designer e socia fondatrice di Arkipelag, ha studiato belle arti alla Concordia University in Montreal e interaction design alla Domus Academy e conseguito il PhD in design e comunicazione multimediale al Politecnico di Milano. Si occupa, nel campo professionale e universitario, di progetti di ricerca con un attenzione particolare ai temi sulla diversità etnica, cognitiva e disciplinare. Ha vinto numerosi premi in concorsi internazionali. Ha collaborato per attività di progettazione e ricerca con: Comune di Milano, Fabbrica del Vapore, Industreal, Museo Alessi; IWB, Azure Magazine e Festival de Metis; Peter Keinan Architects, Alisa Sheinson Studio. E stata visiting professor alla Tsinghua University Graduate School of Design Management a Shenzen in Cina e Institute Without Boundaries a Toronto in Canada. Ha pubblicato e presentato vari articoli in riviste scientifiche e partecipato come relatrice a numerose conferenze internazionali. Dal 2008 collabora come docente a contratto con il Politecnico di Milano, con NABA e con l’Ordine degli Architetti di Milano.
ABSTRACT The paper presents an alternative perspective on design, that starts from the hypothesis... more ABSTRACT The paper presents an alternative perspective on design, that starts from the hypothesis that design has a still little explored dimension, that do not refer to the way designers work or think but to the power dimension that can be exercised through design. This assumption helps to focus on the contrast between the " visible " side of design that involves all its conceptual or practical manifestations, and a hidden or " invisible " side that deals with the politics and power play, usually understated or neglected. In order to understand the balance of power we introduce insights from war theory (Rummel, 1979) (Clausewitz) (Sun Tzu) explaining its different phases as follows: 1. creating an awareness towards the presence of power, 2. activate its mechanisms, 3. the manifestation of power, 4. the effects and consequences seen as a readiness to accept the unknown (Taleb, 2012). The introduction of a new way of looking at the furniture making and the anticipation of the emergence of design as a discipline was possible by intuitively recognizing the latent presence of power, manifesting it through a way of communication and assuming the consequences of dislocating the knowledge from the original workshop in which it was ideated, while embracing the inevitability of unknown alterations. Extrapolating this example to the present situation of the design discipline we argue for the need to reveal the hidden dimension of design and expose it to the new generation of professionals as a way of building empowering strategies of leadership.
Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communit... more Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communities, non-‐profit and non-‐governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness (Moulaert et al., 2005) and local governance (Gerometta et al.2005). Moreover small NGO's are the essence and driver of the social businesses and have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. While many literatures have shown the development of the social business models (Yunus, 2007; Yunus et al. 2010;), it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of the single individuals in coherent business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. This is in part because individuals managing, working or volunteering in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line) are motivated by the mission and values and interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities.
Given the complexity of the interactive digital artifact, the collaborative design team has to in... more Given the complexity of the interactive digital artifact, the collaborative design team has to include a multitude of actors with diverse competencies. How the design team fostering diversity !" manages to create an internal language and how then this language is explained outside the work team through the final digital artifact are the issues that the present paper aims to address. Using methods of inquiry specific to the Activity Theory !" !", the paper proposes an in-depth analysis of the communication methods and tools that design professionals employ in the context of the collaborative projects for interactive digital environment, using the example of two concept design workshops!" !".
The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different acade... more The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different academic institutions. In the recent years many international projects have reported an increased international mobility [1][2][3] and the cultural benefits that these exchanges bring to higher education institutions. Most important, the concept of mobility underlines a multi-directional flow and " brain circulation " in contrast with the stereotype of " brain drain " [4][5]. Short exchange programs respond to this trend, encouraging students to experience the immersion in different cultural and learning environments. Nevertheless, the increased cultural and disciplinary diversity introduce important challenges for both students and teachers [6][7]. The next paper reports an ongoing pedagogical experience that brings together three areas of design, interior, graphic and interaction, in the context of a semester abroad class, dedicated to visiting students in an art and design academy based in Milan. Acknowledging the high level of complexity of transferring skills and knowledge, the main question addressed is how to craft the pedagogical content in order to integrate the three design perspectives and encourage collaboration in the multicultural groups. We suggest that culturally responsive teaching [8] and attitude can improve the above-mentioned disciplinary integration and skill transfer. The paper is structured in four parts: • firstly, we will introduce the context in which the fine arts academy is placed, emphasizing the cultural importance of design in the Milan environment. It will be underlined how experiencing the Italian culture becomes integrant part of the experiential learning. • secondly, we will present the organization of the course, underlining the importance of a structure shared between all the teachers; we will also stress how the core content has to be further adapted to the skills, interests and cultural background of the students. • thirdly, we will present the results of several courses exemplifying the implementations made gradually by the teachers in order to better integrate the different disciplines making it more meaningful for students. • in conclusion, we will discuss the results showing how the diversity challenges were interpreted as opportunities for change and how this approach supported students to collaborate while expressing their own personality and culture in the final output.
Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. ... more Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. In this context the design education and the methods of teaching have to be constantly reviewed and updated. In order to complete this task, a research into the pedagogical practices has to be carried on, and to become almost as a “behind the curtains” activity for the teachers. A considerable extent of literature shows how design students work (Cross, Dorst, McDonnel, Stempfle); however most of the times the studies place the researcher/observer in a distanced position with respect to the working group. The following paper will consider several pedagogical situations, in which the active involvement of the teachers as designers was necessary. Furthermore analyzing the examples presented it will be shown how a series of research methods have to be used in order to insure the objectivity of the observation. For this reason it will be shown how the action research methodology can provide i...
Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost... more Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost all aspects of life in the vast majority of countries 1 : non-profit organizations supply medical care, education, welfare and many other services and products to millions of people, mostly the underprivileged 2,3. Based on the social awareness and personal dedication of individuals and small communities, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness 4 and local governance 5. Moreover small NGO's have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. Despite this evidence, an increasing interest on the topic and a well-developed literature on the social business models 1 , it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of individuals in business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. Individuals, that manage, work or volunteer in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line), are mainly interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities. The paper proposes and presents a BN4NP tool based on the Business Model Canvas developed by Osterwalder 2 that aims to help non-profit workers and volunteers to address the gap in understanding the business modelling as an essential activity for non-profit organizations. These organizations focuses on an imaginary related to the language of social impact and charity rather than business that imposes strong constraints on the understanding of the importance of the economic sustainability of their activities. We used the participatory observation as the method to understand the constraints of the canvas in real settings and present the BM4NP tool and methodology and mind set. And present BM4NP as an alternative tool and methodology can help and facilitate the understanding of the business model language in non-profit contexts. After testing the tool and the methodology in different workshops, we present a case study and explain how the workshops enabled an experiential learning activity 3,4 in which the tool became a boundary object that helped creating a shared territory of negotiation 5,6 opening new ways to understand business modeling as a participative activity and integrating the emotional and affective aspects as a resource and main part of the value proposition.
Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. ... more Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. In this context the design education and the methods of teaching have to be constantly reviewed and updated. In order to complete this task, a research into the pedagogical practices has to be carried on, and to become almost as a " behind the curtains " activity for the teachers. A considerable extent of literature shows how design students work (Cross, Dorst, McDonnel, Stempfle); however most of the times the studies place the researcher/observer in a distanced position with respect to the working group. The following paper will consider several pedagogical situations, in which the active involvement of the teachers as designers was necessary. Furthermore analyzing the examples presented it will be shown how a series of research methods have to be used in order to insure the objectivity of the observation. For this reason it will be shown how the action research methodology c...
In the next paper we argue that user-centered product design can play an important role in the de... more In the next paper we argue that user-centered product design can play an important role in the development of a new generation of smart wheelchairs that places an emphasis on the users’ functional and aesthetical needs. We present the concept of “aesthetic affordance” [1] and propose interaction aesthetics and user scenarios as valid frameworks for designing AI mobility devices for elderly users. The term “affordance” in this specific case study is seen as bringing together the capability of a device to enable a specific action [2] and the possibility of that device to communicate a certain meaning [3]. We stress out how the smart wheelchairs, which successfully convey their actual mobility support function, can help the elderly people become more easily accepted as active citizens by the rest of the community. In this sense the aesthetics of the product have an equal importance to the innovative AI implementations. An initial review of the existent AI augmented wheelchairs revealed...
Collaborative services are between the most significant opportunities for the creation of local s... more Collaborative services are between the most significant opportunities for the creation of local sustainable solutions and for social activation. While this kind of services sometime are generated spontaneously by groups of people, professional designers can give a significant contribution generating new service concepts, and making more effective and efficient the existing solutions. The design of collaborative services requires an in depth understanding of ground motivation and needs of all the actors involved in order to facilitate the active contribution of the participants; furthermore, a full understanding of the context (from the cultural, economical and technological points of view), should be the base for the definition of all the physical aspects of the designed solution. A great help to this respect is provided by a number of design techniques developed for the User Centered Design.
Proceedings of EDULEARN 2017. 9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2017
The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different acade... more The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different academic institutions. In the recent years many international projects have reported an increased international mobility [1][2][3] and the cultural benefits that these exchanges bring to higher education institutions. Most important, the concept of mobility underlines a multi-directional flow and " brain circulation " in contrast with the stereotype of " brain drain " [4][5]. Short exchange programs respond to this trend, encouraging students to experience the immersion in different cultural and learning environments. Nevertheless, the increased cultural and disciplinary diversity introduce important challenges for both students and teachers [6][7]. The next paper reports an ongoing pedagogical experience that brings together three areas of design, interior, graphic and interaction, in the context of a semester abroad class, dedicated to visiting students in an art and design academy based in Milan. Acknowledging the high level of complexity of transferring skills and knowledge, the main question addressed is how to craft the pedagogical content in order to integrate the three design perspectives and encourage collaboration in the multicultural groups. We suggest that culturally responsive teaching [8] and attitude can improve the above-mentioned disciplinary integration and skill transfer. The paper is structured in four parts: • firstly, we will introduce the context in which the fine arts academy is placed, emphasizing the cultural importance of design in the Milan environment. It will be underlined how experiencing the Italian culture becomes integrant part of the experiential learning. • secondly, we will present the organization of the course, underlining the importance of a structure shared between all the teachers; we will also stress how the core content has to be further adapted to the skills, interests and cultural background of the students. • thirdly, we will present the results of several courses exemplifying the implementations made gradually by the teachers in order to better integrate the different disciplines making it more meaningful for students. • in conclusion, we will discuss the results showing how the diversity challenges were interpreted as opportunities for change and how this approach supported students to collaborate while expressing their own personality and culture in the final output.
The last 15 years have witnessed an important participative dimension of the bottom-up multidisci... more The last 15 years have witnessed an important participative dimension of the bottom-up multidisciplinary content socially generated in the urban environment. This is due to the increasingly connected communication, which triggered the awareness on the relation between demographic and structural density, and the resource scarcity. Considering this we introduce a fourfold view lens that captures the changing openness of the urban environment, proposing the Up_Citying conceptual tool. The main questions we aim to address are 2:-how to engage citizens and designers in a long term connection with the city and its active citizenship movements-how to activate all the phases of the design process (from analysis to implementation and evolution of the results) in the cultural, digital and physical context of the city. The paper reports preliminary findings from 2 pedagogical Design School experiences (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University & The Domus Academy of Milano) from 4 perspectives:-the Space Ecology: framing built cities together with temporary, not-yet-legal, rethought or wished cities, which generate physical places, structures and voids;-the Identity Ecology: referring to the individuals, groups and communities, their culture, habits, fears and challenges in engaging and shaping the city and their collaborative behavior;-the Policy Ecology: planning the stakeholder networks and partnerships, facing the need to design strategic relations and interactions, enabling a meaningful dialog and alliances;-the Program Ecology: introducing the planning of interventions, activities and events, combining bottom-up and top-down strategies, that attract and involves the active citizenship designing new liveability.
Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost... more Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost all aspects of life in the vast majority of countries 1 : non-profit organizations supply medical care, education, welfare and many other services and products to millions of people, mostly the underprivileged 2,3. Based on the social awareness and personal dedication of individuals and small communities, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness 4 and local governance 5. Moreover small NGO's have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. Despite this evidence, an increasing interest on the topic and a well-developed literature on the social business models 1 , it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of individuals in business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. Individuals, that manage, work or volunteer in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line), are mainly interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities. The paper proposes and presents a BN4NP tool based on the Business Model Canvas developed by Osterwalder 2 that aims to help non-profit workers and volunteers to address the gap in understanding the business modelling as an essential activity for non-profit organizations. These organizations focuses on an imaginary related to the language of social impact and charity rather than business that imposes strong constraints on the understanding of the importance of the economic sustainability of their activities. We used the participatory observation as the method to understand the constraints of the canvas in real settings and present the BM4NP tool and methodology and mind set. And present BM4NP as an alternative tool and methodology can help and facilitate the understanding of the business model language in non-profit contexts. After testing the tool and the methodology in different workshops, we present a case study and explain how the workshops enabled an experiential learning activity 3,4 in which the tool became a boundary object that helped creating a shared territory of negotiation 5,6 opening new ways to understand business modeling as a participative activity and integrating the emotional and affective aspects as a resource and main part of the value proposition.
Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communit... more Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communities, non-‐profit and non-‐governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness (Moulaert et al., 2005) and local governance (Gerometta et al.2005). Moreover small NGO's are the essence and driver of the social businesses and have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. While many literatures have shown the development of the social business models (Yunus, 2007; Yunus et al. 2010;), it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of the single individuals in coherent business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. This is in part because individuals managing, working or volunteering in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line) are motivated by the mission and values and interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities.
Until recently design has been recognized as a discipline strictly related to skills and practice... more Until recently design has been recognized as a discipline strictly related to skills and practice, in which the main role of the designer was to follow and negotiate an imposed brief. In this circumstance, as many literature have shown, (Christiaans, 2002)(Cross, 2003, 2004) (Dorst, 2004) (Lawson, 2004) designers adapt to the brief practicing their skill and knowledge to generate the most innovative solutions. As shown by Dreyfuss (1998), with time the development of the mind frames changes from beginner /novice to competent, and expert, eventually reaching the levels of master and visionary. In this context, although design training is constantly evolving towards a holistic view of the overall process, the power and political dynamics that steer the creative design environment are only mentioned as contingent forces. The next paper aims to raise the awareness on the importance of the master and visionary levels at which power and politics are placed at the core of the design training. For this purpose we argue that future strategies of coaching for design leadership, have to investigate the full meaning of design mastership and visionary as a higher order of design training for experts.
ABSTRACT The paper presents an alternative perspective on design, that starts from the hypothesis... more ABSTRACT The paper presents an alternative perspective on design, that starts from the hypothesis that design has a still little explored dimension, that do not refer to the way designers work or think but to the power dimension that can be exercised through design. This assumption helps to focus on the contrast between the " visible " side of design that involves all its conceptual or practical manifestations, and a hidden or " invisible " side that deals with the politics and power play, usually understated or neglected. In order to understand the balance of power we introduce insights from war theory (Rummel, 1979) (Clausewitz) (Sun Tzu) explaining its different phases as follows: 1. creating an awareness towards the presence of power, 2. activate its mechanisms, 3. the manifestation of power, 4. the effects and consequences seen as a readiness to accept the unknown (Taleb, 2012). The introduction of a new way of looking at the furniture making and the anticipation of the emergence of design as a discipline was possible by intuitively recognizing the latent presence of power, manifesting it through a way of communication and assuming the consequences of dislocating the knowledge from the original workshop in which it was ideated, while embracing the inevitability of unknown alterations. Extrapolating this example to the present situation of the design discipline we argue for the need to reveal the hidden dimension of design and expose it to the new generation of professionals as a way of building empowering strategies of leadership.
Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communit... more Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communities, non-‐profit and non-‐governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness (Moulaert et al., 2005) and local governance (Gerometta et al.2005). Moreover small NGO's are the essence and driver of the social businesses and have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. While many literatures have shown the development of the social business models (Yunus, 2007; Yunus et al. 2010;), it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of the single individuals in coherent business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. This is in part because individuals managing, working or volunteering in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line) are motivated by the mission and values and interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities.
Given the complexity of the interactive digital artifact, the collaborative design team has to in... more Given the complexity of the interactive digital artifact, the collaborative design team has to include a multitude of actors with diverse competencies. How the design team fostering diversity !" manages to create an internal language and how then this language is explained outside the work team through the final digital artifact are the issues that the present paper aims to address. Using methods of inquiry specific to the Activity Theory !" !", the paper proposes an in-depth analysis of the communication methods and tools that design professionals employ in the context of the collaborative projects for interactive digital environment, using the example of two concept design workshops!" !".
The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different acade... more The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different academic institutions. In the recent years many international projects have reported an increased international mobility [1][2][3] and the cultural benefits that these exchanges bring to higher education institutions. Most important, the concept of mobility underlines a multi-directional flow and " brain circulation " in contrast with the stereotype of " brain drain " [4][5]. Short exchange programs respond to this trend, encouraging students to experience the immersion in different cultural and learning environments. Nevertheless, the increased cultural and disciplinary diversity introduce important challenges for both students and teachers [6][7]. The next paper reports an ongoing pedagogical experience that brings together three areas of design, interior, graphic and interaction, in the context of a semester abroad class, dedicated to visiting students in an art and design academy based in Milan. Acknowledging the high level of complexity of transferring skills and knowledge, the main question addressed is how to craft the pedagogical content in order to integrate the three design perspectives and encourage collaboration in the multicultural groups. We suggest that culturally responsive teaching [8] and attitude can improve the above-mentioned disciplinary integration and skill transfer. The paper is structured in four parts: • firstly, we will introduce the context in which the fine arts academy is placed, emphasizing the cultural importance of design in the Milan environment. It will be underlined how experiencing the Italian culture becomes integrant part of the experiential learning. • secondly, we will present the organization of the course, underlining the importance of a structure shared between all the teachers; we will also stress how the core content has to be further adapted to the skills, interests and cultural background of the students. • thirdly, we will present the results of several courses exemplifying the implementations made gradually by the teachers in order to better integrate the different disciplines making it more meaningful for students. • in conclusion, we will discuss the results showing how the diversity challenges were interpreted as opportunities for change and how this approach supported students to collaborate while expressing their own personality and culture in the final output.
Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. ... more Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. In this context the design education and the methods of teaching have to be constantly reviewed and updated. In order to complete this task, a research into the pedagogical practices has to be carried on, and to become almost as a “behind the curtains” activity for the teachers. A considerable extent of literature shows how design students work (Cross, Dorst, McDonnel, Stempfle); however most of the times the studies place the researcher/observer in a distanced position with respect to the working group. The following paper will consider several pedagogical situations, in which the active involvement of the teachers as designers was necessary. Furthermore analyzing the examples presented it will be shown how a series of research methods have to be used in order to insure the objectivity of the observation. For this reason it will be shown how the action research methodology can provide i...
Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost... more Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost all aspects of life in the vast majority of countries 1 : non-profit organizations supply medical care, education, welfare and many other services and products to millions of people, mostly the underprivileged 2,3. Based on the social awareness and personal dedication of individuals and small communities, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness 4 and local governance 5. Moreover small NGO's have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. Despite this evidence, an increasing interest on the topic and a well-developed literature on the social business models 1 , it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of individuals in business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. Individuals, that manage, work or volunteer in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line), are mainly interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities. The paper proposes and presents a BN4NP tool based on the Business Model Canvas developed by Osterwalder 2 that aims to help non-profit workers and volunteers to address the gap in understanding the business modelling as an essential activity for non-profit organizations. These organizations focuses on an imaginary related to the language of social impact and charity rather than business that imposes strong constraints on the understanding of the importance of the economic sustainability of their activities. We used the participatory observation as the method to understand the constraints of the canvas in real settings and present the BM4NP tool and methodology and mind set. And present BM4NP as an alternative tool and methodology can help and facilitate the understanding of the business model language in non-profit contexts. After testing the tool and the methodology in different workshops, we present a case study and explain how the workshops enabled an experiential learning activity 3,4 in which the tool became a boundary object that helped creating a shared territory of negotiation 5,6 opening new ways to understand business modeling as a participative activity and integrating the emotional and affective aspects as a resource and main part of the value proposition.
Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. ... more Due to its multidisciplinary aspects, the field of design is an open terrain in constant change. In this context the design education and the methods of teaching have to be constantly reviewed and updated. In order to complete this task, a research into the pedagogical practices has to be carried on, and to become almost as a " behind the curtains " activity for the teachers. A considerable extent of literature shows how design students work (Cross, Dorst, McDonnel, Stempfle); however most of the times the studies place the researcher/observer in a distanced position with respect to the working group. The following paper will consider several pedagogical situations, in which the active involvement of the teachers as designers was necessary. Furthermore analyzing the examples presented it will be shown how a series of research methods have to be used in order to insure the objectivity of the observation. For this reason it will be shown how the action research methodology c...
In the next paper we argue that user-centered product design can play an important role in the de... more In the next paper we argue that user-centered product design can play an important role in the development of a new generation of smart wheelchairs that places an emphasis on the users’ functional and aesthetical needs. We present the concept of “aesthetic affordance” [1] and propose interaction aesthetics and user scenarios as valid frameworks for designing AI mobility devices for elderly users. The term “affordance” in this specific case study is seen as bringing together the capability of a device to enable a specific action [2] and the possibility of that device to communicate a certain meaning [3]. We stress out how the smart wheelchairs, which successfully convey their actual mobility support function, can help the elderly people become more easily accepted as active citizens by the rest of the community. In this sense the aesthetics of the product have an equal importance to the innovative AI implementations. An initial review of the existent AI augmented wheelchairs revealed...
Collaborative services are between the most significant opportunities for the creation of local s... more Collaborative services are between the most significant opportunities for the creation of local sustainable solutions and for social activation. While this kind of services sometime are generated spontaneously by groups of people, professional designers can give a significant contribution generating new service concepts, and making more effective and efficient the existing solutions. The design of collaborative services requires an in depth understanding of ground motivation and needs of all the actors involved in order to facilitate the active contribution of the participants; furthermore, a full understanding of the context (from the cultural, economical and technological points of view), should be the base for the definition of all the physical aspects of the designed solution. A great help to this respect is provided by a number of design techniques developed for the User Centered Design.
Proceedings of EDULEARN 2017. 9th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 2017
The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different acade... more The design education is constantly enriched by the knowledge exchange between the different academic institutions. In the recent years many international projects have reported an increased international mobility [1][2][3] and the cultural benefits that these exchanges bring to higher education institutions. Most important, the concept of mobility underlines a multi-directional flow and " brain circulation " in contrast with the stereotype of " brain drain " [4][5]. Short exchange programs respond to this trend, encouraging students to experience the immersion in different cultural and learning environments. Nevertheless, the increased cultural and disciplinary diversity introduce important challenges for both students and teachers [6][7]. The next paper reports an ongoing pedagogical experience that brings together three areas of design, interior, graphic and interaction, in the context of a semester abroad class, dedicated to visiting students in an art and design academy based in Milan. Acknowledging the high level of complexity of transferring skills and knowledge, the main question addressed is how to craft the pedagogical content in order to integrate the three design perspectives and encourage collaboration in the multicultural groups. We suggest that culturally responsive teaching [8] and attitude can improve the above-mentioned disciplinary integration and skill transfer. The paper is structured in four parts: • firstly, we will introduce the context in which the fine arts academy is placed, emphasizing the cultural importance of design in the Milan environment. It will be underlined how experiencing the Italian culture becomes integrant part of the experiential learning. • secondly, we will present the organization of the course, underlining the importance of a structure shared between all the teachers; we will also stress how the core content has to be further adapted to the skills, interests and cultural background of the students. • thirdly, we will present the results of several courses exemplifying the implementations made gradually by the teachers in order to better integrate the different disciplines making it more meaningful for students. • in conclusion, we will discuss the results showing how the diversity challenges were interpreted as opportunities for change and how this approach supported students to collaborate while expressing their own personality and culture in the final output.
The last 15 years have witnessed an important participative dimension of the bottom-up multidisci... more The last 15 years have witnessed an important participative dimension of the bottom-up multidisciplinary content socially generated in the urban environment. This is due to the increasingly connected communication, which triggered the awareness on the relation between demographic and structural density, and the resource scarcity. Considering this we introduce a fourfold view lens that captures the changing openness of the urban environment, proposing the Up_Citying conceptual tool. The main questions we aim to address are 2:-how to engage citizens and designers in a long term connection with the city and its active citizenship movements-how to activate all the phases of the design process (from analysis to implementation and evolution of the results) in the cultural, digital and physical context of the city. The paper reports preliminary findings from 2 pedagogical Design School experiences (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University & The Domus Academy of Milano) from 4 perspectives:-the Space Ecology: framing built cities together with temporary, not-yet-legal, rethought or wished cities, which generate physical places, structures and voids;-the Identity Ecology: referring to the individuals, groups and communities, their culture, habits, fears and challenges in engaging and shaping the city and their collaborative behavior;-the Policy Ecology: planning the stakeholder networks and partnerships, facing the need to design strategic relations and interactions, enabling a meaningful dialog and alliances;-the Program Ecology: introducing the planning of interventions, activities and events, combining bottom-up and top-down strategies, that attract and involves the active citizenship designing new liveability.
Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost... more Far from being a negligible aspect of modern societies, non-profit organizations permeates almost all aspects of life in the vast majority of countries 1 : non-profit organizations supply medical care, education, welfare and many other services and products to millions of people, mostly the underprivileged 2,3. Based on the social awareness and personal dedication of individuals and small communities, non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness 4 and local governance 5. Moreover small NGO's have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. Despite this evidence, an increasing interest on the topic and a well-developed literature on the social business models 1 , it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of individuals in business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. Individuals, that manage, work or volunteer in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line), are mainly interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities. The paper proposes and presents a BN4NP tool based on the Business Model Canvas developed by Osterwalder 2 that aims to help non-profit workers and volunteers to address the gap in understanding the business modelling as an essential activity for non-profit organizations. These organizations focuses on an imaginary related to the language of social impact and charity rather than business that imposes strong constraints on the understanding of the importance of the economic sustainability of their activities. We used the participatory observation as the method to understand the constraints of the canvas in real settings and present the BM4NP tool and methodology and mind set. And present BM4NP as an alternative tool and methodology can help and facilitate the understanding of the business model language in non-profit contexts. After testing the tool and the methodology in different workshops, we present a case study and explain how the workshops enabled an experiential learning activity 3,4 in which the tool became a boundary object that helped creating a shared territory of negotiation 5,6 opening new ways to understand business modeling as a participative activity and integrating the emotional and affective aspects as a resource and main part of the value proposition.
Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communit... more Founded on the social awareness and personal dedication of single individuals, and small communities, non-‐profit and non-‐governmental organizations (NGO's) are some of the most important actors that promote social innovation and entrepreneurship. In many cases such organizations help reinforce local economies, strengthen the social capital and sustain inclusiveness (Moulaert et al., 2005) and local governance (Gerometta et al.2005). Moreover small NGO's are the essence and driver of the social businesses and have an important impact on the wellbeing of the communities to which they belong. While many literatures have shown the development of the social business models (Yunus, 2007; Yunus et al. 2010;), it is less clear how to translate the effort and dedication of the single individuals in coherent business models that can ensure the economic sustainability of their social activities. This is in part because individuals managing, working or volunteering in organizations with a high social and or environmental orientation (Triple Bottom Line) are motivated by the mission and values and interested in achieving social and environmental impact more than in economical sustainability. This emotional orientation and involvement has a deep role in shaping the organizational structure and activities: often people are unable to give the right economical value at their activities and to evaluate the economical investments necessary to deliver their activities.
Until recently design has been recognized as a discipline strictly related to skills and practice... more Until recently design has been recognized as a discipline strictly related to skills and practice, in which the main role of the designer was to follow and negotiate an imposed brief. In this circumstance, as many literature have shown, (Christiaans, 2002)(Cross, 2003, 2004) (Dorst, 2004) (Lawson, 2004) designers adapt to the brief practicing their skill and knowledge to generate the most innovative solutions. As shown by Dreyfuss (1998), with time the development of the mind frames changes from beginner /novice to competent, and expert, eventually reaching the levels of master and visionary. In this context, although design training is constantly evolving towards a holistic view of the overall process, the power and political dynamics that steer the creative design environment are only mentioned as contingent forces. The next paper aims to raise the awareness on the importance of the master and visionary levels at which power and politics are placed at the core of the design training. For this purpose we argue that future strategies of coaching for design leadership, have to investigate the full meaning of design mastership and visionary as a higher order of design training for experts.
Uploads