Designing test ideas (phase 3)
Prototype test ideas to gather user feedback, identify risks and update your theory of change.
In this phase you use participatory methods to develop test ideas into prototypes. You’ll work with relevant groups, including:
- people with lived experience
- local staff
- voluntary, community or social enterprise partners
Main aims of this phase
The main aims of this phase are to:
- involve service users and staff to ensure their insights and experiences shape the design
- develop ideas into prototypes for testing
Outcomes of this phase
At the end of this phase you should have:
- designed ideas that meet user needs and support better outcomes
- created at least one prototype for testing
- identified what you’ll test first
- iterated your theory of change
In this phase, you’ll use participatory design to create a testable prototype alongside the people who will use or deliver the service.
When designing your prototype, you should involve:
- people with lived experience of the issue
- operational staff who work in government or voluntary, community or social enterprises (VCSEs)
Staff in VCSEs may work in services connected to the challenge area, or know people with lived experience. Include them when you:
- decide what to prototype
- design the prototype
Work with them as equal decision makers from the start, or create opportunities for feedback by running design workshops or show and tells.
Always make sure you conduct research safely and compensate members of the public for their time.
Planning how to involve people in the work
It’s important to do participatory design carefully and sensitively. To make participation meaningful, consider:
- who to work with
- how to collaborate
- when to bring people in to the process
To decide how much to involve people, check that you can:
- give them influence over decisions and what you do next
- keep them safe, especially when discussing sensitive topics
- make taking part feel worthwhile, even for people with limited time
Do not work with participants if you cannot guarantee their safety.
Assessing risk is especially important if you’re testing with people in vulnerable situations. You could run:
- a consequence scanning workshop – read the Doteveryone guide to consequence scanning
- a premortem – read the Atlassian guide to premortem project management strategy
These sessions help you to:
- consider risks from the start
- plan how to mitigate them during testing
Example: using consequence scanning to identify risks in testing
The Test Learn and Grow team worked with Islington Council to assess the possible effects of testing an idea to tackle violence against women and girls.
They ran a consequence scanning workshop to:
- identify possible unintended risks as well as the positive impacts they hoped to achieve
- create a log recording how they would reduce the risks
- review risks and impacts with staff to discuss what was happening in practice and any changes they could make
A prototype is a way of making your ideas real, so you can:
- see how they work
- reduce the risk in your decisions
- get feedback
- fix things that do not work before you start testing
Prototypes help you learn where and how to improve an idea. Read about the principles of prototyping to guide your approach.
Prototyping with participatory design methods
Use participatory design methods to create your first prototype with local people and partners. You could:
- hold workshops to map out steps together and refine the design as you gather feedback
- run focus groups or research sessions to test specific parts of your idea
- test early prototypes with participants
Use the insights you gather from these sessions to update your theory of change so it reflects your latest understanding of how an intervention will work.
Choosing what to prototype
Start with the questions you need to answer before you move into testing. These should form the focus of your prototype.
Next, decide on the smallest thing you can make to answer those questions, and choose the format that suits them best.
Sketch your idea before creating something more detailed to:
- get early insights into what works
- save time and effort
Prototype formats
A prototype could be a:
- sketch
- letter
- poster
- storyboard
- service map or walkthrough
- Wizard of Oz simulation, which mimics how a service or intervention would work - read the Interaction Design Foundation guide to Wizard of Oz prototypes
- wireframe created with design software such as Miro or Figma
- website built on a platform such as the GOV.UK Prototype Kit
For detailed methods of prototyping, explore section 07 Prototyping in the This is Service Design Doing method library.
Prototyping approaches
Depending on what you’re testing, you could use:
- paper prototypes, such as sending a mock-up letter to households and asking for feedback
- prototypes in code, such as building wireframes users can click through to test a new triage app
- service prototypes, such as testing a proposed support programme with a sample group of parents to see if they find the options helpful
Example: co-designing an early years intervention with local services
In Manchester, the Test, Learn and Grow team interviewed council staff and parents to find ways to help more reception-age children meet early learning goals. The findings showed that joined-up services supported families better. Staff then wanted to see if Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) data could identify how services might reach children, before problems developed.
The team brought together frontline staff and senior leaders from across schools, early years providers, Family Hubs and the local authority. In 2 design workshops, the group helped design an intervention and establish the collaborative culture needed to support it.
In the first workshop, participants worked in mixed groups to turn raw data into practical information. They sketched layouts and shared ideas, creating visuals of the data that busy staff could understand and use. Based on this view of the data, they agreed on joint decisions staff could make to support families and children earlier.
In the second workshop, participants focused on how partners in Manchester could work together using the data. They explored barriers to joint working across services and set out how they want to collaborate in the future.