| he 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... |
