From Social Design to Design for Social Innovation

2014

The paper discusses the connections between social innovation and design practice/research outlining possible challenges for innovating in the service field. Social Innovation is one of the most promising frameworks for delivering service innovation that is receiving increasing attention from governments, academy, and businesses alike. Design is described as a privileged path to innovation, because it can establish a link with creativity and outline more efficient processes. The paper aims to provide a platform for discussion and learning that can ground a connection between the two topics. Moreover, it offers a critique of what has been achieved while highlighting the main questions for future development.

International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work, 2020

Design and designer's role have changed. It is now not only about adding aesthetic value and functionality to a product. The human centric approach of design generates questions of how design education can adapt and modify to magnify the role of a designer as a social leader and be responsible towards socially conscious design. Social innovation does involve the convergence of human involvement with contemporary society for a significant change. Hence, the role and scope of design is increased towards creating an impact on society and culture. Through the study of secondary data in the form of case studies, this paper attempts to identify how through design we can have innovative solutions towards social issues.

2021

DEMOCRATIZING TECHNOLOGIES Technology is never neutral, but always plays an important role in the processes of social innovation. In particular, the democratization brought up by the information technologies in terms of usability, communication and connectivity, is opening to a wide reorganization of the processes of creation, production and distribution of goods and services, while enabling forms of reappropriation of the means of production. The process of digitalization is leading to the transformation of the nature of enterprises, while opening to micro-factories and "personal capitalism", able to share locally and globally skills and knowledge, as well as resources and tools, to the accomplishment of projects and products. The division between workers and their reificated work, and be tween this and its product, is therefore virtually abolished, since the means of production become appropriable and subject to be made in common. The computer seems to be as an universal tool, universally accessible, through which the entire knowledge and every activity can be in common. (Gorz, 2003) Therefore, the acquisition of capabilities of self-organization asserts a form of technological activism, which can multiply the chances and the resources for grass-rooted forms of enterprise and cooperation, while allowing the emergence of a collective intelligence (Lévy, 1994). The new generations of designers have come to terms with deindustrialization and, while their predecessors had a role in the assembly line with manufacturing processes, today's designers are becoming aware of their service and strategic role concerning innovation. If industry is living an historical shift of its role within society and production, the designer is in the position of independently incorporating all the productive aspects in his own office, from the concept, to the manufacturing, to the communication and the distribution, and even crowdfunding the project.

2009

Design, as an area of knowledge, is subject to changes that affect it through different approaches, both theoretical and practical; its include matters related with responsibility, environment, social worries, and things alike. Commensurately, such contemporary aspects open room for social initiatives. This scenario begins to be looked at, especially in creative communities. Such proposal for a systemic approach of design is seen as a way to involve the stakeholders in the processes of investigation and of social innovation, which can decisively contribute for the development of traditional local communities. As a theoretical basis for the research, this paper outlines some especial features of design and social innovation, in their particular and in their complementary aspects, as well as in the way they relate with each other.

Design Journal, 2017

The Design Journal

There is an evident need to shift from focusing merely on designers' tasks and methods towards taking a more holistic approach to socially responsible design. In order to do this, this paper looks firstly in retrospect at the global design research work done by the World Design Research Group and secondly examines an ongoing research project in the development context. In both cases, the connections and differences between social design and service design are highlighted. As a concrete outcome this paper proposes a framework that can be applied to the development context. In other words, in design cases where the aim is to collaborate, share knowledge and experiences as well as co-design change in a multinational group. The framework itself gives designers an understanding of how to both navigate in the development field and work for improving the livelihoods of communities.

Last century, a new design area bond with new aims and principles emerged, committed to answer more urgent and relevant needs of humanity. Multiple terms come forward to identify it and because there isn't a unifying language among its practitioners, questions have been raised about whether they refer to a general area in design or to single design practices. This “social” vocabulary, caused so far enormous controversy and dispersion of this area in design that wants – and today it needs – to assert itself practically and theoretically. In this paper, we propose to clarify some of these questions. By searching in written records we intend to analyse how “social” design practitioners identify and describe their work and approach, while aiming to better understand this area and discipline the existing multiplicity. Moreover, the aim of this paper is to verify the possibility of encompassing all expressions – and practices, if demonstrated – into a single umbrella term that can include all the disparity between them and simultaneously reinforce their similarities. This will lead to a more concise and precise identification and recognition of this area and its practitioners, helping to build a stronger case for its assertion.

DRS2016: Future-Focused Thinking, 2016