Impact design is a systemic design and methodological production method for society’s challenge solutions with positive, high impact.
It is a tool scaling high-impact entrepreneurship philosophy – a philosophy developing activities, products and services with a maximised positive effect on society.
Impact design is a tool for business models of the future. It can serve in very early planning stages to help build a coherent, holistic frame of the future endeavour of businesses, social enterprises and other stakeholders. At the same time, it is an effective tool resulting in innovative and competitive products and services. Based on “flexi-certainty” principles, the methodology offers a robust yet straightforward impact management and measurement framework.
We can also use impact design in other impact-oriented activities within not-for-profit models, policymaking and other processes to scale the impact of their society-challenge solutions. Impact’s design side effect is in successful “translation capacity”, often translating different “languages” spoken by not-for-profits, businesses, the public sector and other stakeholders and building mutual trust.
Impact design can be complex for micro-impact ventures or start-ups. Therefore we modified and simplified the process for their use – we called it Simple Impact Design. Please check here.
While developing impact design, we distinguish between the “story” and “philosophy “. All ventures and society challenges solutions have their stories. They are doing what they do, their inspirations, fantastic and less good experiences. We understand philosophy more profoundly and strategically. Building philosophy is a strategic process considering many aspects that might influence our venture. It is conscious work and time investment into the future of our impact venture. Impact Design is a tool to help us in this process.
We are developing Impact Design within the ActImpAct project supported by Google.org and implemented in the period 2022-2023. The published version is a »work in progress« tested on two pilot projects (Wood Belt, Impact Fashion) and used by 150 ventures included in the ActImpAct project. The final version will be available in December 2023.
IMPACT DESIGN MANAGEMENT 5.0
Impact Design is a systemic design and methodological production method for society challenge solutions with positive, high-impact.
Impact Design documents:
- Impact Design Methodology with indicators (Excel, version May 2023)
- 10 Impact Venture business plan (Word, version April 2022)
- Impact Innovation (Excel, version April 2022)
We provide impact insight with the organisation of workshops and events, preparation of documents and promotion of impact design in society.
Impact Design Score is an essential part of the Impact Management process.
Scoring is a self-assessment process where you freely select indicators for the impact maximisation of your SCS. You can score each indicator with six different scores depending on the situation. Then you define the goals you want to reach in a specific period. After the selected period, you repeat the scoring.
The self-assessment process can take from 1 to several hours or days. You can also save your work and continue later. In addition, we can help and support you with questions, guidance, resources, and practical examples to make the process easier.
We helped to develop many impact solutions. You can find their stories here.
We will also present your solution within impact solutions presentations when you finish the questionnaire. Therefore we suggest you answer in English to enable the international audience to understand your impact idea. We added a Slovenian language translation of the questionnaire since the first 150 ventures participating in ActImpAct program are from Slovenia.
Once you have an impact design score, it is clearer what you need and how you want to maximise the impact of your SCS. We can do an independent assessment of your score and support you in preparing your impact design program.
An impact design pledge is a “step” where you publicly recognise the importance of your business or other activities’ impact. As a result, you oblige yourself to follow the impact design principles and permanently mainstream impact design activities for impact maximisation in your business or other activities in your best manner.
Signing the pledge lets you use our impact design logo in your SCS communications and join the impact design “family”.
The pledge can be signed by:
1. organisations and stakeholders participating in our impact design programs or programs implemented by our partners when they successfully end the program
2. organisations not participating in the formal impact design programs our partners or we implement. They need to do impact design scoring, and we need to make their independent assessment before the pledge.
Finally, based on the impact pledge signature, you make publicly (and to our partners or us) available information and reports about your impact-related activities and progress.
The pledge is available on the pre-prepared form by us.
For and impact design pledge (PDF version, May 2023) please click here.
You can download the impact design logo here.
IMPACT FIELDS, IMPACT GROUPS AND IMPACT INDICATORS
We divided the Impact Design production method into 15 impact fields, each of 5 impact groups. The total number of impact field indicators is 110 (t.i. 115 when also impact field »Beyond your horizon« is included).
Impact Design Pilot – WOOD BELT
Impact Design Pilot – IMPACT TOURISM
IMPACT DESIGN EXAMPLES
| IMPACT VENTURE TITLE | IMPACT VENTURE INFO | SOCIETY CHALLENGE | SDG | SOCIETY CHALLENGE SOLUTION (SCS) | INNOVATION FOR HIGH IMPACT | SCS INTEGRATION INTO VENTURE BUSINESS MODEL | ASSESMENT OF COMPETITIVENESS ON MARKET | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WOOD BELT | www.woodbelt.eu Creates impact fashion style by crafting belts and bags. Feel good. Look good. Do good. | User healts issues - allergies to metal & metal alloys | 3 | Use of non allergic materials | PATENT, technological innovation (wooden buckle, thorn) | Wooden buckle, thorn | High | |
| Limited skills of volnurable groups in production process (sewing) | 5,8 | Adjustement of production and materials | PATENT, technological innovation (wooden screw&nut replacing sewing), longterm | NUT and other modular systems developed | High | |||
| Limited functional use | 12 | Use of non scannable materials (kevlar, plastic, textile, wood) | PATENT, technological innovation (wooden buckle, thorn) | Wooden buckle, thorn | High | |||
| Durability | 12 | Increase durability (kevlar, technical materials, etc.) | ||||||
| Unwanted use of belts | 3.5 | Promote 0 tolerance violence policy, social media, linking with partners, CNC for personalisation | Logo, brand protection | 1. communication 2. WB linked to Giving Tuesday campaign (Tuesday - day for employment) | High | |||
| Limited re use, circularity | 12 | No sewing belts (enabling easy repair) | PATENT, technological innovation (modularity) | 1. modular systems 2. anti overconsuming campaign 3. offering repairs 4. promoting re-use | Medium | |||
| Negative impacts of fashion industry | 12 | Promotion of business models with positive impact | Social innovation (Impact Fashion Concept) | 1. Promotion of Impact Fashion 2. Impact Fashion Score for users | Medium | |||
| Lack of personalisation * (not a society challenge, business challenge) | 5,8,15 | Production process enabling personalisation | Plate buckles, promote underserved groups stories (painted belts etc.), protection of natural&cultural heritage | Kakadu colletion, national parks collection names | Medium | |||
| IMPACT TOURISM | www.impact-tourism.net Travel. Experience. Do good. Impact Tourism creates a better world. | Negative impact of tourism industry | 12 | Tourism with positive impact | Social innovation (Impact Tourism) | Platform for Impact Tourism | High | |
| TJASHA d.o.o. | www. www.tjasha.si At Tjasha's hair salon, located in Ljubljana, Slovenia, several hair specialists understand clients' needs - from root to tip. They use best practices, how to keep hair shiny and what is the most important, healthy. For more than 16 years, they are continuously acquiring new knowledge and experiences in an sustainable way. | Limited education impact | 4 | Training, education programs | Strengthened sustainable operations in her Tjasha hairdressing salon and also provided appropriate training for her employees | Medium | ||
| Re-cyling, packaging | 3 | Changes in production and sales | Sustainable Park products, which encourages re-recycling of packaging. Tjaša's customers can bring the packaging of used products back to the salon, which will reimburse them | Medium | ||||
| MARKETING CONSULTING, MELITA JURCA | www.linkedin.com/in/melita-jurca/ They're supporting small entrepreneurs and medium-sized companies that offer environmental and social services: building awareness of environmental challenges and education services for personal growth, equal rights, well-being... The area of services: market research, planning, and analyzing, digital marketing activities: social media, e-mail marketing, webpage; media and PR communication, copywriting, organizing events, and sales support. | Environmental challenges, education services | 4,17 | Better education through partnerships | Connected with an entrepreneur who is offering educational services to kindergarten educators, school teachers, and parents, we want to build a better society for future generations. | Medium | ||
| C00lSch00l, Mija Selič s.p. | www.c00lsch00l.eu/ The unique Project-Based Approach (PBA) to young language learning is based on picture book stories. She developed the teaching material “Story Bundle” which enables project-based teaching and learning: They bring stories to children, teach them how to use the language heard in the stories, and then children tell the stories themselves. The approach can be used in teaching any language, be that the mother tongue or a foreign language. | Limited education impact of language learning | 4 | Project based work for quality education | Social innovation - Project-Based Approach (PBA) | With PBA students are introduced to the content through the telling of fairy tales. Fairy tales shape the learning environment and highlight the problem. Through the process of problem solving, the use and function of language in content-related situations is learned. | High | |
| 10 | Strenghtened cooperation with underserved groups | With the program, Actimpact, Mija Selič strengthened cooperation with underserved groups on the labor market - the disabled. | Medium | |||||
| IURALL, PAMETNE PRAVNE REŠITVE, d.o.o. | www.iurall.com/ They've developed the application, online and mobile, where legal knowledge is gathered and enables individuals to get quick and easy answers to their legal questions. In certain cases, the application is available for free or for a fee that is 85% lower than today's market price (see next answer). Additionally, the app is available 24/7, from anywhere. For vulnerable groups without access to the Internet, it is available in state or municipal premises. | Limited access to justice | 16 | Use of IT to enable access to justice | Social innovation (mobile app) | Empowering the financially vulnerable and those on the fringes of society to obtain basic information, they are empowered to stand up for themselves and protect their rights. With its information and documents, the application empowers individuals to more easily represent themselves in court and thus increases access to justice. | Medium | |
| ZAČARAN GOZD, META VODNJOV s.p. | https://zacarangozd.si/ Marjeta creates adventures in the forest in the countryside for children. In the AIA project, she came up with the idea of upgrading her adventures for underserved children who will be able to enjoy the forest together with their peers. In the first phase, it will encourage the reading skills of children with dyslexia, and in the following, it will provide access to all adventures in the forest for children with physical disabilities. | Children spend too much time indoors, in front of TV screens, computers and phones | 4 | Children who can play freely outside develop better and are happier | Children visiting Začaran gozd have fun, learn, get to know the local environment, local plants and at the same time become aware of how important it is to take care of nature. | High | ||
| BIOPINA d.o.o. | https://bio-pina.com/ Petra joined the AIA project with the idea of making pillows and nursing pillows from shavings of Swiss pine wood, which has a beneficial effect on well-being due to its essential oils. She came up with the idea after noticing from her partner, who is a carpenter, that this is a material that would otherwise become waste and developed it into a new product. After the first sales, it was concluded that the case was too hard for the general population. That is why she is now connecting with wool suppliers, where she would develop a product that will be a mixture of both ingredients - wool and Swiss pine shavings. The new product will be so natural, soft, affect well-being and made from "waste material". | Sustainability of pillows | 12 | Biodegradable pillows | Cemprino pillows are completely natural. Outer cover made of organic cotton. Inner 100% cotton. Both covers have the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certificate. The filler is natural shavings of Swiss pine, which are produced as waste material in the production of wooden products. The product is completely biodegradable. | High | ||
| Quality of sleeping | 4 | Use of natural material that breathes | Pillows without sweating, adapts to our head and neck and provides pleasant support. In addition, the essential oils and other substances in the shavings give the pillow a soothing and pleasant scent. | Medium |
HOW CAN IMPACT DESIGN HELP YOU?
IMPACT DESIGN, INNOVATION, COMPETITIVENESS
Why and how can impact design help us? That is the most common question from our clients – entrepreneurs, CEOs, social economy stakeholders, non-governmental organisations and decision-makers.
But interestingly, our most common answer is not an answer but rather a question. So we first ask: “What do you want with your business or activity?”.
More than 80% of answers fall into two categories.
First, we want to be competitive in the market or our work area. Usually, our clients understand competitiveness (C) in a broader context, including financial aspects, quality and many other indicators. And second – we want to leave an impact (I). Usually, that includes something positive for them, their clients, buyers, and increasingly more often, the supplier chain, partners, environment and society.
So it is safe to say the formula for most of our client’s identity (we mark that as ID) is:
ID = C + I
C + I work for us. They fit as a potential client, so we introduce a new formula to explain impact design.
ID = C + I
Well, it looks the same as the previous one. Explanation needed.
This time with ID, we mean Impact Design. Impact design as a systematic tool for Care (C) and Innovation (I). Why Care and Innovation? Because in the impact design process, our clients decide what they care about (to maximise their impact) and what they will innovate (to maximise their competitiveness). With Innovation, we understand the different scales of changes, upgrades, adaptations and real innovations.
So we end up with two equal yet different formulas that are interconnected:
ID (Identity) = C (Competitiveness) + I (Impact)
ID (Impact Design) = C (Care) + I (Innovation)
Understanding the specific and unique wishes for clients’ competitiveness and impact enables the development of impact design care and innovation goals and activities. All resulting and visualised in a client’s (c) tailored made new impact design formula.
c ID (Impact Design) = c Care (for Impact) + c Innovation (for Competitiveness)
c ID = c CI + c IC
Formula opens the space for tailored made solutions and clients’ motivation to participate in the impact design process. So now the job starts and, as a rule, ends with clients’ scaled competitiveness and higher or even high impact.
IMPACT DESIGN, IMPACT MANAGEMENT AND MEASUREMENT
Impact management is a challenging process. Sometimes can be tough to understand and complex too. Therefore it is sometimes easier to mainstream impact management into your schemes and strategies. Impact design enables precisely that. While planning and implementing your business model, you can choose between indicators that will be managed and measured. Based on “flexi-certainty” principles, the Impact design methodology offers a robust yet straightforward impact management and measurement framework.
How is impact design different from impact measurement? That is one of the first questions we get from our clients – entrepreneurs, CEOs, social economy stakeholders, non-governmental organisations and decision-makers.
There are so many methodologies and tools to measure one’s impact. But mainly, they are challenging to understand and complex too. The interesting thing is that measurement is not so decisive for most of our clients – at least not at the start. Their first challenge and priority are more about scaling and maximising impact than measuring it.
They soon realise that you don’t grow, scale, maximise impact or reach high impact only by measuring their activities. It is an important part, but scaling is far more complex and reaching high-impact demands additional tools.
And here comes the client’s second question – can we somehow visualise the scale of impact we could have before we even seriously enter the impact entrepreneurship path? Again, we understand the eagerness, and to answer, we modified the known formula from the business.
Simplified, the level of high-impact equals how many people you affect multiplied by the level of your impact on each. We use the term “people” for different impact target areas (could also be animals, environment etc.), and we distinct the level of impact on each (for example, from very small to highly decisive).
HI = P (people) x LI (level of impact)
And it works well for clients to visualise the impact they could or will have before doing anything more complex. They get a feeling of what can be achieved and if that will be relevant enough for them and society challenges they want to tackle. In most cases, the simple and rewarding formula motivates clients not to escape from the measurements but rather to understand it as the first station on their future scale and management impact journey.
