Kensington & Chelsea Circle

Participle is an organisation that challenges current public services through innovating and testing out ideas for alternative public service provision. Circle was Participle’s longest-running project; it was not-for-profit and was developed by older people for older people, with Participle as the facilitators. Circle connected older people to each other through social, learning and well-being events.

I was brought in as a service designer to develop the new branch of Circle in Kensington & Chelsea. This involved conducting design research and compiling a service proposal report.

Beyond the service development phase, I was kept on at Circle as a Marketing & Community Engagement Co-ordinator. Both my roles at Circle were created for me.

The research continued through fielding member suggestions for events; in this role I was also able to facilitate some of them. I hosted, organised and promoted many events over the six months, from West End theatre trips to local coffee mornings in community cafes.

I learnt how to be a service designer and community organiser in practice during this job, and was very gratified to be part of such a great social project.