Brief
THE BRIEF
Research
Before designing anything, I needed to understand how hospital visits were actually lived. Four phases (from clinical consultations to 25 patient sessions) each changed what I thought I was designing.
Research Outputs
25 patient contributions
Participatory activities revealed emotional, sensory and behavioural experiences that traditional interviews rarely capture.
Multiple stakeholder perspectives
Clinical, operational and design viewpoints exposed different priorities and a lack of shared understanding.
Real-world constraints
Maintenance, infection control, storage and governance proved as important as aesthetics.
A new opportunity
The biggest challenge wasn't redesigning a room. It was enabling better decisions about that room.
Read the complete Research chapter in the Design Rationale.
Sensemaking
Research generated hundreds of observations. The harder task was turning that noise into a design argument, one that took emotional needs as seriously as operational constraints, and pointed toward a decision rather than a mood board.
Key Insights & Design Principles
Insight
Coordination
Design Requirement
Create a
shared decision
trail.
Insight
Shared Language
Design Requirement
Use visual,
plain-language artefacts.
Insight
Participation
Design Requirement
Design short, structured activities.
Insight
Operational fit
Design Requirement
Embed constraints from the beginning.
Insight
Tone
Design Requirement
Promote transparent and non-punitive communication.
The Pivot
The project shifted from
designing a space
to designing the conditions
through which better spaces
can be created together.
A fixed spatial redesign was the starting point — but approval cycles, infection control and departmental misalignment made clear that no single layout could fix a coordination problem.
Why This, Why Now?
A framework plus toolkit isn't just the tidiest answer, it's the only one that matches the real constraint. The gap wasn't equipment, it was shared process and shared memory. And the timing matters: Irish healthcare is under pressure to deliver person-centred, well-documented care with limited capacity.
A method that's low-cost, reusable and compatible with existing governance isn't
a nice-to-have here, it's the only kind of intervention likely to survive contact with
a ward.
Go deeper: Design Rationale, pp. 33–39
Developing
The research redefined the challenge. What came next was translating those insights into something a multidisciplinary team could actually run.
Go deeper: Design Rationale, pp. 40–41 (framework detail, toolkit characteristics, and what this does — and does not — claim to do)
System in Use
A framework only works if different people can pick it up without you in the room. The last piece of design work was making sure three very different roles, a time-poor nurse, a risk-conscious operations lead, and the facilitator holding the whole process, could each find their own way in.
Persona 1
Persona 2
Persona 3
Ward Facilitator
(OT / Nurse)
Needs
Quick-start activities that don't add workload, and respect for infection control.
Toolkit response
Wipeable canvases, prompts under 12 words, sessions that run in under 15 minutes.
Each session was also mapped as a service: a visible frontstage (cards, canvases, conversation) supported by an invisible backstage (printing, room setup, storage of outputs) — so the parts nobody sees still get designed with the same care as the parts everyone does.
Service blueprint of a session
Running a full session isn't emotionally flat — it moves. Facilitators start in curiosity and mild uncertainty, climb into creativity once insights start clustering, dip briefly during the harder negotiation between ambition and constraint, and land in satisfaction once decisions are logged.
Experience Map
Go deeper: Design Rationale, pp. 57–62
Evaluation
The framework was continuously refined through conversations, testing and expert feedback, ensuring it responded to both human needs and operational realities.
Go deeper: Design Rationale, pp. 45–53
Outcome
The Spatial Resonance Toolkit is a participatory design framework, delivered through a practical toolkit that enables multidisciplinary teams to collaboratively understand experiences, align perspectives and make informed design decisions.
Activity Guide
Guide facilitators through
every stage of the framework
The Activity Guide introduces the twelve-step framework, explains each activity and provides access to editable templates and digital resources through integrated QR codes.
12-Step Framework
Activity Instructions
A3 Templates
QR Access to Figma
Workshop Resources
Support the framework through hands-on collaborative activities
A collection of reusable physical materials designed to facilitate workshops, encourage participation and capture ideas throughout the design process.
Prompt Cards
Material Samples
Sensory Toolkit
Workshop Resources
