America needs Social Designers

New discipline fuses creative and cognitive abilities to tackle society challenges

Social design is the application of design methodologies to tackle complex societal issues and placing society at the center of the design process. Historically social design was a response to draw attention to the responsibility and influence designers have within society as a purely industrial-driven design practice. Nowadays, we see that the challenges we are and will face are too complex to be solved by one person, community, or government. Social Design, therefore, facilitates a collaborative creative process that allows multiple stakeholders to take part in the tackling of societal challenges. With this process we allow the stakeholders to collaborate and co-create approaches to tackle wicked problems (problems without direct ownership).

What is Social Design?

Designers have traditionally been resourceful creators. Whether it‘s about objects, services, products, or entire cities: with innovative materials and original processes, designers develop a new perspective on design, use, or lifestyle. Social design works differently than you are probably used to from designers so far. In social design, the design process is set up in such a way that social change ultimately takes place. Social design is therefore a type of design that places the role and responsibility of the designer at the heart of society(or the other way around). Because of this position, social design adds value to human welfare and society in general.

You must be familiar with complex social issues in which civil servants are completely bogged down, residents have become rigid and companies see no revenue model so that change does not occur. In such situations, social designers are like fish in the water. They bring together all the interested parties and those involved, put their finger on the problem and sometimes push until they know where the pain is coming from. In short, they set fixed processes in motion and bring fruitful perspectives that activate stakeholders. This is how we find social designers in projects dealing with complex social issues such as loneliness, debt problems, human trafficking and underdeveloped neighbourhoods.

“Social design gives structure to a process where you don‘t yet know what the answer is, because it‘s never been done before.” —Simone Brouwer, works in social design 

Atlanta Design Festival: Could we create a local platform where Social Designers in Atlanta can become part?

The Social Design Lobby: We certainly can create possibilities for social designers to connect and to make visible where they are currently taking action. How this could take shape as an intercontinental collaboration would be interesting to discuss between The Social Design Lobby, MA! Design Is Human, Atlanta Design Festival, Atlanta-based organisations, city government and business teams. 

ADF: How can a municipality become better economically with social design?

TSDL: Municipalities as well encounter challenges that are the result of systems that are out of date. The distance that can occur due to the rigid systems of municipalities are there for inefficient or result in higher costs on the long term due to the distance and lack of flexibility within a governmental system. Furthermore, as in any system, there are groups in society that will fall outside the previously defined categories since society is changing, but our systems are not. Social Design allows us to bring the processes closer to society and therefore allows discovering or even foresee problems that can occur. Since the often collaborative process of social design allows to understand the situations of the citizens it can help municipalities to create working services that will in the long term reduce their costs and make them more efficient.

thesocialdesignlobby.com