Designing For or Designing With
Helena Kraff, Eva Maria Jernsand · Chalmers Research (Chalmers University of Technology) · 2014
A major challenge for social design is related to roles, and the relationshipbetween designers and those that a design proposal is intended for. Humancentreddesign processes are supposed to start with the people we are designingfor. However, by using the phrase “designing for” instead of “designing with”, it is implied that something will be delivered, rather than created in collaboration.Similarly local stakeholder ownership is often highlighted as important. Yet, theunderlying framework is most often set by a design team: it is they who set thetopic, own the tools, and therefore have control and power over the process. Itneeds to be recognized that by doing so, alternative views might be pushed back,and we might not notice what topics are left out or who is being excluded. Thepurpose of this paper is to contribute to a more nuanced discussion of socialdesign by problematizing the concepts of local stakeholder ownership, roles andpower. This is done through a critical reflection of the authors’ own activeinvolvement in a social design project in Kisumu, Kenya.