on Social Design.

This topic comes in the form of a question. For myself, I have found no answers, but an array of images which inspire me, and a set of texts and visions that serve as small leads which I go on chasing. Following this alluring trail, I encountered a handful of valuable books, from which I highlight Banathy's Designing Social Systems in a Changing World. As I am not done with that one yet, here I refer to another constructive encounter, Margaret J. ... Read More

In a world changing faster than at any other time in human history, a dynamic and critical analysis of what is 'good' design could not be more urgently required. Whilst new communication technologies are offering revolutionary platforms for mass collaboration and opportunities to democratically converse within a global community (1), simultaneously the world faces unprecedented environmental, social, and economic crises (2). Are designers really capitalising on social media platforms and collaborative opportunities? What do these democratic shifts and global challenges mean, and ... Read More

In his new book Quantum Shift in the Global Brain (1), systems theorist and twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize Ervin Laszlo, suggests a practicable behavioural code derived from an ecological and planetary ethics. He ascribes this code a ceiling and a floor, or a maximum and a minimum code, i.e., what one should be doing ideally, and the least one can do. The maximum code can be formulated as: Act so as to further the evolution of a humanly favourable dynamic ... Read More

Design. Oh design how I love you. I hate you so much because my love for you makes me hate myself. I love being a designer but I hate design. I love designing but I hate talking about it. I love talking but I hate people who talk so much. I hate designers but I love to master designing. I am a designer, I love people. I am a designer, I am people. I am passionate and violent, I make and destroy. ... Read More

In the last issue of Frieze, Ronald Jones goes out to build a bridge between conceptual art movements and their ontological/epistemological programs, and how contemporary designers are taking this critic energy within the Fine Arts to design "the experiences of knowledge production, reception and comprehension across disciplines - often furthest from their own - affording them an expanding sphere of influence." One of the many important points in this article: "The customization of epistemological Conceptualism" [as opposed to ontological Conceptualism] "represents the most ... Read More

What better to inaugurate a blog on social design thinking than some thinking on "Social Design" ? Is it just me or is "Social Design" really everywhere now? Possibly it's just my perception, shaped by the fact that this is my daily work. Nonetheless, if you don't find exactly "social" and "design" as matches, you will surely get one of these - design for development, responsible design, systemic design, service design, lifestyle design, holistic design, deep design, mindful design, intentional design, strategic design, eco ... Read More