative nature especially project based. Although not a very large space there is equipment available for woodcraft. This space can also be expanded to incorporate art projects or workshops.
Digital Workshop Location The Hive Term Short-Term
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The Hive is an ideal location for short term sessions as it hosts a classroom environment with computers and personal desks. When not in use it can be a space for digital workshops. Participants can bring their own laptops and learn such things as web and graphic design through professionals currently present in HM.
Resources Required
Planning, low investment
Benefits
Being a form of skill sharing that can be done by the tenants for the tenants, this is an ideal opportunity to bring people together in a learning experience. Tenants will also become aware of each others potential and strengths for future reference. These events can be opened to the public to bring in added exposure and even income to HM. As an expanded vision these events can be taken further to Lectures that can be held in the Atrium. Lectures would need initial funding and marketing which places it as a long-term solution.
Digital Workshop being held in Hive
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Open Library Bookcase Stairwell
Visionary Recommendation MID TERM
Elephant Book Club
Elephant Book Club Major Synergy Boost
Can bring in external revenue through membership Zero investment
MEETING ROOM
Major Synergy Boost
Can bring in external revenue membership Zero investment
Can encourage an Open Library System Can encourage an Open Librar Good way to make new friends
Elephant Book Club 50
Good way to make new fri
Elephant Open Library
Elephant Book Club Location Cafe, Meeting Room, Throughout Term Short-Term
Resources Required
book club is a perfect way to bring people of similar interest together. It can be arranged on a weekly basis and can even bring in low amounts of income through membership. Furthermore with very minor investment an Open Library System can be set up throughout HM. These bookcases can operate as potential water stations bringing people there for a quick chat or quiet social interactions. Being totally open the only constraint would be to replace books upon taking them, a sustainable format that is both welcoming and educational.
Benefits
A
replace books upon taking them, a sustainable format that is both welcoming and educational
Collaboration, commitment, low investment A very comfortable way to bring people together, tenants and externals. A good way to make new friends. As a visionary suggestion the bookcase can be transformed into a potential open staircase library. This would successfully remove the divide between upper and lower floors and also serve as a quick short meeting point with the help of the library. Memberships can bring in income and HM can become famous for its book clubs or literary society in the future, holding literary events later on as well.
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Cooking workshop example
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The Cooking Elephants Location Cafe, Atrium, Meeting Room, Outside Term Short-Term
A
cooking lesson is an opportunity between tenants and public visitors to come together socialise and learn something new or improve on skills. Different themes of cooking lessons can be held such as ‘Vegan Week’ and one could even incorporate different cultures; Italian cuisine for instance.
events can bring a unique culture to the locals
Resources Required
Can start with very low resources, with some cooking utensils, ingredients and of course an available space. Small investment with participants bringing their own ingredients as per event.
Benefit
Being a form of teaching it can be done by the tenants for the tenants, or tenants for public, this is an opportunity to bring people together in a learning experience. Tenants will also become aware of each others potential and strengths for future reference. These events can bring a unique culture to the locals bringing in added exposure and even income to Halton Mill through membership. As a future vision Halton Mill can hold regular markets for selling food or any other artifacts around the facility.
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Festival being attended in Halton Mill Atrium
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Party Elephants Location Cafe, Atrium, Meeting Room, Outside Term Short-Term
A
major recommendation for Halton Mill is to organise more social events, preferably monthly. An example of social events are seasonal festivals held in the Atrium or outside, including food, drinks, and music.
Resources Required
The Green Elephant members could take the responsibility for the planning. Funding can be raised from all the tenants and people from the community who would like to participate. There is even the possibility that tenants serve as a helping hand by making food and bring some entertainment, perhaps stalls for cottage businesses.
Benefit
social activities stimulate interaction between tenants and local community
Social activities would stimulate social interaction between the tenants and potentially with the local community. The involvement of the local community also would be beneficial for Halton Mill’s exposure and could even create a new income stream.
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Completely Immersive Environment
encourage visual interaction between tenants and potential visitors
Inviting Spaces
W
ith respect to the long-term future, Halton Mill would need structural changes. These changes would relate to lack of accessibility for the less mobile; the non-soundproof structure of the building; the parking constraints; an inner connection between the upper and lower floors; and the dimmed corridor spaces. The last mentioned can be enhanced with windows creating a more open structure.
This would encourage visual interaction between tenants and potential visitors benefiting the synergy and exposure within Halton Mill. Bringing this idea to a new level one could even decide to replace the walls with glass or remove the walls and encourage a completely immersive environment for the tenants. Nevertheless, structural changes require high investment and would definitely be a long-term vision. The income stream from the short and mid-term solutions could potentially contribute to this.
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Visionary Recommendation 58
Conclusion Ethics, Community and Growth
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Final Thoughts
H
a need to revise business strategy Halton Mill is a nurturing facility helping its ‘children’ grow and expand
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alton Mill as a co-working place has a lot of opportunity for improvement and growth. The recommendations in the previous section express this potential and could be inspirational for more ideas. Nevertheless, considering the outcomes from a zoomed out perspective, HM needs to revise its business strategy to ensure successful future growth. First and foremost, this requires full commitment on an upper level; a solid management team needs to be defined with clear responsibilities. This is to be followed with a clear vision formulated to help the Green Elephant members move forward and potentially push the tenants towards their individual growth as well. HM is to be like a nurturing facility helping grow it’s children (tenants). This can entail the fundamental aspects of HM being an ethical and communal co-working space.
This vision needs to be with future characteristics focused on growth. Growth is a broad word to deal with, but in this case one can focus on enhancing synergy, increasing exposure, and creating new income streams. Integrating all these aspects can result in an even more bright future of Halton Mill. In short a motto of “Ethics, Community and Growth” is what a committed managerial team requires to incorporate in all future decisions regarding the Mill. This particular thinking will allow for not only HM growth but also tenant growth as well.
Limitations
T
hroughout the course of roughly three months, the research team went through a variety of research methods that all involved heavy participation from HM in order to come up with the most efficient direction through calculated data collection and analysis. One major limitation the researchers faced throughout was limited participation. Ideally 100% participation is encouraged for the best possible results in such a research, the average percentage of participation from HM was around 30% in comparison.
The team has still managed to come up with potentially viable solutions from the participating tenants, though for ideal solutions more committed cooperation from participants/ stakeholders would be required for future research.
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References Morelli, N. (2007), New representation techniques for designing in a systemic perspective, paper presented at Design Inquires, Stokholm. Bilandzic, M. & Foth, M. 2013. Libraries as Coworking Spaces: Understanding User Motivations and Perceived Barriers to Social Learning. Library Hi Tech, 31(2), 254273. Welch, J. 2012. The Power of Collaboration. Economic Development Journal, 11(4), 36-41. Brandt, E. and Messeter, J. (2004). Facilitating collaboration through design games. In: Proceedings of the eighth conference on Participatory design Artful integration interweaving media materials and practices PDC 04. pp.121-131.
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Gregory, J. (2003). Scandinavian Approaches to Participatory Design. International Journal of Engaging Education, 19(1), pp.62-74. Osterwalder, A. 2010. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Hoboken, N.J. : Wiley. Spinuzzi, C.. 2012. Working Alone Together: Coworking as Emergent Collaborative Activity. J. Bus. Tech. Commun., 26(4), 399441.v