The Importance of Building Trust in Digital Co-Design

Social distancing due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused designers to rethink how they engage with users. This project involves a designer and users co-creating a digital workshop for ideating solutions through the use of information and communication technologies (ICT). The context of COVID-19 was used as a means to engage with users through digital co-design activities. However, the aim of the project was not to solve their problems of information sharing, but to understand what participants need from a facilitator in order to have more meaningful dialogues and contribute to the ideation process. The importance of trust and a sense of empowerment were identified as what participants need to better ideate and innovate. Trust and empowerment are valuable in any co-design situation, physical or digital. However, when interacting with participants through strictly digital means, it requires more time and energy to nurture trust between a designer and users. The knowledge gained through this digital co-design project resulted in not only a co-created digital prototype for remote co-design, but guidelines for how to develop trust with users when co-designing remotely