What about social design?

What is social design? A design process that contributes to human well being and livelihood, causes change through good design, and takes into account sustainability. (It's is NOT as some links led me to, the design of fabulous parties, and weddings, and the bashing of Vera Wang designing for Kohl's) Social design also to me seems to be a collaborative effort, not the brain child of one CEO, but the contributions of many people, from many places in life who these designs will affect. It is not about charity work, but a profession that will benefit all. Wikipedia is a great starting point with plenty of further links that will take you all around the field.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_design

Social design is a growing phenomenon and the list of Who's Who is not very small. Some names I recognized from in class and reading:

David Kelley, Mike Nuttall, Bill Moggridge- the founders of IDEO. A leading desing consultantcy who's logo is "We create impact through Design" It is their brainstorming platform we just reviewed in class. Check out http://www.ideo.com/

Bruce Mau. The author of "Massive Change" which I read most of over the summer and we are scheduled to use for class. He founded The Institute With Out Boundaries and ID Magazine, both influential factors in social design.

John Thackara. Author of "In the Bubble Designing for a Complex World" In my reading one of my favorite excerpts from the book, "What purpose is served by the technology we are releasing on the world?"

The following sites that were great to learn about some high profile examples of social design, depicting how social design can and has impacted social issues.

http://www.socialdesignsite.com/

http://www.design21sdn.com/

From the above site:

DESIGN 21 asked Jeffrey Sachs about how design fits into his global fight to end poverty. Here’s what he said:

D21: Solutions to the epidemic of extreme poverty require cooperation and collaboration across many disciplines, countries and borders. Open source collaborations seem key to creating comprehensive solutions; not only can they create more informed “products” (based on the comprehensive knowledge of many), but they create a sense of collective morale, a sense of togetherness and unification. How can you see design tapping in to open source initiatives in the quest to end poverty?