Socially reSponSive DeSign A QUESTION OF ATTRIBUTION, A QUESTION OF INTERPRETATION, A QUESTION OF MEDIATION, A QUESTION… Socially Responsive Design (SRVD) in the context of the MA Design Programme at the Oslo National Academy Of The Arts A MAN IF E STO FO R D E S I GNING TOGE THE R I N T H E 2 1 ST CE NTURY Socially Responsive Design champions a transformative approach to design that shifts from designing for people to designing with people. As metadesign researchers and practitioners we approach our work with designers, interdisciplinary specialists and community experts as a shared, creative, open, emergent and adaptive pursuit aimed at attuning behaviours towards more sustainable futures. From our ongoing collaborative experiments with the Metadesigners Research Group at Goldsmiths, University of London and our involvement in SRVD projects with KHiO, Oslo Academy of the Arts, we have framed a set of eight principles and prompts for aspiring socially responsive designers. 2 – LEADING WITH A POSSIBILITY SEEKING OUTLOOK 1 – COMPLEXITY CALLS FOR RESPONSIVENESS If small changes in a complex system such as an organization or a neighbourhood can catalyse larger social and ecological benefits, designers need to seek the appropriate ’leverage points’ (Meadows, 1999). When working with people from different cultures, classes or educational backgrounds designers can encourage spontaneity and playfulness. This means listening to the different voices within a community and helping people to articulate, visualise and share local knowledge as a starting point for design. Lundeby nes & Anette By: Hannah Jo .ac.uk, is a h.j.jones@gold Hannah Jones, and Metadesign . sign Futures sity of London Lecturer in De smiths, Univer ld Go is at m, er co m. ch Resear debyetha y, anette@lun er, Anette Lundeb sign research de ta me a – st ly ta ca ’s a creative g at Regent litator, workin UK coach and faci utions in the it st various in at d an e eg ll Co navia. and in Scandi 7 –FROM ’ME-TO-WE’ AND BACK AGAIN 8 – THE UNFINISHED ATTRACTS If social impact is emphasised over goodlooking design (Raein, 2009) in SRVD projects, the outcome may not be so easily recognisable as an Eames chair or a Koolhaas building. It is more likely to be an unassuming community garden, a collaborative toolkit or even an intangible form of collective knowledge. A rough and ready approach to prototyping will not take away from the impact of an intervention. Leaving parts incomplete and open to redesign by participants invites curiosity, imagination and co-ownership. 8 Working with diverse groups of individuals requires a personal approach, to stimulate engagement and exchange. It requires empathy and the agility to move between ’thinking-for’ to ’thinking-with’ to ’thinking-as’ (Wood, Nieuwenhuijze, Jones, et al 2008). Find out about your interlocutors and address them personally to share a sense of being involved in something bigger, together. 3 – PREPARING THE CONDITIONS FOR CO-CREATION Metadesign promotes ’design as possibility seeking’ (Mizuuchi, 2006). This approach encourages participants to shift their focus from everyday problems to collectively imagine opportunities for alternative ways of being. This requires being present and observing what is first, without getting too caught up in the issues and then looking for what might emerge from the situation to frame ’what if’ (Tham, 2008). In line with societal changes, designers are forging new roles as facilitators, mediators and change agents. Practices are shifting from previous industrial design models that were primarily market-led towards purpose-led approaches. Design is therefore becoming even more relational and entangled in the lives of its users and collaborators. Here, participants are included in the process and offered a space to co-create lifestyles and livelihoods together. 4 – FORMING A TEAM IDENTITY THROUGH AGREEING SHARED VALUES Socially responsive design requires a willingness to engage in a collaborative process that does not necessarily have a clear agenda or product at the end. So it is important to develop a shared language and a vision early on. Defining a set of team values guides the process and serves as a resource to return to when the end line might still be blurred. It is important to be precise and make sure the values are commonly understood and shared between everyone in the team. 6 – HOLDING BACK FROM IMMEDIATE SOLUTIONS Designers are passionate and often get enthused or infatuated with an idea and want to run with it. Delaying decision-making and idea-forming for a longer period keeps the process open and enables designers to become immersed in a context. It deepens and refines the search for relevant and sensitive design responses to local needs. 9 5 – FLYING IN THE DARK Working with the unknown requires creativity; we must trust our own senses, experiences, and insights, without having a clue as to where that journey will lead to next. A socially responsive design project supports its participants in becoming familiar with working in unforeseen ways. This might include taking on an unexpected role in a team, or developing new skills to shape emergent outcomes. Embrace uncertainty and go with the flow. Bibliography for the text Languaging in Socially Responsive Design: making language a tool for the imagination by Julia Lockhart Bibliography for the text How Many Dimensions Does Design Ethics Need? by John Wood Astle, T. (1803). The Origins and Progress of Writing. London: Astle [Self-published]. http:// books.google.co.uk. [10th February, 2013] Cross, N. (1982). Designerly ways of knowing, Design Studies, 3:4, pp. 221–27 Everett, D. (2012). Language: the cultural tool (paperback edition). London: Profile Books Ltd Koestler, A. (1969) The Act of Creation. London: Hutchinson and Company Lockheart, J. & Raein, M. (2012). No one expects the design inquisition: Searching for a metaphorical solution for thinking, researching and writing through design. Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, 5:2, pp. 275-289 Lockheart, J. (2010). 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(2005). ’The Tetrahedron Can Encourage Designers To Formalise More Responsible Strategies’, for the ’Journal of Art, Design & Communication’, Volume 3 Issue 3. Editor Linda Drew, UK, ISSN: 1474-273X, pp. 175–192 Colophon 2013 EDITORS Maziar Raein maziar.raein@khio.no Sanneke Duijf info@solution-office.org DESIGN Steinar & Mats www.steinarogmats.no COVER ILLUSTRATION Sveinung Sudbø sveinung.sudbo@gmail.com PRINTING Sans Vase Printing & Publishing www.sansvase.tumblr.com TYPEFACE Fugue PAPER Munken Print # / 100 We invite you to these sites: › www.khio.no/Engelsk/Design/#8245 › www.socialdesignresponse.com › www.metadesigners.org › www.designagainstcrime.com › www.gold.ac.uk/pg/ma-design-futures ISBN 978-82-92613-43-6 44 IN ORDER FOR DESIGN TO BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIVE, IT MUST ENCOMPASS A DEFINITION OF DESIGN THAT ENCAPSULATES AND DELIVERS A RANGE OF RESPONSES THAT DELIVER FAVORABLE SOCIAL CHANGE.