Bringing Design Strengths Together
Working together on societal challenges requires more than good intentions. It requires conscious choices about how you collaborate, which agreements you make, and how you navigate tensions between experimentation and predictability. This dynamic toolbox offers practical tools to help you strengthen and sustain your collaboration step by step, while addressing common challenges, from unclear roles to unspoken expectations.
For and by the sector
The idea for a toolbox, along with the first tools, emerged from the design commission Bringing Design Strengths Together, led by theRevolution and Muzus. The aim is for the toolbox to grow richer by bringing together the knowledge and experience of the wider sector. By sharing tools and ways of working, we can strengthen the design sector’s ability to respond to major societal challenges.
Who is this toolbox for?
For individual designers, design teams and design agencies who want to work together on societal challenges. The tools help you move from informal collaboration towards more structural partnerships.
Mazzel or Misfortuin — MIRO template
Developed for PONT by theRevolution, Muzus, Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken, Design Innovation Group, Reframing Studio and Zeewaardig.
What is it?
A flexible template for exploring and documenting the elements that help sustain a collaboration, in three steps.
How to use it?
You decide how far you want to take it — from simply discussing the form of your collaboration to putting concrete agreements in writing and signing them. Use the template to document agreements together and review them periodically.
When to use it?
At the start of a collaboration, at key moments during a project, or when you notice uncertainty around roles and expectations.
Code of Conduct for Collaborating Designers
Developed for PONT by theRevolution, Muzus, Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken, Design Innovation Group, Reframing Studio and Zeewaardig.
What is it?
A set of principles and ground rules that participants collectively commit to. It makes explicit how you want to work together and can serve as a foundation for collaboration agreements.
How to use it
Discuss the code of conduct with all collaboration partners, adapt it where needed, and have everyone agree to it. Use it as a basis for further agreements.
When to use it
For structured and coordinated collaborations, or for intensive collaborations involving multiple partners with different interests.
Role cards
Submitted by social design agency The Revolution.
What is it?
A tool for mapping out positions, responsibilities and areas of expertise within a collaboration. It makes gaps and areas of overcapacity visible.
How to use it?
Map out which roles are needed, who is responsible for what, and where there are overlaps or gaps. Allocate tasks consciously and discuss differences in ways of working and levels of involvement.
When to use it?
When the team grows, when there are changes in team composition, when external parties join, or when professionalising an existing consortium.
Creative Passport
Submitted by social design agency Muzus.
What is it?
A way to explore how individual team members prefer to work together, what they are good at, and how they like to interact with one another.
How to use it?
Ask everyone to share their working style, preferences and strengths. Use this information to shape the collaboration more effectively.
When to use it?
At the start of a collaboration, to get to know each other better, or during the project to improve the way you work together.