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Co-Creation Toolkit for Environmental Services

Create user-friendly and effective environmental data services. This toolkit provides the resources and guidance you need to collaborate with users, gather insights, and co-design solutions that work.

Co-Design
User Research
Requirements Gathering
Co-Creation Toolkit team illustration

Case Studies

Take a look below at some of the case studies showcasing how different ux methods can be used to address environmental data challenges.

Illustration of land use Featured BGS

Devon Design Sprint

Design Sprint Co-Creation User Testing

In a five-day workshop, Devon stakeholders teamed up to prototype a land use decision tool with a focus on carbon impact.

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Prototype of the multi-organisation content management system for hazard data BGS

Multi-Organisation Content Management System for Hazard Data

Prototyping Hazard Data User Research

We designed a platform prototype to simplify global hazard monitoring, incorporating user feedback to refine the design.

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More Case Studies

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Co-Creation Toolkit

Explore our collection of helpful UX resources, including persona templates, interview guides, and product requirement documents.

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Creating Prototypes

Prototyping User Testing

Prototyping is a crucial method in co-design process. A prototype is a simplified and basic version of the final product. It allows stakeholders to interact with and give feedback on its features and functionalities.

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Creating User Stories for Environmental Data Products and Services

User Stories User Testing Requirements Gathering

Step by step process for creating user stories.

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Creating Personas

User Research Personas User Groups

Personas are representations of user groups whom we expect to use our products.

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Planning User Research

User Research Interviews

Planning is a critical step in the process of conducting user research. You can use the below template to help you plan your research.

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"Pay attention to what users do, not whay they say."

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Jakob Nielsen Usability Pioneer and Co-founder of Nielsen Norman Group

How Can This Toolkit Help You?

This toolkit equips you with practical methods and real-world examples to guide you through the co-design process for environmental data products and services. Whether you're starting from scratch or looking to refine an existing project, these resources will empower you to:

Understand Your Users

Learn proven techniques for gathering insights into the needs, behaviors, and pain points of your target audience.

Design Effective Solutions

Discover methods for translating user insights into user-friendly and impactful environmental data products and services.

Test and Refine

Explore approaches for evaluating your solutions with users, gathering feedback, and iterating for continuous improvement.

Facilitate Collaboration

Learn how to build strong partnerships with stakeholders throughout the design process, ensuring diverse perspectives are included.

Other Useful Resources

Below you can find some resources that can help you with the user research and design.

Wireframes and Design Guides for Geospatial Data Portals
Guidance for developers and designers to increase the discoverability and usefulness of geospatial data through user-focused data portals.
Best Practices for Decision Support Tools
Best practices and guidelines for creating effective decision support tools (DSTs).
Personas in Product Design
Personas are representations of user groups whom we expect to use our products. They help to convey information about the users to the product team.
Turing Way Handbook
The Turing Way is a handbook to reproducible, ethical and collaborative data science.
Nielsen Norman Group
The Nielsen Norman Group website is a valuable resource for UX professionals, offering guidance and training to improve the user experience of products through co-design.

Co-Creation Toolkit

Team

We are a collective of passionate individuals driven by a shared goal: to use co-creation and UX methods and practices to make environmental data more accessible, usable, and impactful.

Avatar of Paulius Tvaranavičius

Paulius Tvaranavičius

UX Designer / BGS

UX Designer with a background in human-computer interaction and psychology. I enjoy creating digital products, running design sprint workshops, and applying human-centred research and design methods to solve challenging problems that usually involve environmental data. I'm also the maintainer of this toolkit.

Avatar of Carl Watson

Carl Watson

Head of Analysis and Design / BGS

Experienced business analyst and agile project manager. I specialise in integrating user research, UX design, and service design principles into the development of environmental data services. My focus is on requirements gathering and facilitating co-creation to ensure projects meet user needs, delivering impactful and user-centered outcomes.

Avatar of Poppy Townsend

Poppy Townsend

Community Manager / CEDA

Community Manager at CEDA. I bring experience in environmental science communication, impact evaluation, and data management to help connect the Co-Creation Toolkit with its users. I focus on gathering user feedback, promoting the toolkit, and fostering a community of practice around user-centered design for environmental data.

Avatar of Shwetha Raveendran

Shwetha Raveendran

UX Designer / BGS

UX/UI Designer at BGS, specialising in co-creating user-centered environmental data services. I bring expertise in user research, UI design, prototyping, and translating user needs into effective solutions.

Avatar of David Green

David Green

Senior Design Researcher / CEH

I am a Design Researcher with a background in documentary making, digital arts, and experience-centered design. I am interested in applying this knowledge to the design of new systems and services to support environmental science.

Avatar of Jesse Alexander

Jesse Alexander

Scientific Programming and Outreach Graduate

Jesse started working at CEDA as part of the graduate scheme in July 2023. He graduted with a BSc in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh. He specialises in interactions between humans and technology with a focus on user experience. At CEDA he works across different teams with developers and data scientists as well as in communications.

Avatar of Danny Lloyd

Danny Lloyd

Graduate Research Computing Service Support

Danny joined the JASMIN team within CEDA in 2024 on the STFC graduate scheme, having converted from a BA in Classics at UCL and graduating with an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham. He supports users on the JASMIN helpdesk, improves documentation and training materials, and contributes development towards automating various processes. Danny reviewed the toolkit to improve its readability and usefulness.

Get Involved!

Contribute to this toolkit
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Contribute to the Co-Creation Toolkit

This toolkit is a collaborative effort, and we welcome your contributions! Help us make environmental data tools and services better for everyone.

Share Case Studies

Share co-design applications in environmental data projects. Inspire others with your real-world examples.

Add Toolkit Resources

Contribute templates, guides, or documents to help others use co-design and UX best practices.

Suggest Improvements / Provide Feedback

Be part of the EDS Co-Creation Toolkit community! Discuss, ask questions, and suggest topics on our GitHub Discussions page.

Report Bugs

Found an issue? Let us know!

Frequently
Asked Questions

This toolkit is designed for anyone involved in creating environmental data services and products, including researchers, developers, designers, and project managers.