Taking a relational approach to co-designing the services that impact people's lives.
What we do
We specialise in
co-designing services.
At Joy, we are specialise in co-designing services. Our founder, Emma Parnell, has over 15 years experience as a designer working specifically in the charity sector, healthcare and local government.
We help organisations take a relational approach to co-designing the services they deliver. At the heart of our work is the relationships we build with people with lived experience, working in partnership with them to improve the services they use.
Our practice also builds trust with, and compliments, the skillset of frontline service delivery staff. We recognise the depth of experience frontline staff bring to service design and delivery and compliment this with a flexible approach, tools and methods and a healthy dose of outside perspective.
“The breadth of Joy’s experience means that they bring huge amounts to any project. The thing I value most about working with Emma is that she brings challenge to the work we do together. We now have a vast insight base for us to start thinking differently about how people apply to join Q all based on genuine insight from our service users.”
— Betty Sue-Smith, Digital manager - Q
Who we work with
Organisations in the charity sector, healthcare and local government
We have worked with established charities like The Health Foundation, Drink Aware and Rape Crisis England and Wales to co-design improvements to existing services. We have also helped smaller not-for-profits like The Cancer Awareness Trust and Paws for Pause shape new services.
We have worked with Local Authorities including Newham, Essex and Surrey Country Council to design services for local residents.
Emma’s background is working within the NHS. We have worked alongside frontline healthcare professionals in hospitals across the UK to implement new services and redesign existing pathways through meaningful patient engagement.
Newham Council
Newham Council were going through a significant redesign of their complaints and enquiries service. They were looking for support to design three key parts of the new service; the front-door, an internal triage process and the responses back to residents.
Q - The Health Foundation
Q, a community of people working together to improve health and care, were looking to redesign how people apply, join and are welcomed into the community. With a goal of growing their membership, they needed to think about both the strategy and the detailed user journey.