Designing the Next Generation Neighbourhood and Home Watch

Phase 1: Service Design

(live|work appointed, phase completed)

Objective:

Design a blueprint for how the national Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) scheme can be developed to:

—Appeal to the next generation of NHW members

—Provide a more joined-up service for existing members

The aim was to deliver a vision for the next generation of NHW service that brings it into the digital age and prepares it for the future. This looked to provide recommendations for the full range of tools and services that are used to promote, establish and maintain the organisation. The project aimed to cover the full user experience from non-members through to active coordinator roles and how these change over time. Specific attention was paid to how NHW can operate more effectively using digital platforms.

Live|work were asked to design the next generation NHW with a specific focus on:

Different Crime Areas - User insight work to understand the needs across four (4) crime area types (Low, Medium, High Local Authority Housing, High Gentrified areas), with a focus on high crime areas.

The Next Generation - Understanding the needs and motivations of the mid 20’s to 50’s demographic.

Existing Membership - Uncovering the current workings and how their needs could be better served.

Offline/Online Methods – Understanding the balance between how digital services and traditional offline methods (in person, letter, phone) should develop in the future.

National Service – Understanding the role of a national service that operates at a local level.

Best practice – Learn from best practice within NHW and other related inspiration.

Co-creation - Incorporating NHW members in the development process for all new ideas.

Police/Volunteer roles – Understanding the different roles within the current structure and how to optimise the use of time and resources.

Adoption & Ownership – How can a solution encourage ownership and promote adoption by the membership

Connections – Understand how membership can better connect to other local organisations

Phase one delivered a comprehensive blueprint for the NHW service for the next generation of users. It outlined different stages, processes and people that are involved in the neighbourhood service. Live|work took their initial ideas to the five (5) regional conferences and solicited feedback from existing members. This feedback was reviewed and incorporated into the final recommendations presented by live|work.

Three service blueprints were provided. One for co-ordinators, one for ‘new users’ and one for challenging areas. These blueprints broke the lifecycle into five stages; aware, join, use, engage, change. The image below is the blueprint for co-ordinators.

NHW journey for Co-ordinators

The blueprint looked at the roles, tools, rules and infrastructure required to deliver a service to the three users across the lifecycle of membership. These were then prioritized with a consideration to those that could be and should be delivered as part of Phase 2 of this project.

Key Services

Phase 2: Brand and Asset development

(Spencer du Bois, work underway)

Phase Two of the project is aiming to develop a Neighbourhood Watch brand positioning to strengthen the appeal of the organisations to a broader, younger demographic that can be delivered across a range of off-line and online assets.

  • The first part of the project is to look at the brand positioning to design and build on the established heritage of the organisation to make it more attractive and engaging.
  • The second part is to apply the brand positioning and design to develop the key assets of the NHWN both online and in print.

The aim is to challenge the preconceptions of what NHW stands for, making it more relevant to a younger demographic in their 20’s to 50’s. This should have broad appeal to those living in areas from low to high crime. The brand assets are to be developed based on the recommendations for the future service design blueprint that is currently underway and will define the channels and touchpoints for an improved Neighbourhood Watch experience. The challenge is for the brand and digital design to invigorate a new generation whilst maintaining support from the existing NHW membership.

The deliverables for Phase 2 of the project are:

1. Brand Positioning and Design

  • Identify key functional and emotional benefits of the organisation that will engage new audiences and get them involved.
  • Develop and define a new brand positioning into a clear and usable format for the organisation.
  • Evaluate the current multiple identities (see background) and if necessary unify and refresh identity to reflect updated brand positioning.
  • Produce brand guidelines and templates for all basic communications channels (word, PowerPoint, email banners etc) that can be used by NHWN and NHW members alike.

2. Brand Assets Redesign

  • Design the next generation of the national NHWN online presence (myNHW.co.uk) according to the features and recommendations of the service design blueprint and new brand positioning.
  • Redesign existing Neighbourhood Watch publications in line with service design blueprint recommendations and new brand positioning.
  • Design a limited number of agreed additional features or assets (digital, printed or otherwise) that are required by NHWN as a result of the service design blueprint.

The design requirements which we are guiding the work are around the next generation NHW brand and brand assets should look to consider the following requirements:

  • Crime vs. Community - Uncover the balance between crime and community building and apply this to a simple description of the organisation that will appeal to consumers.
  • Clearly defined benefit - Identify the appeal and benefits of NHW for all of its users.
  • Talking crime prevention - Create a tone of voice that gives NHW a personality that identifies with its audience.
  • Challenging the stereotype - Understand the needs of future next generation users while addressing existing current negative stereotypes and perceptions.
  • The Next Generation – Appeal to the needs and motivations of the mid 20’s to 50’s demographic.
  • Levels of engagement – Appeal to the different tiers of engagement with NHW.
  • Offline/Online Methods – Develop and apply a branding that will work across digital services and traditional offline methods (in person, letter, phone).
  • National Service – Understanding the role of a national service that operates at a local level.
  • Best practice – Learn from best practice from other voluntary organisations.
  • Co-creation - Incorporating NHW members in the development process.
  • Police/Volunteer relations – communicate the different roles in and around the organisation.
  • Adoption & Ownership – How can the brand encourage ownership and promote adoption and use by the membership that operates at a local level.
  • Different Crime Areas - User insight work to understand the needs across the four Crime area types (Low, Medium, High Local Authority Housing, High Gentrified areas), with a focus on high crime areas.

Spencer du Bois have been appointed to deliver Phase 2 of the project and have begun work on the brand positioning. The tools to be developed and the scale/scope of these tools are being discussed with NHMN.

The work will aim to have a soft launch by mid-June around Neighbourhood Watch with all assets in place by the end of July.