OUR APPROACH
Instead of asking how we change people, co-design asks how we build systems worthy of the people they were meant to serve.
Co-Design as Structural Accountability
Persistent gaps in health outcomes, education, civic participation, and access to care are not failures of community behavior. They are design failures; the predictable result of systems built without the people most affected by them.
That distinction is the foundation of everything ByDesign does.
When communities disengage from programs designed to help them, the standard explanation is that they lack motivation, information, or trust. Co-design consistently reveals something different: the program itself was the problem. It was designed by people who didn't have to live it. The knowledge that would have made it work (specific, embodied, structurally precise) was never part of the process.
ByDesign's approach treats that knowledge not as input to be gathered and interpreted by institutions, but as governance. Community members who navigate inadequate systems every day are compensated design partners whose authority extends through design, implementation, and ongoing accountability; not just through the sessions where ideas are collected.
The result is not just better community insight. It is structural accountability which means changing who holds authority over how problems are named and solutions are built, and building the relationships that embed accountability.
The framework behind this approach is documented in full below. Most equity and engagement strategies share similar values, but where co-design differs is in structure and application. Co-design, as defined here, locates lived experience not in the consultation layer but in the governance layer, and that structural difference is what determines whether outcomes are community-informed or community-driven. The paper makes the full argument and the playbook shows what it looks like in practice.
THE WORK
FRAMEWORK PAPER
Co-Design as Structural Accountability: A Framework for Lived Experience as Governance in Systems Change
Jess Roberts & Jes Springer | ByDesign
Defines the intellectual foundation of ByDesign's co-design methodology eight foundational principles, a six-step theory of change, and a rigorous basis for moving beyond community engagement toward shared design authority.
CO-DESIGN PLAYBOOK
THE COMMUNITY CO-DESIGN PLAYBOOK
Jess Roberts | ByDesign & Wafa Elkhalifa & Chao Mwatela
A comprehensive leadership and practitioner guide to applying the co-design framework, from project scoping and proactive recruitment through equitable co-design sessions and shared governance.
Playbook v2.0 - Coming Soon
Download Playbook v1.0 >>>
Schedule a Free Consult
Schedule a free 30-minute consult to learn more about what co-design is and how it can facilitate equitable and impactful collective action.