Social Design Project
The project aimed to increase the effectiveness of PSV Foundations’ Fit in de Buurt programme through social design. Fit in de Buurt is an eight week lifestyle programme established by the PSV Foundation and Partnerfonds Brainport Eindhoven, that aims to help citizens of Eindhoven adopt healthier behaviour. Using an iterative, participatory design process resulted in a proposed solution tailored to all actors’ needs: Fitterbal.
Fitterbal is a tangible addition to the lifestyle programme and aims to lower the threshold of changing health behaviour, by shifting focus to the insights most important to the participant. Building onto the ball one surface a week, using fill-in patches, makes insights personalised and highlights progress. Besides, its interactive nature utilises group dynamics. Both during and after the programme, the ball can be seen as a personalised trophy representing the progress and overall experience from Fit in de Buurt.
“I was so caught up in the programme. You suggested many improvements that we were able to implement immediately.”
Fit in de Buurt Programme manager
“Our compliments! It may look simple, but it’s very well thought out. Everything is meticulously executed, and both the presentation and journey are cleanly designed.
Brainport Eindhoven
Design approach
Fitterbal was developed through an iterative, human-centred design approach (Figure 1). The process was inspired by the double diamond, but its structure and methods were adapted to fit the context. This resulted in three phases: ‘Context exploration’, ‘conceptualisation’ and ‘prototyping and concept evaluation’. As the figure above illustrates, the first phase: ‘Context exploration’ aimed at gaining an unbiased understanding of the complex context of Fit in de Buurt (FidB) through adoption and adaptation of qualitative methods and triangulation of these. In the second phase: ‘Conceptualisation’, the resulting areas of opportunity were prioritised with the client, allowing concept development. Involving relevant actors in phase one and two provided solid ground to create prototypes and evaluate the concept in phase three: ‘Prototyping and concept evaluation’. Constant involvement of relevant actors generated extensive amounts of data, which was aligned with client expectations and converted into an aesthetic and physical product.
Phase 1: Context Exploration
In the first phase, a triangulation of qualitative methods was applied to gather rich data on the specific experiences within the context of Fit in de Buurt. Sessions with multiple actors were executed, including an interview with the programme manager, and sessions with ex-participants and a FidB coach in which tools were used to grasp latent needs and experiences. Lastly, first person perspective was applied by our own participation to the lifestyle programme. The qualitative data was processed in an ecosystem and journey to visually represent and communicate a holistic overview of the Fit in de Buurt context. The ecosystem map (Figure 2) shows the relationship of key players and organizations with the FidB participant. The journey (Figure 3) treats the entire participant trajectory, flipping the board displays the coach perspective. Illustrations visualised actions within the journey and the bubbles show pains, gains and areas of opportunity.
Phase 2: Conceptualisation
The second phase commenced with aligning the results from the first phase with the programme manager to scope the project direction. Based on an alignment session with FidB programme manager (Figure 4), areas of opportunity were prioritised and a list of requirements, preferences and constraints (RPC) was constructed. The alignment session resulted in a defined scope for conceptualisation. Benchmarks were used as inspiration for multiple ideation sessions. The concepts were assessed on the RPC.Eventually, a tangible addition to the workshops, making insights and goals concrete, was chosen as a concept.
To validate the concept, shape the concept’s functions and brainstorm additional features, two co-creation sessions were executed with designers and Fit in de Buurt actors (Figure 5). High-over, insights from the conceptualisation phase led to a specified design challenge: To use social design in creating an feasible, interactive tool that helps a diverse group of participants personalise and materialise theory to emphasise progress and lower the threshold of gaining healthier habits, and in turn potentially increase the effectiveness of PSV Foundation’s Fit in de Buurt programme.
Phase 3: Prototyping & Concept Evaluation
The result of the second phase was a concrete concept and accompanying design challenge. In the third phase, different shapes, materials and production techniques were explored to find a cost-efficient product with rich interactions. Three prototypes were iteratively developed (Figure 6), with the cardboard version as main result. An evaluation was executed with FidB participants and coach to assess their experiences with Fitterbal (Figure 7). The ball was introduced in its natural setting by taking it home and implementing it in a recreated workshop. Evaluation showed potential in Fitterbal being an inclusive, meaningful and viable design, and offered suggestions for future developments.
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