What do you do when you're choosing design tools for social impact projects?

1 Define your problem and goals

Before you dive into any design tool, you need to have a clear understanding of the problem you are trying to solve and the goals you are aiming for. What is the root cause of the issue? Who is affected by it and how? What are the desired outcomes and indicators of success? How will you measure and evaluate your impact? These questions will help you frame your problem and goals in a way that is relevant, specific, and measurable.

3 Choose your design approach and methods

Once you have a solid foundation of your problem, goals, context, and stakeholders, you can choose your design approach and methods. There are different design approaches that you can adopt for social impact projects, such as human-centered design, participatory design, co-design, or systems design. Each approach has its own principles, processes, and tools that can guide you through the different stages of design, from ideation to prototyping to implementation. You can also mix and match different methods from different approaches, depending on your needs and preferences. Some examples of design methods are brainstorming, mind mapping, storyboarding, prototyping, testing, or feedback loops.

5 Use your design tools wisely

Finally, once you have chosen and evaluated your design tools, it is important to use them wisely. You should involve your stakeholders in the design process, from defining the problem and goals to creating and implementing the solution. Additionally, it is essential to test and iterate your assumptions and ideas with stakeholders in order to improve your solution. Furthermore, you should document your design process and outcomes and share them with stakeholders and other relevant audiences. Lastly, it is important to learn from successes and failures and reflect on your impact and challenges. All of these best practices will help you make informed decisions that will help create meaningful social impact.