Three years on: A new face for Telescope

Society’s problems don’t exist in a vacuum, so they need a solution that recognises the bigger picture. Our approach connects people – from policymakers to frontline workers to those with lived experience – to build solutions that work.

As Telescope turns three this month, we have been taking the opportunity to reflect on our journey, celebrating the successes and learning from the twists and turns along the way. From creating an early-stage idea within Year Here’s venture lab, to running fully fledged learning journeys with central government, we have been working hard to change the narrative in policymaking. With over 85 participants to date, we are proud of the fact that over 70% of participants have learned new insights through our programmes that they can feed into both policy and practice.

“Working from the perspective of overall project delivery, insights from "on-the-ground" team members from probation and community development is invaluable, and the Telescope format of facilitating the sessions works perfectly in unearthing key messages and directions from all participants.”

Our focus has always been on closing the gap between frontline and policy. Frontline insights rarely make it to Whitehall and this has knock-on effects for the ability of motivated policymakers to create policies that actually work. However, we are also systems thinkers who recognise that to tackle these complex social challenges, we need to bring together stakeholders from across the system including local government, charities and, most importantly, people with lived experience.  Though we still know that our USP is platforming frontline voices, we also recognise that more diverse stakeholder groups with more diverse perspectives need to be part of the conversation too, in order to help us span the spectrum between policy and frontline (as visualised in our participant spectrum below).

Telescope’s participant spectrum - how we visualise the spectrum between policy and practice, from which all diverse voices need to be heard to create good policy

Affirming our core purpose

As we are working up to launch more projects aiming to shift the narrative in policymaking and generate better outcomes for service users, it felt like the right time to revisit our reason for being, our mission and vision. We stripped everything back and went back to basics, to remind ourselves of Telescope’s ambition: to disrupt the balance of power in society and bring the realities of social challenges into Whitehall. When we set up Telescope three years ago, we hoped that eventually, our work would no longer be needed. Unfortunately though, in 2022 we still see the same gap in understanding between policy and the frontline, and we still don’t hear the voices of those who are experiencing social challenges loudly enough.

We heard this loud and clear at GovCamp Cymru in June, where we co-led a conversation session around how to build empathy between frontline staff and policymakers, and bring user-centred design into the policymaking process. Our fellow innovators commented that:

“It’s very difficult – lots of policymakers are completely detached from reality.”

“There’s a fear of what people might say – policymakers think of user-centred design as options appraisal rather than asking questions to establish the real need and problem to tackle.”

As George the Poet so eloquently said in Have You Heard George’s Podcast?:

“How many people in the Ministry of Justice have experienced crime? How many people in the Ministry of Justice have a family member doing serious time? Do they bring that trauma into the office or do they come with a whole lot of theory in mind?”

This is our real focus, and we wanted to make that clear with a stronger and stripped back visual identity and language that really speaks to our bold vision, whilst being fun, creative and deeply human. We want to build a society that is founded on empathy and understanding, building bridges through trusted relationships.

A new brand

So with support from talented design strategist Chloe Roach, we worked to create a brand that clearly communicates our strengths and our purpose, and translate that into an external “face” for Telescope. We honed in on our real value and USPs: 

• We value the expertise of people who use or deliver services, and their experience always informs project outcomes

• We empower - we use tools that encourage everyone to share and contribute, no matter their ability or expertise

• We create an inclusive environment where everyone’s voice is equal and strong coalitions can be formed

Based on these principles, illustrator and designer Blep then applied her creative skills to translate this into a new logo and website for us. We are really excited to share our revamped brand with you. Have a look at our website, follow us on socials, and sign up here for our newsletter. And please share widely with your friends and colleagues!

With this new design behind us, we are excited to continue doing what we know and love to do: bringing brilliant and driven people together to collaborate and solve problems. We hope this new brand communicates that, but in the true spirit of innovation and design, there is still room for iteration. We would love to hear your feedback - good and bad - and talk to you about where to go next.