The following paper by the Design Council talks about the concept of Transformation Design, which applies design in new contexts to transform the way in which the public interacts with systems, services, organizations and policies. It uses the design process as a means to enable a wide range of disciplines and stakeholder to collaborate. There are many who say that transformation design in not real design because its outputs aren't necessarily tangible products. The paper seeks to dispel these views by going into detail about the value of transformation design and providing concrete, real life examples, of its application.
A really interesting quote that resonated with me in the paper was said by Charles Eames in 1972, when he asked "What are he boundaries of design?" and then replied "What are the boundaries of problems?"
The design process and the skills inherent in designing must for a key part of a new approach to tackling social issues. The design process in incredibly transferable and those very same design principles can be applies to solving complex social problems.
An important aspect of transformation design in placing the user at the heart of the solution, this means that emotional considerations are just as useful as practical ones.
"Good design creates products, services, spaces, interactions and experiences that not only satisfy a function or solve a problem, but that are also desirable, aspirational, compelling and delightful."
3 Principles of Human Centered Design:
Making things visible, visualizing concepts, making visual sense out of complex information
Prototyping, quickly testing ideas, mock ups
6 Principles of Transformation Design:
Defining/redefining the brief
Collaborating between disciplines
Participatory design techniques
Building capacity, not dependency
Designing beyond solutions
Creating fundamental change
Transformation design seeks to shape behavior rather than form. This approach definitely challenges the traditional view of design.
Earlier this summer, the Center for Urban Pedagogy partnered with a college prep high school group and set out to ask the question: Who Decides Where Supermarkets go? This was a part of CUP's Urban Excursions series, with a specific focus on the Bronx.
To find answers, the group got out of the classroom and into the streets. They visited groceries across the boroughs, the Fresh Direct distribution site planned for the Bronx, and the real estate department of a major supermarket. They interviewed the CEO of Western Beef, a market research guru, the Department of City Planning, a local Community Board, organizers, and Bronx health experts to learn how supermarkets choose sites. As a culmination of this urban excursion, the group of high school students designed a booklet to communicate to others all of their findings.
It was wonderful to see the students involved in the project present their findings during the event. I greatly appreciate CUP's interdisciplinary approach to social advocacy and activism. They completely understand the power that art and design has to engage the public and communicate important messages. They also have a strong focus on the engagement of communities and allies. This is definitely an organization that I'd like to partner with for my thesis.
Designing Authentic Experiences for Social Activism and Community Engagement
(Title Option B) Soft Activism: Social design that generates platforms for ideas, dialogue and services that inspire ownership and longevity
The school of thought that believes design is more than creating physical objects is not new, nor is it revolutionary, the conceptual framework of design thinking has been around for years. It gained momentum around 2006, when businesses and companies alike were beginning to learn that the cyclical process of thinking like a designer was universal and malleable enough that it could be applied to any profession. Design thinking has been successfully adopted by global corporations as a tool for thinking creatively and innovating in order to expand and increase profit. On the opposite side of the spectrum, design thinking is beginning to be adopted by government and organizations in the public sector to tackle complex, big-picture problems, transform performance, inspire social innovations and better inform the public audience about their global missions. This particular application of design thinking has the power to truly impact social change and the way that innovations are made in the social sector.
More recently we’ve observed the trend of philanthropic organizations in the social sector utilizing technology, especially social media, as a vehicle for communicating to the public, and to further campaigns. In the ever-connected society we live in, we have incredibly powerful tools for activism readily available at our disposal, through which we can quickly disseminate information to the masses. A perfect example of such a tool is the viral video. Perhaps the most popular example of a social activist campaign video that went viral, is the recent Kony 2012 short film created by Invisible Children to promote their movement to make infamous, and eventually capture and arrest Ugandan war criminal Joseph Kony. In the span of a few weeks, the video garnered over 100 million views over the internet, largely due to the video’s high quality production, which included elegant 3-d effects, and the incredibly well crafted sentimental story. Unfortunately, despite how well designed this campaign was, design simply wasn’t enough to sustain interest and encourage social engagement.
I will take a close look at case studies of social interventions that are example of successful displays of social activism from both a historical and cross-cultural perspective. I will create a metric for success based on topics like creating awareness, financial backing, and community involvement. I will also seek to visualize how long viral campaigns last and when and how they start to decline in influence and public interest. This will hopefully highlight how design can be used to generate platforms for ideas, dialogue and services that allow for ownership and duration, and inspire an intervention of my own that addresses design carried out in service of the greater public and greater good—design that seeks to bridge the gap between “virality” and longevity.
· Taxonomy, patterns based on case studies (defining the context)
o Looking at how advocacy and awareness campaigns have been carried out throughout history and across cultures in hopes of observing patterns, norms, guiding principles on which to base my proposed “solution”
III. Today & Technology
· Sensory Overload – how being inundated with visual information deters us from making meaningful and lasting connections with the things we observe and experience
· Viral Campaigns – overview of the phenomenon and its drawbacks
· Kony 2012
IV. Transcending the Viral Video
· Engaging communities through collaboration in social design
· Human centered design
· Community ownership – this concept is of pivotal importance, as community ownership and engagement is the key to sustaining the life of a social/advocacy endeavor
V. Soft Activism
· Definition - a practice-based methodology, which is inclusive, pro-active and participatory in nature. Soft Design Activism examines an existing designed entity from a human centered perspective
· Two-fold symbiotic relationship
· Designer + community
· Physical Interventions
· Experience design
· Disruptive design
VI. Visual Project
· Application of discoveries made through case studies
Interviews – one on one or small group question and answer sessions with individuals involved in various community based arts development projects
Observations – taking organized notes about specific groups, organizations, events, art projects, installations that are successful examples of social activism through design
Analysis – I might collect data and organize it based on criteria that I develop for measuring the success of awareness campaigns. This will help me to analize trends or patterns.
In my primary research I will seek to interview professionals in the field who are involved in cause-driven projects in the social and non-for profit sector. I would be particularly interested to speak with people involved in Rio +20, or with individuals affiliated with large philanthropic organizations such as the United Nations. I would also seek out professionals in other design fields such as architecture and urban planning.
Qualitative Research
Ethnographic Research – of places, communities, projects
Case Studies
Cross-cultural and Historical – will serve as context to my thesis
A large portion of my research will be dedicated to qualitative findings to define activism in the context of my thesis and to establish a precedent for what has been deemed successful activism (at varying degrees) throughout history, as well as throughout different cultures.
The Laundromat Project is a community-based public art non-profit that brings arts programming to laundromats in the Greater New York area through two core programs: Create Change Public Artist Residency and Works in Progress. Both programs seek to raise the quality of life for people whose incomes do not guarantee broad access to mainstream arts and cultural facilities.
Word Up Community Bookshop in Washington Heights, NYC.
A pop up bookstore, only meant to last a month in 2011, it is still open today thanks to the support of vested community members and active volunteers.
An interesting article from the Design Observer discussing "social design".
Common limitations of Social Design:
designing "for" and not "with" the people you are trying to help
outcomes are difficult to track and measure
A psychologist, David Neal, researched behavior change and found that public awareness campaigns generally work when they are promoting actions that we perform infrequently, i.e. donating blood, giving money to charities etc. However, when we look at these campaigns and target them at everyday habitual actions like smoking and eating, awareness campaigns aren't as effective. This is because our behavior is integrated with, and shaped by our environment. Therefore, the best way to influence behavior change is to "disrupt the environment" so as to " alter the action sequence and disrupt the learned body sequence that's driving the behavior."
So now the question is, how can designers work to disrupt environments that may trigger behavior change?
Di Cintio, Phd, Lorella. Soft Design Activism. Diss. Ryerson University Ontario College of Art and Design, n.d. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
In this essay, Lorella Di Cintio, a professor of Liberal Studies and Design at Ryerson University and Ontario College of Art and Design, introduces some interesting new terminology for design activism. In her own words, “Soft Design Activism” is a practice-based methodology, which is inclusive, pro-active and participatory in nature. In other words, “Soft Design Activism” examines an existing designed entity from a human centered perspective. Another critical part of Di Cintio’s paper is her historical overview of occurrences in Art Activism and how it transitioned into design activism.
Activist Rinku Sen characterizes activism in these five categories below:
organizing: people doing it for themselves—people suffering from an abuse or injustice taking action themselves to correct it such as fighting for civil rights or access to decent housing, and this often leads to new organizations being formed. Community organizing involves the long term engagement and leadership of those who suffer most in current conditions.
services: providing services to those in need, historically services such as job training, legal aid and so forth.
advocacy: lobbying for and acting on behalf of a group in need, without much involvement from that group. An extreme case would be advocating for the environment where it has no means to advocate for itself, but degrees of advocacy exist for many different groups and issues in society.
mobilization: large scale show of concern, such as petition signing or marches, but without expectation of repeat or continued involvement of the participants.
solidarity: efforts to change the terms of cultural discourse, through opinion pieces, framing of the issues and so forth.
Proc. of Rio+20, Brazil, Rio De Janeiro. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Rio+20 - the short name for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development to take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2012 - is an historic opportunity to define pathways to a safer, more equitable, cleaner, greener and more prosperous world for all.
Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, where countries adopted Agenda 21 - a blueprint to rethink economic growth, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection - the UN is again bringing together governments, international institutions and major groups to agree on a range of smart measures that can reduce poverty while promoting decent jobs, clean energy and a more sustainable and fair use of resources.
Rio+20 is a chance to move away from business-as-usual and to act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the future.
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