The Importance Of Social Innovation Through Design

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Designers have always focused on designing for the visual aestetic and the effecientcy of the function of products. However designers are now using their skills to help eradicate social issues within the world, such as providing lower helth care costs and proper living conditions around the world. Social innovation through design sees to designing for social change (Mulgan, 2006). The 3 sources I have chosen are, The Sternins research on reducing malnutrition in Vietnam, Another was the mosquito nets sent to North Africa to prevent malaria and the third one was Harry wes who designed cheaper disposable nappies for less affluent families in china. Sternin and his wife worked in Vietnam to reduce the amount of malnourished children across …show more content…

This can be an internal battle with most as we live in a consumerist society, however design for social change helps benefit us all as it helps better the world as a whole through small changes. Another factor can be the research methods used, some people may choose to conduct written studied research where as others will empathically conduct research by experiencing the social issues first hand which would be the most efficient way to find a solution to the …show more content…

Tim brown (CEO of IDEO) explained design thinking as “a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” (IDEO, 2016). Design thinking makes use of different types of people in different professions and from different understandings to find solutions in problem solving. In social innovation, on needs to go through the process of Design Thinking in order to find a solution to meeting the required neds of the specific issue being dealt with (Mulgan, 2006, pp. 145 – 147). Design is defined as translating an idea into something real. This shows how broad design is and how design is everywhere and in everything. Social innovation through design is basically designing better easier lives for people in need. This means using a different, creative way of thinking to develop ideas for to meet a social need of specific groups of people. Richard Seymour said it plainly “design is making things better for people” and this is basically what Social innovation through design is (What is design, no date, pp. 1 –

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