Author ORCID Identifier
Kees Dorst: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6102-2348
Rodger Watson: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2079-8940
Abstract
To really embed innovation, the impact of design should move beyond the project level and impact the strategy of the organisation, and possibly its processes and structures. In this paper we will use a case study to investigate what design can do to help create such deep changes. The case study is an early social design project, which allows us to take a longitudinal perspective: ten years on, what has actually happened with the new frames and ideas of the initial project? What has followed? Has this project influenced strategic innovation? Or did it all come to naught? We will discuss the lessons learned in this project to inform our understanding of the real impact of design, and its limitations. This leads us to posit a practice-based ‘theory of change’.
Keywords
framing; social design; strategic transformation
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.130
Citation
Dorst, K., and Watson, R. (2020) Reframing and Strategic Transformation, in Boess, S., Cheung, M. and Cain, R. (eds.), Synergy - DRS International Conference 2020, 11-14 August, Held online. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2020.130
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Reframing and Strategic Transformation
To really embed innovation, the impact of design should move beyond the project level and impact the strategy of the organisation, and possibly its processes and structures. In this paper we will use a case study to investigate what design can do to help create such deep changes. The case study is an early social design project, which allows us to take a longitudinal perspective: ten years on, what has actually happened with the new frames and ideas of the initial project? What has followed? Has this project influenced strategic innovation? Or did it all come to naught? We will discuss the lessons learned in this project to inform our understanding of the real impact of design, and its limitations. This leads us to posit a practice-based ‘theory of change’.