Designing for Society ― Products and Services for a Better World

Our globalised world is encountering problems on an unprecedented scale. Many of the issues we face as societies extend beyond the borders of our nations. Phenomena such as terrorism, climate change, immigration, cybercrime and poverty can no longer be understood without considering the complex socio-technical systems that support our way of living. It is widely acknowledged that to contend with any of the pressing issues of our time, we have to substantially adapt our lifestyles. To adequately counteract the problems of our time, we need interventions that help us actually adopt the behaviours that lead us toward a more sustainable and ethically just future.

In Designing for Society, Paul Hekkert and Nynke Tromp provide a hands-on tool for design professionals and students who wish to use design to counteract social issues. Viewing the artefact as a unique means of facilitating behavioural change to realise social impact, this book goes beyond the current trend of applying design thinking to enhancing public services, and beyond the idea of the designer as a facilitator of localised social change.

Nynke Tromp is a design researcher at the department of Industrial Design, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands and is a member of the social design consultancy, KVD Reframing, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Prof. Paul Hekkert is professor of form theory, and head of the Industrial Design department at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands where he also chairs the design aesthetics group.