design and social capital
TRANSCRIPT
DESIGN & SOCIAL CAPITAL@kshitiz , Adobe, Noida, 17th August, 2016
CURRENTLYManaging Trustee @ Happy Horizons Trust Dean / Director @ L’école de design Nantes Atlantique (India Studio)Principal Designer @ Happy Horizons Consulting
PREVIOUSLYDirector, The Design Village Design Manager & Strategist, Kuliza TechnologiesUI Designer at Motorola, Infosys
STUDIED ATBDes, Communication Design, IIT Guwahati, 2005MS, Interaction Design, Indiana University, 2009
‘Social Capital’ is the network of relationships among people who live and work in a particular society, enabling the society to function properly.
Transactions are marked by reciprocity, trust and cooperation.
My tryst with designJuly 2001
What is design?Evolving understanding everyday
What kind of design do you do ?
Design is all around usHow can it help in improving the quality of life
From education to women empowerment to poverty reduction
The pressing problems of today
Unemployable graduates Lack of skills Malnutrition Bad traffic in cities Urban chaos Lack of healthcare facilities Pollution … the list could go on!
More challenges for designerHow may we create large scale impact through our solutions
We face a shortage of designers in IndiaJust about 4000 design graduates per year
Photoshop produces the most number of designers in India than any other school!
We face a severe crisis of good designers in IndiaHow do you define someone as a good designer?
Trust, reciprocity and cooperationHow do we build design solutions that are based on the above
As we move to a more connected world, full of gadgets and systems that are smarter than us, we designers question the very foundation of these new systems and solutions we are building, for its ability to solve a problem and a potential to create long lasting impact.
Experience driven worldExperience leads to satisfaction leads to happy customers
Social Capital is critical for Social Innovations.
India needs a lot of Social Innovations.
Design in India. Design for India. Design by India.
How may we designers work towards creating better social capitalDesigners are good at it.
The tablets and devicesQuestioning the access to technology
Knowing the target audienceWho are you designing for ?
Understanding SocialThe biggest irony of the smartphone is that it has made us anti-social
Being human centricAdopt as a way of life
Keeping all stakeholders happyThe challenge in all design solutions
Encouraging to speak upResulting in instilling ample self confidence
Emphasise on peer learningCross pollinate teams from time to time
Better decision makingAdopting processes that encourage it across every team member
Work at Happy Horizons TrustUsing the Social Capital to work on Education for development.
The problem spaceHow may we improve the quality of education in India
Creating local leadersTo help in building the social capital within the community
Design and Design thinking as a way of life
Introducing design early
Enhancing skillsIntroducing the children to new ways of learning
Book Designing workshopAn exercise in exploring alternative career options
Craft activitiesTo help in building the child motor skills
System design thinkingTo help in driving systemic change
Storytelling to ignite discussionsNothing excites a child more than stories
The society cannot progress without this
Women empowerment
Learnings along the wayThings I teach now at the academic programs I manage
no design! know design?2001 in a design school why design matters
2016 heading a design school
design matters
Get into countless arguments for this one. Design is a process too.
Design is not cosmetic work
Building social capital is toughSocial Innovations require more energy and passion
High glamour solutions fail fast
Building trust takes time
Have a global perspective, local approach
Understand local lifeworlds
Social Capital is a long term investment
Sustainability is important
Collaboration is keyTeamwork is crucial to the success
Build inclusive solutionsEngage with different stakeholders over time
Be a reflective practitionerThink about the impact of your solutions from time to time
Think short term & long term Social capital builds over time
Spread happinessNothing is more satisfying!
We need to value Social Capital created for or by our designs! It should come naturally to us!
Outreach of Happy Horizons TrustWorking with 40 schools across the country6 districts in Bihar, 1 in Karnataka, 1 in BengalPrograms outreaching over 27000 studentsDigital literacy program to over 250 studentsOver 1500 students benefited from Career Awareness Seminars
