Introduction
This article review forms part of a report, the intention of this literature is to review five articles namely; “Socially Responsive design: Thinking beyond the triple bottom line to socially responsive and sustainable product design” by Gavin Melles, Ian de Vere & Vanja Misic, published in 2011, CoDesign, Vol. 7, No. 2-4, “A “Social Model” of Design: Issues of Practice and Research” By Victor Margolin and Sylvia Margolin, published in 2002, MIT Press, Vol. 18, No.4, “Rethinking Design Policy in the Third World” by Sulfikar Amir, published in 2004, MIT Press, Vol. 20, No. 4, “Design for Children’s Behaviours in Daycare Playgrounds” By Nathan H. Perkins and George Antoniuk, published in 1999, Alexandrine Press, Vol. 25, No. 1, lastly “The Politics of the Artificial” By Victor Margolin, Published in 1995, MIT Press, Vol. 28, No. 5. By reviewing these articles this paper will expose the social responsibilities of a ‘product’ designer, by looking into the history and context of social design. This paper will further bring forth the “ideal” characteristics of a socially responsible ‘product’ designer, and look into participatory design as a methodology for the socially responsible design process.
The intention of socially responsible projects is to empower its user; the result seen in use within the intended system must satisfy the objective of helping the user and therefore providing the community with economic gain with minimal harm to the environment writes Melles et al
- (Melles et al, 2011: 152).
Background and Context
In the article entitled “Socially Responsive design: Thinking beyond the triple bottom line to socially responsive and sustainable product design” the authors refer to Victor Papanek as the man ...
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...ated on the processes social designers follow in order to derive an outcome that satisfies a human need, while benefiting the community, not harming the environment and ultimately contributes positively to the local economy.
Ultimately that lack of, or under-development of socially responsible design is as a result of educational institutions not facilitating and providing the necessary knowledge for designers to become active social designers.
Recommendations
In order to better understand the context of the paper, it would be beneficial to read “Design for the Real World” by Victor Papanek, furthermore, that lack of socially responsible design awareness at academic institutions is of great concern, in order to support the social design awareness, more research into where and how social design is taught, would add additional value to the claims in this review.
Lawson, Bryan. How Designers Think: The Design Process Demystified. 4th ed. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2006.
The basic definition of social responsibility is that all companies should embrace more than just the focus of maximizing profits, and should have as part of their business model the goal to have a positive impact upon the society in which they operate. (Investopedia, 2014) Some businesses believe that social responsibility can only be applied to individuals and not to a corporation or business entity, and that the social responsibility of business is only to maximize the profits of the company for the shareholders of the organization. By maximizing the profits of a business, society as defined by these companies, is benefiting because the business is successful adding value to the entire society in which the company is operating.
Whether an organization is domestic or international they have social responsibilities to the communities they operate within and to the shielding of the world. Caterpillar, Inc. is one such company that puts social responsibility at the top of their priorities. They have an abundance of engineers and technologists working on solutions to improve on sustainability. According to the 2012 Sustainability Report (2012), “at Caterpillar, we always ask ourselves, ‘What do our customers need? What does the world need?’ World Resources Institute (WRI) asks those same questions about the communities it serves, and truly delivers some amazing results” (p. 19).
Leonard, D. & Rayport, J.F. (1997) “Spark innovation through empathic design” Harvard Business Review, November-December 1997.
So before we go in greater detail on the different perspectives related to social responsibility, one might question the meaning of social responsibility. It is generally agreed that social responsibility is defined as the business obligation to make decisions that benefit societ...
The development of design in the trend of globalization is urging designer performing their works in the more standard and professional processes, but the variety of inspirations in the design world still playing their crucial roles. The globalization of design has created a more complicated situation for both domestic and international designer. The application of international design thinking also could help designer to trim their design method and design thinking to approach the more intricate market, to conquer the gaps of different cognizes that effected by different cultures or even the human nature.
Patagonia Inc is one of the companies that have been considered to be highly responsible in the way that it offers its products. The reason as why the company is considered to be socially responsible is brought about by the fact that the top management of the company has made it a priority for the company to convey the message that thy highly care for their employees, clients, and the environment from where they operate from (Snider, Hill, & Martin, 2003). As such, this paper will highlight some of the important reasons why Patagonia is considered to be a highly social responsible company.
The Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a concept that is used at the point of teachers planning. This idea stems from the field of architecture and attempts to design products and environments so that they are usable by all people, in this case students, to the greatest extent possible without the need for adaption or specialised design. (Ashman & Elkins, 2008) The universal design for learning aims to promote access, participation and progress in regular education for all students and therefore has been suggested as a response that meets the needs of students.
The primary goal of The Walt Disney Company is to become one of the world’s leading producers and providers of not only entertainment, but also information (The Walt Disney Company, 2014). The company aims to achieve this by utilizing its immense brand portfolio so as to differentiate services, content, and consumer products. While this is the overall goal, there exist other innate milestones that essentially touch on socially responsible business in enhancing sustainability. They include, but are not limited to; zero net greenhouse gas emissions, whereby the company aims to have reduced net greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2020; zero waste, whereby Walt Disney hopes to achieve a 60% reduction in waste from
Design has established itself as core elements in societies helping countless communities build infrastructure, invent new ways to better living conditions and create design desirable for consumption hence bettering the economy. Though this is a positive, most designers of the 21st century use their skills and their designs alike for those who can afford it; designing for what’s in fact the minority, 10% of the world’s population. The reason why developmental aid and design for development is essential to improving standards of living for those who live in developing countries, but to also bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. Ilse Oosterlaken (2009, p.100) equates most designs for development that use a `participatory' process as having a limited, user-centred approach; and suggests instead a more universal design approach, which she calls ‘capability sensitive design’. This essay will illustrate designs that have contributed to developmental design through capability sensitive design approach, considering sustainable design that are not only better the environment, community health and social welfare but the country’s economic standing. Through evaluating each example’s potential for real, sufficient, diverse and lasting value for the targeted users we can determine each design’s efficiency.
Yan, J. & Plainiotis, S. (2006): Design for Sustainability. Beijing, China: Architecture and Building Press.
Greenwood, R., & Miller, D. (2010). Tackling Design Anew: Getting Back to the Heart of Organization Theory. Academy of Management Perspectives, 24 (4), 78-88.
Hegeman, J. (2008). The Thinking Behind Design. Master Thesis submitted to the school of design, Carngie Mellon University. Retrieved from: http://jamin.org/portfolio/thesis-paper/thinking-behind-design.pdf.
Design has major impact with concerns to environmental qualities. This field is a direct study of the relationship between behaviouristic actions of its inhabitants. Designers constantly interact with people and communicate to solve the needs of their clients regardless of large or small scale projects. Analysis is key in combining creativity with managerial design solutions. These outside-of-the-box designers have the ability to create beautiful, safe and functional and aesthetically pleasing spaces using common factors, designing for communities as well as,
The sustainability of ecosystems on which the global economy depends must be guaranteed. And the economic partners must be satisfied that the basis of exchange is equitable” (World). This quote demonstrates the complexities of sustainability. Another thing corporations should focus on when trying to be sustainable is their environmental impact. Annie Leonard in her book The Story of Stuff says that companies can significantly reduce their toll on the environment by changing their design. The design determines “the amount of energy used in making and using the product,” “the length of the product’s life span” and “its ability to be recycled” (Leonard). All these things determine the amount of resources a company must use, so simply changing a product’s design is one way a company can have a large impact on the sustainability of the environment in which it operates. One example of this is that “Wal-Mart attributed more that $100 million of its 2009 revenue to a decision to switch to a recyclable variety of cardboard in shipments” which it sells to a recycler instead of paying to send it to a landfill