I have often been asked about what is the Social Impact that the design is creating, and where has design played a role. I confess that I do not have a concrete answer to that question, as I am myself in the process of finding it.
As I gear up for another round of my travels and this time in the rural parts of the country, I am constantly thinking of finding examples of Design for Social Impact. The best part about this exercise is the fact that Design then does not be limited to any particular domain. Design then appears to be ubiquitous, and often one can see shades of innovation, across demographies and geographies.
I do some introspection on the state of things. I am always curious to know how the field can progress more. One definite way of doing it is to see how the examples and case studies can be shared. I am hoping to do the same from the field visits from now on.
Since I am always interested in evangelizing about Design for Social Impact, there are two book that come really useful when trying to do any study of the field. One is Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek, and Design for Society by Nigel Whiteley. Papanek is considered to be the one who started the discourses around this field and his pieces are still valued today.
