Founded by UK Communication and Public Service Design Agency ThinkPublic, The Real Work Experience is foremost an initiative aiming to bridge the gap between design and public services.

In November 2007, public service professionals met with student and graduate designers in London to launch the initiative. Attendees included representatives from the NHS, Timebank, The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce [RSA], UK Universities, design organizations and a number of student and graduate designers. The event provided a welcomed opportunity for designers to discuss their opinions and concerns surrounding working for the public service sector.

Following the launch workshop, thinkpublic set up an online forum to enable the continuation of initiated dialogues. The website includes an event video, a detailed report and continues to act as a creative portal for student, graduate and professional designers to discuss the connection of contemporary Communication Design practice within the public sector.

In partnership with NESTA and The Royal Society of the Arts, thinkpublic will be running a training week in July 2008, for the winning designers of the RSA’s Design Directions award. Based at thinkpublic’s London studio, the designers will experience public service training, be sent on practical visits to Public Sector organisations, visit other design agencies and attend a wealth of related talks and networking events.

Split into small teams, the designers will be assigned to work with a public service organisation, spending the week working on live challenges. At the end of the week students will have learnt to be more mindful of their design processes and to better understand the value of design thinking, where and how it can be applied in the public sector, and how to communicate and present the impact it can have. The organisations involved will be briefed prior to the experience week to help them recognise the most relevant, useful and innovative ways to work with the designers.

The vision for The Real Work Experience is wide-reaching. It has the potential to herald the growth of designers actively seeking work in public and social service sector settings and to stimulate a greater interest from those sectors to benefit from contemporary design thinking. Ultimately, this programme hopes to develop a new and creative way of problem-solving that could contribute to an improved delivery of 21st century public services.