A First Nations campaign built on assumptions can cost you the community’s trust before you even start.

Genuine co-design means being prepared to challenge your assumptions and change direction based on what you hear.

When built into multiple stages of the campaign process, it can prevent costly changes later and lead to work that better reflects the community it’s designed for.

In this session, Anthony Lam, Vikki McIntyre and Casey Harrigan from The Social Deck explored what genuine co-design looks like in practice, how design thinking can support the process, and the lessons they’ve learned from real First Nations projects.

By the end of this session, you’ll be able to:

• Explain the Double Diamond model and where it fits into a First Nations project 
• Identify instances where community input should override an internal decision 
• Recognise the signs that a chosen format may not suit the message or audience 
• Apply at least one lesson from the case studies to a project already on your desk