Social Design: Challenges, Promises, Models, and Alternatives

This thesis provides an account of how conducting research on location can enable the designer engaged in social design to create a product that truly addresses the needs of end users in cultures that have radically different traditions, resources and infrastructures. I begin by situating my approach to design theoretically, as an amalgamation and synthesis of insights from social and design philosophers like E. F. Schumacher, Nicolas JÌÄå©quier, Victor Papanek, William McDonough & Michael Braungart, and the group Superflex. Then, drawing on my field work in Nepal as a case study, I describe the valuable insights into the necessary functions, features, materials, and method of manufacture of products that I gained by living and working directly with the people who will eventually make and use the products I am designing. I describe the information that I gathered through close observation and interview, and explain how what I learned was not only helpful in designing the specific products I set out to develop, but can also be more generally helpful, in terms of process, in making more realistic (informed) design choices. The argument that underpins this thesis work is that a more ethnographic approach to design for the developing world is crucial to both effective product development andÌ¢‰âÂ'what's most importantÌ¢‰âÂ'to the successful adoption of a given design by the intended recipients.