Nous’ Child Link journey maps win 2021 Good Design Award

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Nous Group’s use of human-centred design to transform the sharing of information to enhance child wellbeing and safety has won a 2021 Good Design Award.

Nous’ work with Victoria’s Department of Education and Training (DET) won the Good Design Award in the category of Public Sector Service Design, it was announced on 11 October.

In supporting DET’s development of its Child Link platform for information sharing and collaboration, Nous engaged over 72 practitioners through 19 workshops and eight validations sessions.

The output was an array of journey maps and network diagrams that showed both the current state and the potential future state, as well as a comprehensive insights report.

The Good Design Award jury said: “Great to see journey maps and HCD (human-centred design) being applied to such an important topic and embraced by the public sector. It shows how design tools, journey maps and mindset can engage a client to frame a complex challenge. Well done.”

Kirsty Elderton, the Nous Principal who led the project team, said the project showed the power of HCD.

“This work demonstrates that designing with the people impacted by a new system rather than for them moves stakeholders toward a shared understanding, greater engagement and endorsement of reforms,” she said.

“Information-sharing systems require a people-first rather than technology-first approach, so it is essential to understand the context, environment and relationships that drive behaviour.”

Nous’ work has guided the design of Child Link, influencing strategic policy, system usability, functionality and data requirements. The insights are also supporting implementation planning, including messaging and communications, change management and training requirements.

The Nous project team included Kirsty Elderton, Dan Fine, Alannah Tran, Bhairavi Raman, Tim Esmonde and Matt Torney. The DET team included Lisa Gandolfo, Susan Dobson, Biddy McPhee-Lam, Maxine Ewens and Loreta Camerlengo.

You can find out more about this project on our website.

Last year Nous won a 2020 Good Design Award for our work on Y4Y Youth Force.