Designing for Disruption: Preparing Product Designers for the Next Billion
by Gauthier, Noel Leon, M.Des., UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI, 2011, 71 pages; 1500441

Abstract:

The Industrial Designer's role in Social Construction has always been evidenced by the outputs of the Design function. Now the question is being raised in the Design Community whether the inputs of the Design Function can have a primary leading role in effecting Social Construction. The exhibition “Design for the Other 90%” and the organization Project H, for example, have moved these designers from artificers to instigators. Should Design be involved in these challenges? There are examples showing that in some situations long term growth can occur by jump-starting stalled markets. There is growing thought that social business concepts that develop humanitarian products can be the spark necessary to restore momentum and opportunity to these markets. If we are going to do that, however, we must fundamentally understand not only what people in these situations most need, but what they find valuable in order to create meaningful products that are motivating enough to create transactions. This thesis looks at programs that have been successful in deploying enabling products that are both profitable and address a social need in an economic demographic making under $5 a day, often referred to as the “Bottom of the Pyramid.” It analyzes them using traditional Industrial Design techniques for determining value, and then suggests the possibility of a new model focusing on Risk and Flow. It proposes that Industrial Design can play a primary role in these areas of Social Construction by aligning products with the values of the world’s poorest customers, and doing so in a way that creates stronger markets that empower their people.

 
AdviserSteven Doehler
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
SourceMAI/ 50-02, p. , Nov 2011
Source TypeThesis
SubjectsSocial research; Design
Publication Number1500441
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