Can Experience Labs Enable Co-creation?

Experience Labs aim to enable creativity and collaboration between people by creating a safe space and through the use of design tools and artefacts. The poster examines how successful the Labs are in achieving this, based on examples from recently completed projects. Experience Labs use a design-led methodology with a participatory mindset, bringing together academic, business and civic stakeholders along with relevant user groups, who assume the role of co-creators. Creating the right environment for co-creation is an important aspect of the Labs. Many participants come to a Lab with a feeling of apprehension, but the methods and tools gently ease them into the process. The use of physical things as thinking tools allows people to share and be listened to by overcoming barriers of discipline, hierarchy and culture etc. Findings show that Experience Labs helps to reduce the gap often created when user requirements are interpreted and translated by ‘experts’, and to shorten the timeframe between making and testing through an iterative design approach. The quotes and general impressions from the participants suggest that Labs encourage co-creation and that stakeholders see value in the Experience Lab approach. Further research will focus on studying the role of spaces and artefacts in co-creation, and to understand what makes some approaches more successful than others