News

Its great to see the Family Space Croydon website up and running following Jess and Ivo’s hard work. The service aims to be the go-to place where parents can find the information they need and also feedback their experience of services with each other and to the services concerned.

Family Space Croydon is an outcome of Croydon’s Total Place pilot, a project co-sponsored by NHS Croydon and Croydon Council aimed at building public services around the user – taking a ‘whole area’ approach to deliver better public services at less cost.

Today Deborah is speaking at the International Conference for Innovation and Creativity of Women for Economic Development, within the Parliament of the Republic of Poland in Warsaw. The event brings speakers from across the world in design and business to discuss and share ways for designing the quality of life in modern economy.

The conference is being held by the President of the Republic of Poland Bronislaw Komorowski. Thanks to Malwina, Deborah can now also speak some Polish!

Last week the thinkpublic team was on the road again, with an exhibition stand at
The Responsible Business Exhibition. At the event we were talking to people about how to use creative thinking to tackle social issues and also sharing two of our current ventures with MIND and Fitness Industry Association. The event featured charities and social enterprises and aimed to facilitate the strategic alliances and partnerships between businesses and the social sector that will ultimately increase CSR activity and drive business forward.

As of this week we have a new home in the West End with some new neighbours including DARE, ELVIS, Identica and many more.

So if you would like to send us any post or give us a call, check out our new contact details by watching this lovely animation made by Ness! We look forward to seeing you soon.

We’re On The Move from thinkpublic on Vimeo.

We’re on the lookout for Mad Inventors, Curiosity Ticklers and Reality Explorers!

If you’re a Service Designer with a zeal for creating services that make people’s lives better, then we may have just the job for you. Find out about our opportunities for Reality Exploration here.

We’re also looking for a Curiosity Tickler to to be our Head of Research and Insight and help create genuine social innovation across the public, third and corporate sectors. This is a key role that requires intuitive thinking, research and analytical skills, a creative flair and a passion for social innovation. If you have least 3 years’ experience as a first class researcher, then read on.

Or perhaps you’re a Creative Designer with experience of designing both for and with people in a commercial setting.  We’re looking for a Mad Inventor who loves understanding people and is constantly looking for new ways to do things in order to improve the world. Find out more here.

Note that the closing date for applications is 27 February 2012.

In all cases, salary will be commensurate with experience.  We also offer a nice benefits package.  And just imagine being able to go home at the end of each day knowing that you’ve helped to change the world, even just a little bit.  That’s what makes us smile each day (and we smile a lot) because we love what we do and truly care about the work we produce.

Looking after the most vulnerable children: From Hospital to Home
Children born with breathing problems need additional support, sometimes they need this support indefinitely. The Long Term Ventilation Team, based at the Royal Brompton Hospital, provides support for these children and help to train parents in the looking after their children.

We’ve been working with the team to make a film explaining their service to parents who may need it. It explores the journeys of three families from across the pan-Thames region who have successfully brought their children home despite the challenges of their children’s conditions.

The film shows how much support is available for these vulnerable children and shed’s light on the challenging experiences that are surmounted by their parents. One parent, Ben, describes his experience:

“You stick with it because it is your baby, ultimately we’ve got a baby that’s actually healthy now. coming from a position where we starting to consider some really horrible decisions, which fortunately we didn’t have to make. But I think that you know if you take it step by step, day by day you end up in a really good place.”

The film is now publicly available. Watch from Hospital to Home.

We’re delighted to announce that thinkpublic in partnership with the Fitness Industry Association (FIA) is one of four winners of the national Keeping Connected Business Challenge run by the Design Council and Technology Strategy Board.  Our winning venture is The Big League – Keeping Men Connected Through Sport.

The aim of the Keeping Connected Business Challenge is to stimulate the development of business ideas that address the desire and need of older adults for maintaining and developing their social connections. The Big League has been awarded a share of £450,000 to support development over the next five months to help older adults stay socially connected.

The Big League represents a truly innovative and fun way to connect older men through fitness and sporting activities.   Our research found that as people retire, men especially can find the lack of structure and purpose difficult to navigate, which means that many can find themselves drifting and losing motivation and social connections.  The combination of thinkpublic’s entrepreneurial approach to creating social enterprises, combined with the FIA’s reach across the UK health and fitness industry, means The Big League has the power to transform the lives of men approaching retirement or who have recently retired, by offering a network of support that enables them to make connections, be active and to help others in their community from their efforts.

Want to get involved? Get in touch:  hello@thinkpublic.com

Rather than send out the traditional (and a bit wasteful) seasonal cards to our clients and friends, this year we decided to do something a little bit different, providing lots of fun and raising meaningful cash for charity.

So it was that yesterday the thinkpublic team and our friend Eleanor Shipman ran an innovative Christmas Card Exchange at Spitalfields Market in East London.  The concept? Rather than simply purchasing a card as you would at a regular shop, our stall became a creative hub where people could design and create their own Christmas cards using the provided materials and exchange the finished works of art (along with a donation) for cards made by others who’d done the same thing.

It was a roaring success, with over 100 people braving the windy day to visit our stall and create and exchange some very original card designs.  All the money raised has been donated to the Alzheimers Society. Joelle Copeland at the Alzheimer’s Society thanked everyone for their participation, saying “I loved all the cards that you did and I made my own too…it’s a great idea and thank you for choosing us”

Special thanks to Eleanor and Eri Tsutsumi for organising everything and ensuring it was such a great success.

We still have a few cards left over, so drop by if you’re looking for a highly original card for that special someone!