On Social Design (a short reply)

To me, everything explained in this just sounds like “design practice” in a broad sense. Nothing here is unique to the field of “social design” or “social change” — they’re the same problems, skills, etc. that one needs to be a truly interesting and successful designer for personal projects, corporate clients, the neighborhood farmer’s market, or anything in between. I just call myself a designer, and I feel that through my beliefs, ethics, and personal moral code, I make things and work on projects that at their cores do desire to improve society and lift all boats, even if on the surface they might be a business, product, service, or whatever that may not outwardly scream “I’m a social design project.”

To me that is the real problem with the term “social design” — it tries to describe something that already has a name … plain old design. And by trying to name it in such a way, you diminish the work of all the regular-ole designers just trying to do their jobs to the best of their abilities and beliefs.

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morethanthisblog:

I have a love/hate relationship with the term social design, mainly because, despite the fact I have no idea what it really means, I still find myself wielding it frequently in conversations with other designers and non-designers alike.

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