A blog by Rachel A.Wood I’ve been pondering the relationship between change, transition and transformation, and the role that design can and does play in them, for a few years. As I first worked in a ‘test and learn’ environment in 2014, I also thought it was important to include this too. Here is what I came up with.

This research explores the needs of women in the UK prison system who are also mothers, focusing on the potential of service and co-design methods to improve parenting education and support. Despite evidence that parental imprisonment is a significant risk factor for negative long-term outcomes in children, there is limited understanding of how best to deliver effective parenting services for this group.

When people hear ‘co-design,’ they sometimes picture a friendly workshop and a wall of sticky notes. That can be part of it, but co-design is more specific, it’s a structured way of making decisions about services with the people who use and run them. The promise is better ideas grounded in real experience. The challenge is that group dynamics can quietly distort what the group ‘decides,’ which is why how we facilitate co-design matters as much as who is in the room.

The inspiration for this blog came from reflecting on the second study in my research. It reflects on what it means to design parenting support with care, emphasising that services are shaped not only by their evidence base, but by how safe, flexible, and supportive they feel to parents. Bringing together insights from trauma theory, developmental psychology, implementation science, and design psychology, it explores how fidelity, flexibility, and psychological safety work to

International Women’s Day 2026: Celebrating the mother of forensic science Frances Glessner Lee

On World Book Day, we often celebrate books that transport us. Some, however, refuse comfort. They sit with us, unsettling, long after the final page. Regeneration by Pat Barker is one such text.

The inspiration for this blog came during a lively conversation with fellow designers, as we explored new sources of inspiration. I found myself captivated by the concept of ‘intentional incompleteness’ and began to wonder how leaving things unfinished could transform both my practice and my research.

A few months ago, I was starting to think about early prototypes for my research. As the result of this I looked at different ways to encourage new ideas. I started to read further about design fiction, and how it could be used for both innovation and in my research case social innovation.

Understanding the customer journey is paramount in service design. Just as Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey maps out a hero's transformation, customers undergo their own transformative journeys as they interact with products and services. This blog explores the fascinating parallels between the Hero’s Journey and Customer Journey frameworks, emphasizing how behavioural design can shape these experiences in a way that is both transformative and empowering.

A journey through the intersections of design and the mind by Rachel A.Wood

I live with a disability that affects my immunity and mobility and this has really changed my approach to design (and re-design) of services

Whilst undertaking some literature searches for my design research project, I started to look at significant figures who have worked

“Inside Mum” – The journey to service co-design in parenting education with practitioners, and women who have experience of the CJS