The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of co-design methods in the context of design for social innovation, to expand the application scope of co-design methods and enrich their connotations. Using Citespace literature quantitative analysis tool to construct knowledge maps and summarizes the research hotspots of co-design in domestic and foreign. Dividing social innovation into 4 contexts: Local Culture, Community Construction, Public Welfare care, and Public Service. The Nvivo text grounded coding tool is used to extract the theme characteristics of the 4 contexts and commonly used co-deign methods. Ten application characteristics of co-deign in different contexts of social innovation are obtained, which deepens the theoretical basis of co-deign methods and provides a reference for co-deign research in social innovation and other fields.