WDCD 2011 - What Design Can Do for Access

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WHAT DESIGN CAN DO FOR ACCESS TO BASICS

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DESIGN IS LIKE A POTENT SEED THAT CAN GROW IF IT IS NURTURED BY SOCIETY AND THROUGH COLLABORATIVE PROCESSES CAN PRODUCE HUGE CHANGE IN THE WORLD multi-facetted activity that can operate at many levels simultaneously. While the surface qualities manifest in the form and determine the aesthetics of the objects and communications, the deeper values are largely invisible since they are part of the structure of the situation and our strategic responses to that situation. It is this structural manifestation, held in the compositions of components and elements, that helps embed meaning in the design offering, which can be instantly felt and appreciated by those initiated to the symbols and signs of the society in which these structures are unfolded. PROMOTION IMAGE FOR THE DAILY DUMP, BANGALORE

This caring, feeling and iterative process that consolidates all learning and then adjusts the offering in a sensitive manner to changes in the market and the environment in the real world, is best described by the word ‘design’. We must remember here that when this act is being done for the first time there are no models that can be followed and we are in a space that is undefined and the outcome is truly unknowable, but this action has the ability to define and shape the future for all of us. New tools Design action leaves behind numerous traces of exploration in the form of models, doodles, assemblies of details and prototypes that lead to some refined options that are accepted and adopted by society. In the days when design action was an evolutionary process these models and prototypes went through incremental change over long periods of time and the cycles of change were few and far between. However, with the development of mass communication all these processes have been sharply impacted and changed beyond recognition. This important change has necessitated dramatic change in the tools and processes for design action for it to be effective and not to be left at a superficial level but effective at a deeper level of appreciation. Over the past few years we have been reflecting on the changing nature of design only to discover that it is a complex and

Convincing policy-makers While our own insights about design grew with our close proximity to design education and research situations as well as its use and exploration in the field, it was equally difficult to explain these concepts to members of the political and business community and with administrators in Government. Why is it so difficult to explain design thought and action? Why are these otherwise intelligent professionals unable to see what we are able to feel and understand about the power of design? These questions kept coming up with each failure in our efforts to convince policy makers for some early investments in design thought and action. It has become evident that some of these difficulties stem from the very nature of design and that this was the level that would need to be addressed at first. We tried to explain these characteristics by building models and by using appropriate metaphors that could capture some of the important characteristics of design at various stages of action. There were three useful metaphors that made visible different aspects of the nature of design. The first was the metaphor of fire, which showed the systems nature of design and the interdependence of the various parts and the whole. The second was the metaphor of the iceberg, which helped demonstrate and make visible the quality that much of design intentions and deliberately developed organizational structure of elements and features would remain invisible until they are specifically identified and explained. The third was the metaphor of the seed, which shows


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