Abstract

Last century, a new design area bond with new aims and principles emerged, committed to answer more urgent and relevant needs of humanity. Multiple terms come forward to identify it a nd because there isn't a unifying language among its practitioners, questions have been raised about whether they refer to a general area in design or to single design practices. T his “social” vocabulary, caused so far enormous controversy and dispersion of this area in design that wants – and today it needs – to assert itself practically and theoretically. In this paper, we propose to clarify some of these questions. By searching in written records we intend to analyse how “social” design practitioners identify and describe their work and approach, while aiming to better understand this area and discipline the existing multiplicity. Moreover, the aim of this paper is to verify the possibility of encompassing all expressions – and practices, if demonstrated – into a single umbrella term that can include all the disparity between them and simultaneously reinforce their similarities. This will lead to a more concise and precise identification and recognition of this area and its practitioners, helping to build a stronger case for its assertion.

Keywords

Social Design Principles; Social Design Practices; Social Design Taxonomy

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COinS
 
Jun 16th, 12:00 AM

Social Design Principles and Practices

Last century, a new design area bond with new aims and principles emerged, committed to answer more urgent and relevant needs of humanity. Multiple terms come forward to identify it a nd because there isn't a unifying language among its practitioners, questions have been raised about whether they refer to a general area in design or to single design practices. T his “social” vocabulary, caused so far enormous controversy and dispersion of this area in design that wants – and today it needs – to assert itself practically and theoretically. In this paper, we propose to clarify some of these questions. By searching in written records we intend to analyse how “social” design practitioners identify and describe their work and approach, while aiming to better understand this area and discipline the existing multiplicity. Moreover, the aim of this paper is to verify the possibility of encompassing all expressions – and practices, if demonstrated – into a single umbrella term that can include all the disparity between them and simultaneously reinforce their similarities. This will lead to a more concise and precise identification and recognition of this area and its practitioners, helping to build a stronger case for its assertion.

 

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