Let me tell you the story of Hippo Roller by Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonke, a renowned pioneer in social design for global development. This initiative has influenced designers and changed lives since its inception in 1994. The Hippo Roller effectively tackles the issue of limited access to clean water in rural African communities by providing a practical solution. Their work includes supplying homes and gardens with five times more water and reducing the number of trips to replenish supplies. This initiative also allows community members to allocate their time to other important social, cultural, and economic activities.
The social impact of this design has reached about 500,000 people in over 20 countries through the distribution of more than 50,000 rollers.
But what is social design?
Social design, primarily, entails utilising design to tackle complex societal challenges. It is an approach that considers the social implication of products and strives to foster positive social transformation.
Over the past decade, “social design” has gained significant traction as a prominent phenomenon. Nowadays, it is usual to come across professional endeavours led by product designers, service designers, architects, and user-experience designers referred to as social design initiatives. Moreover, there have been endeavours to embrace social design as an educational paradigm.
Let us delve into some other cases of social design. Another example that can be discussed here is Safari Seat by Janna Deeble. For people with disability, it is an all-terrain wheelchair service. The Safari Seat draws inspiration from a highly successful Kickstarter campaign featuring Letu, a disabled member of the Samburu tribe in Kenya. The uniqueness of the Safari Seat provides a comprehensive social impact for the communities that seek to construct these wheelchairs. Safari Seat prides itself on being open-source, meaning anybody can build and utilise the designs for free, creating sustainable local employment opportunities. Due to its low cost and ease of maintenance, it can be entirely constructed in simple local workshops. This is a transformative experience rather than a product for the users and the people who make them.
There is also “How to make it work”. The remote Bodva Valley, one of the poorest regions of Europe, was visited by a group of committed students and young professionals from MOME EcoLab, the sustainability research group of the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest in Hungary. In the summer of 2011, the group visited Bodva Valley to meet and assist local Roma communities living in extreme poverty. The visit aimed to launch a lengthy social design project that would have significant effects. The group is almost ready to comprehend “how to make it work” after four years of failures, dead ends, and much work.
The practice of social design and the outcomes that result from it inspires a wide range of intrigue and empowerment. Inspiring designs are created daily, but many are immediately discarded or forgotten. However, some ideas survive the challenging applicability, realism, and functionality tests—the outstanding examples of social design projects that can inspire anyone to navigate their journey.
Social innovation and businesses can work together to promote sustainable growth. The power of social design gives companies access to insightful feedback from those who are directly impacted by their choices. It also fosters communal cooperation to tackle issues head-on.
The social design aims to benefit every participant in the societal ecosystem. This idea encourages businesses to collaborate with people from all walks of life. This also prompts people to share ideas on accomplishing their goals effectively – one project at a time.
This method is similar to professionals working with stakeholders in co-creation or human-centred design. However, social design’s aspiration to collaborate with stakeholders, involve them, and envision a transformation is what sets social design apart. It adapts traditional design processes to meet societal requirements, which helps understand social identities and determine what makes a community function. Social design also creates something communal that helps meet demand are some crucial aspects of social design.
There are some essential principles of Social Design. Concepts need to originate internally. There is a need for greater reliance on experiments than on plans. Distinguishing between problem-solving and creation is essential. Constraints usually fuel innovation in social design. The actual narrative tends to lie within the context. In social design, the first step toward generosity and inclusiveness is communication. The main objective of social design is to test and promote human capacity.
In the realm of social design, we consciously consider the impact of our designs on both local and global communities. Social designing aims to create engaging content and demonstrate respect for the communities we serve. Social designers must understand these groups’ cultural, historical, and contextual backgrounds. Designers must strive to develop solutions that benefit all stakeholders involved. Careful attention should also be given to the potential environmental effects of a design, including considerations of materials, energy efficiency, sustainability, and more. Collaboration and inclusion are essential, as designs should be created with the community rather than for them. This means involving community members at every stage and adopting methods to tackle problems. The process also includes consulting with local organisations and groups, conducting real-world testing of prototypes, and engaging with experts who specialise in both technical and human-centred aspects. Social design can positively impact communities by actively involving stakeholders and incorporating their ideas.
The human experience is the primary consideration in the approaches taken by social design to tackle complicated issues. This process promotes user interaction and cooperation to bring about constructive societal change and identifies various situational strategies. Social design is conscious of institutional, political, structural, and environmental contexts. By fostering inclusivity and creativity, it benefits startups and enduring businesses. You must believe in social design to think there is a unique way to connect with others.
Author- Tahia Afra Jannati
