How can design ﬁrms make social design a core part of their business?

Introduction

Design thinking - a creativeprocess of problem solving andinnovation – has transformedproducts, services, and evenbusinesses in the past. How canit be used now to eﬀect socialchange? How can designers makean impact in the world and addvalue to society? What is socialdesign and how can it addresssome of the world’s largestproblems like poverty, climatechange and non-renewableresources?Most design ﬁrms are trying tofollow the path of sustainabilityby creating environmentallyconscious products. In“Sustainable by Design”,Stuart Walker recognizesthat products and processesare interdependent with theenvironmental, economic, andsocial systems surrounding them.

The Role of Design

Design is undergoing a ﬂux rightnow. According to Jocelyn Wyattfrom Ideo, design has becomemuch larger over the past fewyears. Ten years ago, it was muchmore focused on product designand solutions for the richest 10%.That is changing now as peopleare seeing the value in designingsystems, services and solutionsfor the other 90%.Emily Pilloton of Project HDesign says that product designis a bit behind the curve onsustainability because it is rootedin consumerism, replicability andserial creation. It is a tough arenato ﬁnd ways in which to be moreenvironmentally and sociallyproductive. She believes that wehave to expand our idea of designto include less object-based andconsumer-based avenues, and toapply design thinking in new ways.The MillenniumDevelopmentGoals wereestablishedin 2000 torespond to theworld’s maindevelopmentchallenges. Theyinclude reducingpoverty,promotingeducation,empoweringwomen,improvinghealth,combatingchild mortality,AIDS andother diseases,ensuringsustainability,and creatinga globalpartnership fordevelopment.These eightMillenniumDevelopmentGoals have beenadopted by theUN countriesand internationalcommunity asa framework ofdevelopment tobe achieved by2015.

Twelve Principles ofInnovation by CK Prahalad

1. Focus on (quantum jumps in)Price Performance.2. Hybrid solutions, blending oldand new technology.3. Scalable and transportableoperations across countries,cultures and languages.4. Reduced resource intensity:eco-friendly products.5. Radical product redesign fromthe beginning: marginal changesto existing Western products willnot work.6. Build logistical andmanufacturing infrastructure.7. Deskill (services) work.8. Educate (semiliterate)customers in product usage.9. Products must work inhostile environments: noise,dust, unsanitary conditions,abuse, electric blackouts, waterpollution.10. Adaptable user interface toheterogeneous customer bases.11. Distribution methods shouldbe designed to reach both highlydispersed rural markets andhighly dense urban markets.12. Focus on broad architecture,enabling quick and easyincorporation of new features.

Possibilities and Limitationsof Social Design

Social design is to empower,not just use design as a charity.We have to learn how to usedesign as a form of public healthor capital to enable lives andcommunities, not dead-endproducts.

“As an individual, I try toengage in design activitiesthat are catalysts, notego-massaging exercises.I believe in the power of one, but only so far as thatone can inﬂuence ten or a hundred or a thousand others to believe in their own power. And I do believedesign can change the world,but only in combinationwith business bravery and acumen.” -- Emily Pilloton

Gaurav Rohatgi from Continuumadds that design can discover theright idea and achieve real results,and it is ideas that gets peopleto think and act differently. Hesays that design can be good atpredicting, but cannot control,what the champions and adoptersof those ideas are going to dowith them.It has only been a few yearssince design firms like IDEO andContinuum have been advocatingsocial design. While there hasbeen no resistance from otherdesign firms, there has certainlybeen some skepticism on theirpart. They all believe that largerdesign firms can work pro bonobecause of their infrastructureand relationships with clients.They do not realize that smallerfirms are set up to do things thata large company cannot do as youare just charging for your time anda minimum overhead.