Ever tried to bring together stakeholders for the start of a complex project, and despite everyone's best intentions, you end up with misaligned goals and circular discussions? What if there was a better way to structure these crucial early-stage conversations? Knowing that the best results often start not with a perfect plan, but with a better conversation.

Enter the Co-Design Canvas. It is less a rigid tool and more a framework for thinking. A simple, intuitive way to map out complex challenges and, more importantly, to foster the kind of collaborative energy that leads to genuinely better results. We tried it out with 50 city planners in November, working on four wicked challenges. It’s magic.

It Starts with a Shared ‘Why’

Inspired by Simon Sinek's 'Golden Circle', the canvas starts with purpose. Before diving into what you’re building, it asks to align on why you’re doing it and what you truly want to change. This single step is incredibly powerful, preventing the costly drift that happens when teams have subtly different goals. It gets everyone on the same page, right from the start.

Making Room for Every Voice

Complex projects often involve a dizzying number of stakeholders. The canvas provides a clear, transparent way to map who needs to be involved, what their concerns are, and their influence. It’s a living document that evolves with the project, ensuring that crucial perspectives aren't missed. This helps de-risk projects, avoid re-work, and builds a foundation of trust.

Looking Beyond the Final Deliverable

This is where the canvas truly shines. While it helps define the tangible outcome of your project, it looks at the long-term impact, as well. For projects addressing systemic issues like climate resilience or social inequality, the lasting legacy can be even more important than the physical output.

Are you fostering stronger community ties? Creating new, sustainable ways of working between professional teams and silos? The canvas provides a space to define and track these deeper measures of success.

A Framework for How We Actually Think

Perhaps the most refreshing aspect of the canvas is its flexibility. It is not a rigid, linear plan. It’s designed to accommodate the messy, non-linear way that great ideas emerge. You can jump between sections, explore tangents, and park unresolved questions. It reduces tension and allows for the natural ebb and flow of a creative process.

For teams accustomed to more structured methods, this freedom can feel unfamiliar. So, bringing in a skilled facilitator can be key to unlocking its full potential, guiding the group to ensure that freedom fosters focus, not chaos.

The Co-Design Canvas was developed under the auspices of Prof. Wina Smeenk from InHolland University, in a three year EU Horizon 2020 project with 18 institutional partners from 13 countries.