DESIGNING to facilitate CONVERSATION
For this project, we worked with the Museum of Science, Boston, Tufts University, and the National Institutes of Health to create these materials to help facilitate participant conversations. These materials were prototyped and then used in a focus group discussion of substance use disorders in their Building Communities of Resilience series.
We designed the materials to be easy to use, flexible, and to allow the participants to easily express their points of view. This was done with visual cues such as color coding, icons, photography, and concise labeling.
We created:
3 sets of unique and interactive cards
A board to compile each group’s thought process and decision-making
Conversation guidelines
Table numbers
Banners
A Powerpoint presentation template
Focus group title design to be used across several content themes.
See more about this project below!
Cards
The cards are grouped by content areas—stakeholder, aspect, and community organization cards. We used color-coding to make it clear which card belongs to which grouping, and use this same color coding system on the board. These cards are designed to be cut up and placed on the board or written on.
THe Board
This board acts as the central location for each group to express their point of view. At the end of the forum, each group was tasked with presenting their thoughts about the topic. We designed this board to be an effective presentation tool for that purpose. It is also color coded to match the cards to it’s clear where to put the card selections.
The materials In use
These pictures show the materials being used at the focus group.
Photography by Eric Workman
Building communities of Resilience brand
This focus group series will happen annually, each with a different topic. We were tasked with creating a brand that would be flexible enough to use with each topic, but cohesive enough to be recognized as the same series.