The Studio
“The ultimate, hidden truth of the world is that it is something that we make, and could just as easily make differently.”
David Graeber
GFSC work with community groups, researchers and academics, charities, digital agencies and other organisations to deliver tools, training, support and technical solutions for lasting and holistic change.
We work collaboratively with our clients to develop websites and apps, create training and support programs, conduct social science research, create partnerships, and strengthen communities. Our approach prioritises digital inclusion with the aim of improving lives and transforming communities. We love to connect people and causes together where we can see mutual win-wins.
Our speciality is helping to address really difficult and gnarly social problems: where other attempts at introducing digital elements have failed or are not working, where the people involved feel digitally excluded, or where there’s a general sense of not knowing what to do. We can help!
Our approach consists of four core elements:
1. Consultancy and research
Like technology, research can seem a scary, daunting and expensive prospect.
It doesn’t have to be. A good research base is the stable foundation on which you can make informed and careful choices. This both gives the confidence that you’re doing the right thing, and saves tons of time and money by helping you avoid making expensive mistakes.
We like to start any new project with a research phase that consolidates what you’ve already done, and interviews staff, stakeholders and volunteers at a range of levels to come to a shared understanding of problems.
Our collective draws on a wide range of expertise in multiple subject areas, such as technology, sociology, architecture, history, state violence, trans liberation, critical race theory, etc.
We can conduct fieldwork, carry out interviews, analyse data, and suggest the best solutions for your organisation. Our goal is to provide you with the toolkit you need to make informed decisions about the best way forwards — whether that’s with us or with another organisation more suited to your needs.
2. Software development
After the consultation and research process, we collaboratively establish what tech solutions you might need to best achieve your aims.
We can make websites, apps and tools to revolutionise the working of an organisation, and static brochure sites that directly reflect the work they do.
Because of our in-depth consultation process, clients can be assured that we do not begin this process until we have a clear understanding of what’s needed, and can deliver the best possible solutions based on their own unique circumstances and needs.
3. Design and branding
We offer design and branding as both a standalone service and alongside web development or consultation. We have experience from refreshing existing branding to creating whole new design worlds from scratch.
Depending on the scale of the project, we deliver this design work either from our in-house team, or with the help of some longstanding external consultants and collaborators.
4. Education and training
Technology can simultaneously seem like a “magic wand” to fix all your problems, but also an insurmountable and impossible to understand mess.
It’s therefore really common that you have a really good understanding of what your current situation is, an idea that what you want to accomplish, and a rough idea how to do it, but then have no idea where to go from there. This is where we come in!
We can consult on your projects to help demystify and untangle technology you’re currently using, figure out how you can use it better, and perhaps commission something new (in other words: reduce, reuse, recycle first).
We can coach you to solve your problems yourself by teaching you enough to get going and understand what’s really going on.
We can also work to support you in writing funding applications for collaborative work.