Process
At Imagine Deliver, we believe those who experience problems firsthand have the best solutions. Our inclusive design model puts users at the center, making them the most important designers. By leveraging outliers, we drive innovation that addresses real-world needs. While the design world searches for new methods, we have an answer. Our approach is democratic and pluralistic, drawing from universal design and community organizing. It’s both collective and practical, with empathy as the cornerstone of innovation. We know that innovation cannot scale or endure without a fair foundation. Some designers say, ”Cars, not fast horses.” We say, “Let’s redefine mobility.”
Set context
Listen
Understand
Shape
Activate
Set context
Listen
Understand
Shape
Activate
To create lasting change, we must understand the history and root causes of the problems we're solving. At Imagine Deliver, we help clients delve deeply into the historical and systemic factors that shape current challenges. This understanding allows us to avoid past mistakes and build on the successes of those who came before us. We explore the hyper-local history of the places we work in and examine the reasons why systems are built the way they are. We also map user journeys to identify pain points and opportunities for improvement. Through this inquiry, we identify the most important end users and design with them in mind, ensuring that their voices and experiences shape the solutions we create.
Once we’ve identified the key people and communities a client needs to hear from, we use tools like empathy interviews, focus groups, surveys, urban pop-ups, and creative conversations to deeply listen and learn. In this stage, we don't make assumptions; we rely on the insights and genius of the community to gather qualitative and quantitative data that reveal the truth behind a problem and novel solutions leaders may not have considered yet.
Our team analyzes all the knowledge gathered from the community, distilling it down to the most innovative insights, trends, and solutions. We combine this information with our own expertise and outside research to develop a comprehensive understanding of the problem and potential solutions.
We guide clients and participants through focused design sessions using universal and user-centered design methods. These sessions inspire creativity and collaboration, enabling communities and clients to co-create solutions. Our workshops are designed to be accessible and engaging, using creative methods and cross-sector collaboration to bring diverse perspectives together. Imagine an artist, an elder, an academic, an architect, a business strategist, a board member, and a patient all around the same design table to redesign a healthcare experience. This inclusive approach ensures that everyone can design and contribute. Our team then takes the most promising ideas and builds them into actionable strategies, using our knowledge of organizational development, change management, and strategy to add the specific details clients need to get solutions off paper and implemented in real life.
Our action-oriented approach ensures plans translate into real-world shifts. We are partners in design and implementation, not just planners. The process isn't complete until you've taken action. This means trying things out in analogue, implementing pilots, or launching initiatives immediately. After a strategy session, you might start a pilot project ‘on Monday,’ testing real-world applications. Whether it's launching a new service, developing a product, or setting up an action roadmap, we ensure the change starts right away. We provide the tools and support to take those critical first steps and maintain momentum.
Transforming complex systems—such as healthcare, education, housing, and public safety—requires a comprehensive approach across three stages: preparing by understanding context and history, collaborating by engaging partners who can drive significant change alongside you, and transforming by implementing sustainable changes together. While leaders like you can target and activate each stage independently, true systems change is achieved by collectively addressing all three in active collaboration. Imagine Deliver is the only strategy consulting firm that explicitly crafts solutions based on the wisdom of your users to collectively address all three tiers of systems change.
Prepare
Collaborate
Transform
Prepare
Collaborate
Transform
Stage 1: Preparation
Understanding the context and history of the system problem is crucial to solving the issue. At this stage, we gather historical context, challenge prevailing myths, and center your most important stakeholder—the end user—to tell a new story.
Stage 2: Collaboration
Driving systems change requires dynamic collaboration among visionary leaders from various sectors. We bring together key decision-makers, equipped with solid data and insights from end users, to foster partnerships and ignite creative thinking. This stage focuses on aligning diverse perspectives, encouraging bold ideas, embracing conflict, and developing effective solutions that meet impossible goals.
Stage 3: Transformation
With a clear understanding and collaborative input, we work to operationalize the transformation alongside coalition leaders and action networks. This involves redistributing resources, shifting policies, and implementing new products and services designed by and with your users. We ensure that the change starts happening right away and gets sustained and scaled over time. This stage includes aligning budgets and funding with community needs, reforming rules and regulations, and launching initiatives that directly benefit end users and address systemic issues.
A world designed for everyone starts with institutions and organizations building a foundation of equity into their strategies. We help innovate by designing services and systems with the people they affect.
Imagine Deliver is rebuilding a city from the inside out in the next decade. A generational opportunity to rebuild for the future. Each and every one of our projects enabling community genius to guide system innovation brings us one step closer to our goal and vision.
