Graduate Design Associate

Edge is a leader in innovation, enabling change to create a positive impact on people, organisations and society. We support our clients to realise better solutions, faster, through a collaborative design approach which puts people at the heart of everything we do.

We partner with public, private and third sector organisations including well-known organisations such as The National Trust, Newcastle University, Teesside University, Gateshead Council, Durham County Council, Flood Innovation Centre, Innovate UK, the North East LEP, Connected Places Catapult, Tees Valley Combined Authority, St John Ambulance, Procter & Gamble, NHS trusts and many more.

Since 2015 our work has led to a number of spin-out organisations and we work closely with these organisations. In particular, we developed and span out: 

• Innovation SuperNetwork, the innovation network for the North East of England, working with 60 partners and over 5,000 businesses to drive innovation in the region, for the benefit of the region 
• Rural Design Centre, working with rural communities, businesses, public authorities and researchers to co-design solutions to complex rural challenges.

We are North-east based and particularly passionate about the role design-led innovation can play for citizens, communities, small businesses and large organisations in the North but we also want to showcase what the North can do for the rest of the world.

The way we do things is focused on bringing together different ideas, perspectives and resources to develop innovation that can change the world. Principles of open innovation and design thinking run through everything we do and we are becoming recognised as thought leaders in these fields.

We are very excited to be growing in size and impact and want to welcome a Graduate Design Associate to the team who will be trained and empowered to develop and deploy design-led methods, mindsets and processes that will support the work that we do at Edge Innovation.

1. Supporting our client and partners
   • Conduct design research across a number of public and private challenges, make sense of this research to enable design development
   • Facilitate conversations between cross functional teams (in meetings and workshops) to frame challenges and identify solutions
   • Communicate outputs and outcomes in an engaging and inclusive way
2. Supporting the Edge internal team
   • Research the latest design-led and open innovation thinking
   • Attend and capture workshops and their effectiveness
   • Refine methods and processes based on insight

• 0-3 years of relevant experience 
• Degree(s) in Product Design, Architecture, Engineering, Design Innovation, Brand Design, Design Strategy, Graphic Design or similar

In a nutshell we are looking for canny people who can think critically and creatively deliver.

People are at the centre of our work, whether understanding their behaviours and what that means for design or working collaboratively in teams to deliver what is needed. Therefore, the following skills and experience are especially important for us: 

• Working collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams at pace 
• Demonstrating that you are a self-starter and have an entrepreneurial spirit 
• Experience of and comfortable with managing ambiguity 
• The ability to articulate and advocate for people-centred design in a way that others understand
• Planning and delivering people-centred design activities i.e. creative workshops, experience mapping 
• Understanding and experience of a range of people-centred research methods, knowing when to use them and how to apply them correctly 

When we talk about critical thinking, it’s not nit picking or box ticking we are talking about.  We think critically about the way things are and are often unsatisfied with what we find.  We want to actively participate in making things better, for us that means the following skills and experience matter: 

• Ability to systemically break challenges down so they can be understood by teams 
• Experience of applying a range of techniques for analysis of research data and synthesis of clear findings that teams can understand and react to 
• Using data and research to influence decision making 
• Ability to balance analytical thinking with intuition and hold an opinion based on multiple often conflicting sources
• Ability to critically talk about your own work 

Last but by no means least we believe a design-led approach should harness creativity.  To us this means our work should be joyous, expressive and make uncommon connections so we can help shape new meaning.  We take pride in the craft of our work and would like that to be a mark of how we are seen externally.  For us that means: 

• Bringing joy and expression to your work 
• Skilled at exploring ideas and bringing them to life
• Able to make uncommon connections 
• Experience of gathering inspiration to inform thinking 
• Ability to present research findings and development in compelling ways 
• Experienced with a variety of methods for prototyping and iterating products, services and systems

It is the start of an exciting time for Edge and the successful applicant will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our organisation so we encourage applicants to reach out to learn more about us and the role.  You can do that by emailing melissa.bourseau@ed-ge.uk / title: Please tell me more about the Graduate Design Associate role.

You can apply by sending your C.V., portfolio and cover letter explaining why you think you would be great for the role.