Project Number: 2023-2-PL01-KA220-YOU-000171409
MOBIUS MODULE 5
Journey: From Ideas to Prototypes. The Social Innovation Design Process.
The Mobius project has been funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the National Agency (NA). Neither the European Union nor NA can be held responsible for them.
Agenda
- Module’s goals
- What will you learn
- Activities
- 5.1. Social Innovation and Social Innovation Spiral
- Activity 1: Innovation Spiral - Drag and drop game
- 5.2. DESIGN THINKING
- Activity 2: Design thinking - short quiz
- Activity 3: 5 phases - Click on the image
- Activity 4: Idea generation techniques
- Activity 5: Word Search Challenge
- References
Module’s Goal
Module 5 helps you learn and use the basics of Design Thinking and the Social Innovation Spiral. You'll come up with creative ideas, build simple prototypes, and test your solutions to make a real difference in your community.
What will you learn?
KNOWLEDGE
- You’ll get to know the key ideas behind Design Thinking and the Social Innovation Spiral.
- You’ll understand why empathy and putting people first is so important in designing solutions.
- You’ll learn fun and useful tools to help you come up with ideas, build quick models (prototypes), and test them out.
- You’ll see how listening to real feedback can help you make your ideas even better.
ATTITUDES
- You’ll be encouraged to stay curious and try new things when building your ideas.
- You’ll learn that it’s okay to keep improving and changing your solution as you go.
- You’ll be open to working with others and listening to their needs and opinions.
- You’ll understand that failing is just part of learning—and it helps you grow.
- You will adjust project implementation based on feedback, lessons learned, and performance data.
What will you learn?
SKILLS
- You’ll learn how to use Design Thinking to come up with creative solutions for real-world problems.
- You’ll learn how to build quick and simple versions of your ideas to test how they work.
- You’ll learn how to gather feedback from others and use it to make your prototypes even better.
- You’ll learn how to show your ideas clearly using things like drawings, diagrams, and digital tools.
5.1. Social Innovation and Social Innovation Spiral
DEFINITIONS RECAP
Before deepening in the module activities, let’s refresh some definitions!
SOCIAL INNOVATION
- Stanford University defines social innovation as the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systematic social and environmental issues in support of social progress.
- To simplify, Social innovation is a process of introducing new products, processes or services that are capable of solving complex social problems. Successful social innovations have long term impact in the society.
SOCIAL ENTERPRENOURSHIP
- Social entrepreneurship is related to social innovation, but the two phenomena are not the same.
- Social entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in driving social innovation.
- Social entrepreneurs are individuals or organizations that pursue innovative solutions to social problems.
Source: Social Innovation Academy
SOCIAL INNOVATION SPIRAL
- The Social Innovation Spiral is a step-by-step process that helps you create ideas that solve real-world problems and make a lasting impact.
- The Social Innovation Spiral was developed by Nesta, the UK´s leading innovation agency for social good to generate a shared understanding of what the innovation process looks like and what different stages and actions are involved.
- The model was developed by Murray, Caulier-Grice, and Mulgan (2010) and it has the form of a nautilus, emphasizing the growing effects of the different stages.
- While many people tend to associate ‘innovation’ with creativity and flashes of inspiration, in reality more innovation comes about as the result of a disciplined, planned and managed process.
ACTIVITY: There are 7 STEPS in the spiral. Click on each step to learn more about them!
SEVEN STAGES
1. Exploring opportunities and challenges: Identifying the opportunity or challenge to which you’d like to respond, and investing time early on to investigate and understand it. 2. Generating ideas: Producing, borrowing or “stealing” ideas, and identifying the ones with real potential. 3. Developing and testing: Investigating, learning from and iterating on the idea you want to develop. 4. Making the case: Planning and implementing a strategy for gathering evidence on the impact of your solution.
5. Delivering and implementing: Planning and organising for the Implementation of your solution, including its ownership and the form and structure you need to create to deliver it. 6. Growing, scaling and spreading: Developing the conditions for and extending the reach of your solution, including choosing the right growth model and spreading practice. 7. Changing systems: Systemic innovation is where maximum social impact can be created. It usually involves changes in the public and private sector over long periods of time, and the interaction of many elements and new ways of thinking.
Source: NESTA
SOCIAL INNOVATION + SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)
When you're creating ideas within the Social Innovation framework, it's important to keep the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in mind. These are global goals that aim to make the world a better place for people and the planet by 2030.
Your ideas can: - Help fight poverty and hunger - Support education, health, and equality - Protect the climate, oceans, and forests - Build better cities and communities - Promote peace, justice, and partnerships
Each stage of the spiral – from exploring ideas to creating real change – is a chance to contribute to one or more of these global goals.
EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Five App: Communicating with Hands
- Created by 18-year-old Mateusz Mach, a high school student.
- A smartphone app that helps deaf and hard of hearing people communicate using finger gesture emoticons.
- Each gesture represents specific information, making it easier to send messages.
- Supports communication in American Sign Language (ASL).
- Quickly gained attention and secured funding to improve and better meet users’ needs.
- Learn more: https://www.itgenerator.com/five-app-a-messenger-for-the-deaf/
Couchsurfing: Travel, Meet, Connect
- A global community of 14 million people in over 200,000 cities.
- Connects travelers with locals who share their homes and lives.
- Makes travel a social and meaningful experience.
- Started in 2004 as a passion project by Casey Fenton, Daniel Hoffer, Sebastian Le Tuan, and Leonardo Bassani da Silveira.
- Inspired by an email sent to students in Iceland — proving that people love sharing their homes with strangers (or “friends you haven’t met yet”)
- Learn more: https://www.couchsurfing.com/dashboard
Too Good To Go: Fight Food Waste
- Food waste is a huge problem — but you can help fix it!
- Too Good To Go is an app that lets you rescue unsold food from shops and restaurants.
- Find local places offering Surprise Bags of surplus food at great prices.
- Save food from being wasted — and enjoy a tasty deal!
- Learn more: https://www.toogoodtogo.com/pl
GoodGym: Exercise Meets Community
- Based in the UK, GoodGym believes gym energy should do more than just burn calories — it should make communities better.
- Combines exercise with volunteering through paired runs where runners visit isolated older people.
- Organizes weekly group runs that include community tasks like clearing rivers of rubbish or helping elderly neighbors with chores.
- Turning workouts into positive social impact!
- Learn more: https://www.nesta.org.uk/feature/8-social-innovations-making-it-big/goodgym/
5.2. DESIGN THINKING
Before we dive in, take this short quiz to see what you already know about Design Thinking! No pressure – it’s just for fun.
DEFINITION
Definition:
- Design Thinking is a way to solve problems by focusing on people first.
- It helps you understand what people really need, come up with creative ideas, and test solutions that can truly work.
Design Thinking & the Social Innovation Spiral:
- Design Thinking is a method – it helps you go through key stages of the spiral like understanding, creating, testing, and improving ideas.
- The Social Innovation Spiral is a bigger journey – from exploring challenges to changing whole systems.
- Design Thinking fits perfectly into the early and middle stages of the Spiral – especially when you’re generating, developing, and testing ideas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0VX-aU_T8
The Process
Design thinking helps to develop innovative ideas which are desirable for people (represented by the heart in the diagram), feasible (represented by the wheel), and valid (represented by the dollar sign). We basically start with a question, what do people want? Once we find that out, we go to the next question - can we do it? So, do we have the technologies, tools, resources to deliver such a solution? Then we answer the question about the validity of our solution - does it meet our goals?
- There are 5 main phases in the Design Thinking process.
- Click on the image above to discover what are these phases
- The phases seem to go in order, but in real life—it’s not always so simple! Design thinking doesn’t follow a strictly linear process.
- You might discover something new at any stage that makes you go back, adjust your idea, or try a different step again.
- That’s totally normal—and it’s how great ideas get even better!
EMPATHIZE: UNDERSTAND PEOPLE FIRST
- The goal here is to really get to know the people you're designing for:
- Who are they? - What challenges do they face? - What do they need or expect?
- This phase is all about learning from people – by listening, not judging.
- Surveys - Interviews - Observation (watching how people do things)
- Tip: Be curious. Ask open questions. Put yourself in their shoes.
DEFINE: WHAT’S THE REAL PROBLEM?
- After listening and gathering info in the Empathize phase, you’ll have a lot of data.
- Now it’s time to figure out: What is the real problem people are facing?
- Not just what you think the problem is — but what the data and patterns actually show.
- Here's how:
- Group what you learned into themes or patterns
- Spot the real needs behind people’s stories
- Choose one main need or problem to focus on. Make sure it matches your goals and what you can realistically solve
- This step sets the direction for your whole project — it gives you a clear target to work toward!
IDEATE: TIME TO GET CREATIVE!
- Now that you know the real problem, it’s time to come up with lots of ideas to solve it.
- Focus on quantity first – the more ideas, the better! Don’t worry if they seem wild or weird at first.
- Thinking outside the box - Exploring new angles - Letting your creativity flow
- Tip: No judging, just imagining. Even a “bad” idea can lead to a great one!
IDEATE: TIME TO GET CREATIVE!
Generate tons of ideas using these creative techniques
A fun and interactive way to collect lots of ideas through conversation! Here’s how it works:
- Set up tables (real or virtual), each with a different question or topic.
- Small groups discuss each topic for a short time.
- After 10–15 minutes, everyone rotates to a new table – except one person who stays as the “host” to summarize what’s been said.
- Each round builds on the previous one.
- At the end, you collect insights and ideas from all the tables.
Great for exploring a challenge from many angles and involving everyone’s voice
Flip the script: Try to come up with the WORST solutions you can imagine. Why? It’s funny, low-pressure, and helps break mental blocks. After listing the bad ideas, ask: Why is this so bad? That often leads to surprising good ideas by doing the opposite. Goal: Spark creativity by lowering the fear of failure.
A classic method for quickly generating a large number of ideas.
- Work solo or in a group.
- Set a timer and write down as many ideas as possible.
- No judging or filtering – even “crazy” ideas are welcome!
- Afterward, sort and discuss your favorites.
- Goal: Get your creativity flowing and push beyond the obvious!
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Title
Title
Title
Worst Possible Idea
Brainstorming
World Café Method
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
A tool that helps you improve or rethink ideas by using a list of creative prompts:
- S – Substitute: What can you replace? (e.g. materials, steps, people?)
- C – Combine: Can you merge this with something else?
- A – Adapt: Can you change it to work in a new way or setting?
- M – Modify: What can you make bigger, smaller, stronger, or funnier?
- P – Put to another use: Can you use this idea or part of it for something different?
- E – Eliminate: What can you remove or simplify?
- R – Rearrange/Reverse: What if you switched the order, flipped roles, or turned it upside down?
SCAMPER helps you look at your idea from new perspectives and unlock surprising improvements!
A visual thinking tool to explore connections between ideas. Write your main challenge or question in the center of a page. Branch out with related ideas or categories. Keep branching out – the map can grow in all directions! Use colors, doodles, and arrows to make it dynamic. Goal: See the bigger picture and discover unexpected connections.
A fast sketching exercise to quickly generate diverse ideas. Fold a sheet of paper into 8 boxes. Set a timer for 8 minutes. Sketch 1 idea per box, no matter how rough or wild. Push yourself – don’t overthink! Goal: Unlock bold, creative ideas by working under time pressur
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Title
Title
Title
SCAMPER
Mind Mapping
Crazy 8s
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
PROTOTYPE: BUILD IT (QUICK & SCRAPPY!)
- Choose one idea to test and make a simple version of it – a prototype.
- It can be a sketch, model, mock-up, or demo.
- Fast to make
- Cheap
- Messy is okay!
- Start by sharing it with your team.
- ACTIVITY: Word Search Challenge - Prototype Stage!
- Click the icon below to play!- Find all the hidden words related to prototyping and testing!- Words can go forward, down, or diagonally - Take your time, circle each word you find, and see how many you can spot! - Ready? Let’s dive into the world of prototyping!
Source: Social Innovation Academy
TEST: SHOW IT TO OTHERS
- Now it’s time to share your prototype with real people (your users)!
- Ask questions, but focus on listening:
- What do people say? - What works? - What confuses them?
- Use their feedback to make your solution better.
- Protytyping and Testing go well together!
- You might tweak your design – or even go back and start a new idea!
- Then gather feedback again and again! Until you land at the right prototype :)
Reflection & Next Steps in Design Thinking
Look back at what you've learned and lets explore what comes after prototyping! What We’ve Learned:
- How to turn real problems into creative solutions
- Why feedback and testing are key to better ideas
- The power of working in loops – not straight lines!
SELF-REFLECTION
What surprised you most about the design thinking process? How do you feel about going back and improving your ideas after testing? What’s one challenge you think you might face in creating or scaling your solution? How can you keep learning from the people you’re designing for?
Useful links:
- IDEO website: https://designthinking.ideo.com/
- “Wicked Problems in Design Thinking”: https://web.mit.edu/jrankin/www/engin_as_lib_art/Design_thinking.pdf
- d.school: https://dschool.stanford.edu/about
- design kit website: https://www.designkit.org/
- online board to share ideas and easy sketches: www.padlet.com
- scheduling meetings: www.doodle.com
Resources Page
- Brown, T. (2009). Change by design: How design thinking creates new alternatives for business and society. HarperBusiness.
- European Commission. (2020). Social innovation: A new way of tackling social challenges. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/industry/innovation/strategy/social-innovation_en
- Nicholls, A., & Murdock, A. (2012). Social innovation: Blurring boundaries to create new business models. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Mulgan, G., & Leadbeater, C. (2013). The open book of social innovation. The Young Foundation. https://youngfoundation.org/
- Brown, T., & Katz, B. (2011). Change by design: How design thinking creates new alternatives for business and society. HarperBusiness.
- Brown, T. (2015). Design thinking for social innovation. Stanford Social Innovation Review. https://ssir.org/articles/entry/design_thinking_for_social_innovation
- Greenhalgh, T., & Stones, R. (2010). The role of innovation in public sector governance. Public Administration Review, 70(2), 258-264. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2010.02182.x
It’s time to test your knowledge from the module!
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Transcript
Project Number: 2023-2-PL01-KA220-YOU-000171409
MOBIUS MODULE 5
Journey: From Ideas to Prototypes. The Social Innovation Design Process.
The Mobius project has been funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the National Agency (NA). Neither the European Union nor NA can be held responsible for them.
Agenda
Module’s Goal
Module 5 helps you learn and use the basics of Design Thinking and the Social Innovation Spiral. You'll come up with creative ideas, build simple prototypes, and test your solutions to make a real difference in your community.
What will you learn?
KNOWLEDGE
- You’ll get to know the key ideas behind Design Thinking and the Social Innovation Spiral.
- You’ll understand why empathy and putting people first is so important in designing solutions.
- You’ll learn fun and useful tools to help you come up with ideas, build quick models (prototypes), and test them out.
- You’ll see how listening to real feedback can help you make your ideas even better.
ATTITUDESWhat will you learn?
SKILLS
5.1. Social Innovation and Social Innovation Spiral
DEFINITIONS RECAP
Before deepening in the module activities, let’s refresh some definitions!
SOCIAL INNOVATION
- Stanford University defines social innovation as the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systematic social and environmental issues in support of social progress.
- To simplify, Social innovation is a process of introducing new products, processes or services that are capable of solving complex social problems. Successful social innovations have long term impact in the society.
SOCIAL ENTERPRENOURSHIPSource: Social Innovation Academy
SOCIAL INNOVATION SPIRAL
ACTIVITY: There are 7 STEPS in the spiral. Click on each step to learn more about them!
SEVEN STAGES
1. Exploring opportunities and challenges: Identifying the opportunity or challenge to which you’d like to respond, and investing time early on to investigate and understand it. 2. Generating ideas: Producing, borrowing or “stealing” ideas, and identifying the ones with real potential. 3. Developing and testing: Investigating, learning from and iterating on the idea you want to develop. 4. Making the case: Planning and implementing a strategy for gathering evidence on the impact of your solution.
5. Delivering and implementing: Planning and organising for the Implementation of your solution, including its ownership and the form and structure you need to create to deliver it. 6. Growing, scaling and spreading: Developing the conditions for and extending the reach of your solution, including choosing the right growth model and spreading practice. 7. Changing systems: Systemic innovation is where maximum social impact can be created. It usually involves changes in the public and private sector over long periods of time, and the interaction of many elements and new ways of thinking.
Source: NESTA
SOCIAL INNOVATION + SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)
When you're creating ideas within the Social Innovation framework, it's important to keep the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in mind. These are global goals that aim to make the world a better place for people and the planet by 2030.
- Why do they matter?
Your ideas can: - Help fight poverty and hunger - Support education, health, and equality - Protect the climate, oceans, and forests - Build better cities and communities - Promote peace, justice, and partnerships- Remember:
Each stage of the spiral – from exploring ideas to creating real change – is a chance to contribute to one or more of these global goals.EXAMPLES OF SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
Five App: Communicating with Hands
Couchsurfing: Travel, Meet, Connect
Too Good To Go: Fight Food Waste
GoodGym: Exercise Meets Community
5.2. DESIGN THINKING
Before we dive in, take this short quiz to see what you already know about Design Thinking! No pressure – it’s just for fun.
DEFINITION
Definition:
- Design Thinking is a way to solve problems by focusing on people first.
- It helps you understand what people really need, come up with creative ideas, and test solutions that can truly work.
Design Thinking & the Social Innovation Spiral:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r0VX-aU_T8
The Process
Design thinking helps to develop innovative ideas which are desirable for people (represented by the heart in the diagram), feasible (represented by the wheel), and valid (represented by the dollar sign). We basically start with a question, what do people want? Once we find that out, we go to the next question - can we do it? So, do we have the technologies, tools, resources to deliver such a solution? Then we answer the question about the validity of our solution - does it meet our goals?
EMPATHIZE: UNDERSTAND PEOPLE FIRST
- The goal here is to really get to know the people you're designing for:
- Who are they? - What challenges do they face? - What do they need or expect?- Use tools like:
- Surveys - Interviews - Observation (watching how people do things)DEFINE: WHAT’S THE REAL PROBLEM?
IDEATE: TIME TO GET CREATIVE!
- This phase is all about:
- Thinking outside the box - Exploring new angles - Letting your creativity flowIDEATE: TIME TO GET CREATIVE!
Generate tons of ideas using these creative techniques
A fun and interactive way to collect lots of ideas through conversation! Here’s how it works:
- Set up tables (real or virtual), each with a different question or topic.
- Small groups discuss each topic for a short time.
- After 10–15 minutes, everyone rotates to a new table – except one person who stays as the “host” to summarize what’s been said.
- Each round builds on the previous one.
- At the end, you collect insights and ideas from all the tables.
Great for exploring a challenge from many angles and involving everyone’s voiceFlip the script: Try to come up with the WORST solutions you can imagine. Why? It’s funny, low-pressure, and helps break mental blocks. After listing the bad ideas, ask: Why is this so bad? That often leads to surprising good ideas by doing the opposite. Goal: Spark creativity by lowering the fear of failure.
A classic method for quickly generating a large number of ideas.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Title
Title
Title
Worst Possible Idea
Brainstorming
World Café Method
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
A tool that helps you improve or rethink ideas by using a list of creative prompts:
- S – Substitute: What can you replace? (e.g. materials, steps, people?)
- C – Combine: Can you merge this with something else?
- A – Adapt: Can you change it to work in a new way or setting?
- M – Modify: What can you make bigger, smaller, stronger, or funnier?
- P – Put to another use: Can you use this idea or part of it for something different?
- E – Eliminate: What can you remove or simplify?
- R – Rearrange/Reverse: What if you switched the order, flipped roles, or turned it upside down?
SCAMPER helps you look at your idea from new perspectives and unlock surprising improvements!A visual thinking tool to explore connections between ideas. Write your main challenge or question in the center of a page. Branch out with related ideas or categories. Keep branching out – the map can grow in all directions! Use colors, doodles, and arrows to make it dynamic. Goal: See the bigger picture and discover unexpected connections.
A fast sketching exercise to quickly generate diverse ideas. Fold a sheet of paper into 8 boxes. Set a timer for 8 minutes. Sketch 1 idea per box, no matter how rough or wild. Push yourself – don’t overthink! Goal: Unlock bold, creative ideas by working under time pressur
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.
Title
Title
Title
SCAMPER
Mind Mapping
Crazy 8s
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
Write a brief description here
PROTOTYPE: BUILD IT (QUICK & SCRAPPY!)
- ACTIVITY: Word Search Challenge - Prototype Stage!
- Click the icon below to play!- Find all the hidden words related to prototyping and testing!- Words can go forward, down, or diagonally - Take your time, circle each word you find, and see how many you can spot! - Ready? Let’s dive into the world of prototyping!Source: Social Innovation Academy
TEST: SHOW IT TO OTHERS
- Ask questions, but focus on listening:
- What do people say? - What works? - What confuses them?Reflection & Next Steps in Design Thinking
Look back at what you've learned and lets explore what comes after prototyping! What We’ve Learned:
SELF-REFLECTION
What surprised you most about the design thinking process? How do you feel about going back and improving your ideas after testing? What’s one challenge you think you might face in creating or scaling your solution? How can you keep learning from the people you’re designing for?
Useful links:
Resources Page
It’s time to test your knowledge from the module!