A “Social Model” of Design: Issues of Practice and Research

Introduction When most people think of product design, they envision products for the market, generated by a manufacturer and directed to a consumer. Since the Industrial Revolution, the dominant design paradigm has been one of design for the market, and alternatives have received little attention. In 1972, Victor Papanek, an industrial designer and, at the time, Dean of Design at the California Institute of the Arts, published his polemical book Design for the Real World in which he made the famous declaration that “there are professions more harmful than industrial design, but only a very few of them.” The book, initially published in Swedish two years earlier, quickly gained worldwide popularity with its call for a new social agenda for designers. Since Design for the Real World appeared, others have responded to Papanek’s call and sought to develop programs of design for social need ranging from the needs of developing countries to the special needs of the aged, the poor, and the disabled. These efforts have provided evidence that an alternative to product design for the market is possible, but they have not led to a new model of social practice. Compared to the “market model,” there has been little theorizing about a model of product design for social need. Theory about design for the market is extremely well developed. It cuts across many fields from design methods to management studies and the semiotics of marketing. The rich and vast literature of market design has contributed to its continued success and its ability to adapt to new technologies, political and social circumstances, and organizational structures and processes. Conversely, little thought has been given to the structures, methods, and objectives of social design. Concerning design for development, some ideas have been borrowed from the intermediate or alternative technology movement, which has promoted low-cost technological solutions for problems in developing countries, but regarding the broader understanding of how design for social need might be commissioned, supported, and implemented, little has been accomplished. Nor has attention been given to changes in the education of product designers that might prepare them to design for populations in need rather than for the market alone. The field of environmental psychology has attempted to respond to the environmental needs of the vulnerable. Those work1 Victor Papanek, Design for the Real World; Human Ecology and Social Change, 2nd ed. (Chicago: Academy Chicago, 1985), ix. We have used Papanek’s 1985 revised edition rather than the original one of 1972 because he made a number of changes from one edition to another, and we wanted to draw on his most current thinking. For a discussion of Papanek’s concept of socially responsible design, see Nigel Whiteley, Design for Society (London: Reaktion Books, 1993), 103– 115. 2 See, for example, Julian Bicknell and Liz McQuiston, eds., Design for Need; The Social Contribution of Design (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1977). This volume is a collection of papers from a conference of the same name held at the Royal College of Art in April 1976. 3 There is an extensive literature on appropriate technology. For a critical introduction to the subject, see Witold Rybczynski, Paper Heroes; A Review of Appropriate Technology (Garden City, NY: Anchor Press/ Doubleday, 1980).