Intercultural Link – The role of designers in social projects

Beatrice Sierach

Intercultural Link – The role of designers in social projects

What problems are expert designers confronted with in the elaboration and execution of socially oriented (design) projects?

Trends

The world is changing fundamentally and with it, design. As one of the most flexible disciplines, it is precisely in times of crisis that design demonstrates its most innovative potential. Against the backdrop of economic and resource-related discussions, and supported by the Connectivity and New Work trends—which include the topic of Meaningful Jobs—Social Design has developed into a promising problem-solver.

But what problems is an expert designer confronted with in the development and execution of socially oriented (design) projects? Using auto-ethnographic and participatory approaches, I travelled to Mexico to study methods and to conduct field research. I integrated what I learned into my thesis and an additionally developed a toolkit that is accessible and replicable by anyone and prepares Social Expert Designers for upcoming projects, sensitizes them to central issues, and assists them in the field.

Mentoring:
Prof. Bitten Stetter, Dr. Francis Müller, Dr. Angélica Martínez de la Peña, Dr. María Eugenia Rojas

Contact: