04 / Team · Post-event participation
Common Ground
Turning the end of Glasgow 2026 into a clear first step toward local participation.
Common Ground is a post-Games handover for already-motivated Glasgow 2026 volunteers. A Next Step Page, Action Card and Participation Record help one volunteer find an existing local activity, bring someone familiar and support their first visit.
- Role
- Service Designer within a five-person team
- Duration
- Jan–Apr 2026
- Contribution
- Synthesis, concept reduction, service journey and storytelling
- Context
- GSA × Glasgow 2026
- Evidence
- Desk research, 15 short local conversations and stakeholder critique
- Status
- Concept prototype; end-to-end journey untested
Current outcome
Research and critique reduced a broad volunteer-led legacy platform to one testable transition. The service journey and touchpoints are resolved as a concept; behaviour change, organisational ownership and safeguarding still require evidence.
Challenge
Reducing the concept to a credible first step
What happened
Our first concept asked volunteers to organise new community activities and relied on a large set of unconfirmed partners. Stakeholder critique showed that the role carried too much responsibility and assumed a level of motivation we had not yet tested.
How I responded
We reduced the scope through two rounds of concept development. The volunteer role changed from organiser to connector, and the platform idea was removed. The final proposal focused on one clear handover: an experienced volunteer brings one new person into an existing local activity.
What changed
The project became easier to explain and test. It also changed my understanding of participation: a smaller role with a clear boundary can be easier for volunteers to sustain.
01 / Brief and opportunity
The event had momentum. Everyday participation needed a handover.
Local activities already existed. The design challenge was to make the next step visible and manageable.
Our five-person team explored how Glasgow 2026 could contribute to participation after the closing ceremony. My role focused on turning fragmented research and critique into a clearer service proposition, journey and story.
We identified the end of the Games as the critical moment: volunteers leave with confidence and social energy, while local activities become much less visible. That transition mattered because a legacy promise has little value if people cannot see what to do next.
02 / Evidence and direction
Three findings changed what we chose to design.
We combined policy and media review with 15 short Dalmarnock conversations, comparative cases and a Glasgow 2026 stakeholder session. This was directional evidence rather than representative research, so we used it to narrow the opportunity without claiming city-wide demand.
The useful connection was practical: local activities already existed, residents needed a familiar and low-pressure route in, and volunteers were more comfortable welcoming or accompanying someone than organising a new programme.
Keep the role light
Volunteers could invite, guide and welcome; asking them to organise was too much.
Use what already exists
Recurring local activities made a new standalone programme unnecessary.
Reduce first-visit uncertainty
A familiar person, clear expectations and practical information could lower the entry barrier.
03 / Iteration and decision
The concept became stronger each time we removed responsibility.
The final proposition is one supported handover into services that already exist.
Concept one made volunteers organisers of new community activity. Feedback exposed too many unsupported partners, operational tasks and assumptions about motivation. Concept two made them connectors, but still behaved like a broad digital platform.
We narrowed the audience to volunteers who already wanted to continue and redesigned only the transition after the Games. Their responsibility became bounded: choose an existing activity, invite one person, arrive together and help with the first visit.
Concept 1 · Organiser
Too many actors, new activities and untested assumptions made the proposal operationally heavy.
Concept 2 · Connector
A lighter role was more credible, but the system was still too broad and platform-led.
Final · Handover
One post-Games moment replaced a promise to solve legacy at scale.
04 / Final service journey
Five observable steps turn motivation into a first local visit.
The journey begins with a thank-you at the end of the Games, then directs the volunteer to a Next Step Page. They choose a motivation and level of involvement, find a nearby existing activity and use the Action Card to bring one person with them.
After the visit, a lightweight record makes the contribution visible and creates a prompt to repeat. Each step answers a different uncertainty—why continue, what to choose, where to go, how to help and what happened—without turning the volunteer into an organiser.
05 / Touchpoints and reflection
The service is tangible. Its long-term effect still needs evidence.
The Next Step Page makes motivation, commitment, location and cost visible. The Action Card gives the volunteer a short social script, while the Participation Record captures what they did without promising a formal qualification. The badge and physical pack place the handover inside familiar Games touchpoints.
This project resolves the concept while service validation remains open. The complete journey still needs a pilot with volunteers, invited residents and activity providers, alongside decisions about curation, records and safeguarding. My next step would be a small end-to-end pilot with one or two providers, measuring sign-up, first attendance, repeat attendance and how comfortable each participant feels.
Value hypothesis
A familiar companion and clear expectations make a first local visit easier.
What is unproven
Continuation, resident comfort, ownership, data use and safeguarding remain open.
Next test
Pilot the whole journey with volunteers, invited residents and existing providers.
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