Sometimes, good design is of the invisible kind. You recognise it in smooth everyday living, easy mobility in the cityscape, and services that are both effortless and easy to understand . In Helsinki, high quality design is found in public spaces and services, in the city’s digital channels, and in the all-round well-functioning urban environment. The user experience has been kept in mind at every turn.
For instance, the user experience of public transport is shaped by various factors, such as how travellers find out about public transportation via the mobile app, how easy it is for them to find and download it, and what steps they follow to buy a ticket and check a route.
Construction sites also play a role in urban mobility. Helsinki has executed a design guide for designers and contractors so that they can follow tried and tested principles to develop construction sites in a way that will cause as little impact as possible to citizens and visitors.
The value of design is part of Helsinki’s strategy
The City of Helsinki runs design projects amounting to a yearly total of 3.6 million euros. The number of such initiatives has grown a whopping nine-fold as compared with 2016.
Helsinki’s City Design Manager Päivi Hietanen lists the Oodi central library as an example of an internationally acclaimed city design project. The library successfully combines service design and contemporary architecture.
“The whole concept of Oodi was developed together with its users, with a starting point in their dreams and wishes”, Hietanen says.
Helsinki’s Chief Design Officer Hanna Harris is in charge of the city’s design functions and the multidisciplinary collaborations related to it, while Helsinki Lab, managed by Hietanen, coordinates these tasks. Helsinki Lab realises projects together with design offices, universities, and the City of Helsinki’s central administration as well as various city divisions. The city has a design network of more than 200 professionals, spread out over its divisions.
All-round collaboration is possible because the value of design has been deeply understood in Helsinki, down to the city strategy. Helsinki recognises the relevance of design and architecture for wellbeing and a better experience of the city.
600 citizens consulted for the city’s new website
In 2012, Helsinki was selected as World Design Capital, together with the adjacent cities of Espoo, Vantaa, Lahti, and Kauniainen. The celebratory year elevated the user’s point of view to the core of design thinking. Due to a user experience-driven mindset, Helsinki conducts plenty of user studies: the urban sphere along with its physical and digital services are being developed together with Helsinkians.
Helsinki is in the middle of renewing its Hel.fi website, and involving an online development community in the process. The community currently has around 600 Helsinkians who have a wish to take part in the website’s planning.
“One of the aims of the renewal is to offer site visitors a positive and solid service experience”, says Päivi Vartiainen, the Digitalist Group representative in charge of the project’s user studies.
The initiative leans on the Helsinki Design System toolkit which serves to ensure the ease-of-use, accessibility, and uniform visuality of all the city’s digital services.
Design plays an important role in the City of Helsinki’s communications and information visualisation. The Hel.fi renewal involves content designers and accessibility experts who support the work of content producers from different city divisions in producing unified and clear content for diverse audiences.
More accessible playgrounds
In Helsinki, design is harnessed for problem solving. As an example, the challenge regarding Helsinki playgrounds was that activities organised by parks in certain city zones were failing to reach citizens with an immigrant background. The collaborative effort zoomed in on developing the recognisability, attractiveness, and accessibility of playgrounds through design methods. A shared icon was created for playgrounds, and a playful “jumping stone” was brought to all playgrounds, introducing playgrounds to visitors in six languages. In addition, the project served to enhance communication through educating playground personnel.
Another point of emphasis in the playground project was to pursue design principles that would nudge children toward being more active.
“The city will always keep evolving. Design is a central tool in developing the urban environment together with Helsinkians”, Hietanen says.
A new playground with a computer theme is due to open in the district of Ruoholahti. However, the park has no actual computers or digital displays. Children can get acquainted with the world of computers through play and being physically active. The playground has been developed together with author Linda Liukas, based on the storyline of her educational children’s book about computers in the Hello Ruby series. The aim of the playground is to bring joy and moments of realisation and togetherness to the cityscape.
Sights, events and new projects
Useat matkailijat valitsevat Helsingin matkakohteeksi kaupungin hyvän designmaineen vuoksi. Muotoiluun panostetaan eri tapahtumissa ja hankkeissa. Syksyllä 2022 Helsingissä järjestetään jälleen Pohjoismaiden suurin muotoilufestivaali Helsinki Design Week, ja kaupunkiin on suunnitteilla uusi arkkitehtuuri- ja designmuseo.
Many visitors pick Helsinki as their travel destination because of its good design reputation. Design is emphasised in many events and initiatives. The biggest design festival in the Nordic region, Helsinki Design Week, will once again be organised in autumn 2022, and a new architecture and design museum is in the planning pipeline.