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At PSI, we believe consumer-powered healthcare results in better health outcomes. In practical terms, this means:

  1. Influencing consumers to take up, sustain and advocate healthy behaviors, and
  2. Promoting functional, sustainable healthcare markets, either by getting directly involved or influencing other players (governments, providers, businesses, communities) to support healthy consumer choice.
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© 2018 Population Services International.
Licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International License.
“Keystone Design Framework” and “Keystone Design Process” are trademarks of Population Services International; all rights reserved.

What is the
Keystone Design Framework?

Over the years, PSI has successfully evolved a social marketing approach that is based on key principles that we believe help ensure the successful design and delivery of interventions.

  • Grounded in deep health area expertise;
  • Underpinned by consumer and market insights, informed by behavioral theory;
  • Focused on the vision of a sustainable market;
  • Harnessing commercial marketing principles and practices;
  • Applying a user-centered, creative approach to design;
  • Focused on value for money; and
  • Leading through learning.

To help apply these principles to our work, as well as that of program designers across the field of international development, we created the Keystone Design Framework, a simple yet rigorous approach to help apply marketing discipline to the design and implementation of public health interventions.

To find out if Keystone is right for your team’s next program, check out the Keystone Manual. 

Keystone's Four Phases

Diagnose

unmet health needs in a market

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Decide

where to intervene for the greatest impact  

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Design

user-centered interventions  

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Deliver

intervention(s) to address health needs

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At the end of the process, design teams should have:

  • A Project Summary describing the program and rationale for selecting particular interventions and marketing strategies to address the health need
  • An Implementation Plan that teams can follow to carry out the intervention and apply the marketing strategies
  • A Theory of Change, identifying how the intervention and marketing strategies will lead to consumers adopting healthy behaviors and meeting their needs
  • Additional Supporting Documentation, as required

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Keystone Phase 4

Deliver

By the fourth phase, interventions have been designed to address specific constraints or opportunities in the market that are related to the target consumer’s health need. Research and analysis have also been conducted to inform the intervention design, and ensure that it will promote a healthy, sustainable market and make it easier for the target consumer to adopt the desired behavior, product or service. 

Now it’s time to implement! In this last phase of the Keystone Design Framework, the intervention(s) are prepared and passed on for implementation.

Keystone phase 3

Design

The first two phases clarify which health market problems need to be solved and and how to solve them. This includes selecting the right interventions, defining specific deliverables required within a set timeframe and identifying which stakeholders are best placed to act against key market opportunities and constraints. In the Design phase, plans are developed for interventions specific to the implementing organization, including a deliberate plan to learn from the implementation experience.

Keystone phase 2

Decide

In the Decide phase of the Keystone Design Framework, a plan and timeline are created to address how the implementing organization and other market actors can intervene to address key constraints and opportunities, moving the market toward a desired future state. The initial development of this plan is centered on deciding which market actors are best positioned to improve different functions across the market.

Keystone Phase 1

Diagnose

In order to decide how to most effectively intervene in a market to address a health need, it's necessary to assess the present state of the market, identify target consumers and clarify how consumers and other market players should change their behavior related to the health need you have identified.