In their article N. Tromp and P. Hekkert reflect on two graduation projects in Industrial Design that explored how a designer would cope with a social problem. Which design skills are important? Is the ViP-procedure useful as a approach of handling a social problem.
How can you describe ViP? Citation form: Approaches to Product Design in Delft. TU Delft :
‘In ViP (Vision in Product design) the designer is brought back in the design process, ViP aimed at designs with a soul, authentic products that would reflect the vision and personality of the person responsible for them: the designer’.
‘The goal of ViP has always been to touch the core of designing in a coherent framework and systematic approach.’
‘The basic thought behind ViP is deceptively simple: designing always starts with the selection of starting points or factors, ideas, observations, beliefs , or obsessions, that will finally determine the product-to-be-designed.’
What are the main remarks in the article?
Step 1 in ViP is to define the expected behaviour. Therefor the problem is reframed using knowledge form research and form the stakeholders. There appear to be a conflict between the social and the individual concerns for the social problem of improving social cohesion within a multicultural neighbourhood. The main problem was how can you handle the conflicting discourses. The question was to understand how the needed responses could be evoked. The aim of the design was: how to support people to exchange information. The design solution was: how can we optimize the conditions for contact making. This was achieved through a ‘gift box’ . A inhabitant of the neighbourhood decide on a gift to another inhabitant. The gift is put in the box together with an exploitation. The ‘receiver have to react’ …. enz. The designer expects that after this exchange of gifts and information the inhabitants will speak more easy with each other: the social cohesion will increase.
The same procedure is used in another example is How to improve the women position at the labour market. The problem was reframed form a glass ceiling to a sticky floor. The result was a ‘label’. It supports a women to develop their qualities in a social setting and presents these to the outside world.
The ViP-procedure appears to be effective. especially the human centred approach and the ability to handle conflicting situations.
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