Thirteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

This study explores an innovative teaching approach based on the concept of social design. We had two objectives: (1) With the social responsibility of the designer as its basis, we aimed to explore the structures of social design at different levels by observing the scale of social system influence through design. (2) In the field, we focused on implementing that social responsibility in the university’s design education, to construct a teaching schema and implement it as part of the “social design” curriculum case study. This study applies the Divergence-Convergence-Integration technique as the flow design model. By analyzing the elements of social design, the flow design model was developed, and the DCI was modified to be a schema suitable for teaching. This study concludes that (1) the social system is constantly evolving and the process of social design is a set of sustainable cycles rather than a simple linear structure and (2) social design must not only meet the needs of the users but also consider the dynamic development of the social ecological system, thus making it necessary to do long-term evaluation and quality control. The findings of this study may serve as a teaching reference for university teachers. With further investigation into individual case experiences, we hope to explore more possibilities in the curricula, to inspire creativity in social design, and to implement social responsibility in the university.