"How to: design justice?!" - workshop and platform for justice in design
The goal of the project is to raise awareness for justice in design and to anchor it in the design discipline, as well as to initiate a discourse between designers and society. In workshops, designers develop tools to face social challenges and shape the future. "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" adds a social component to aesthetics: What is inclusive is beautiful because it creates a sense of belonging. The participatory workshops will be further established and a regional platform will be created.
Regional
Germany
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Helena Last name: Kiefer Gender: Female Age: 26 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Germany Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Elisabethenstraße 59 Town: Darmstadt Postal code: 64283 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 176 43950948 E-mail:helena.kiefer@t-online.de Website:https://howtogerechtgestalten.de/
First name: Teresa Laura Last name: Novotny Gender: Female Age: 29 Please attach a copy of your national ID/residence card:
By ticking this box, I certify that the information regarding my age is factually correct. : Yes Nationality: Germany Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Zimmermannweg 5 Town: Darmstadt Postal code: 64289 Country: Germany Direct Tel:+49 177 5357443 E-mail:hallo@teresanovotny.de Website:https://howtogerechtgestalten.de/
The project "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" was created in 2022 by two industrial designers on the occasion of Diversity Day and aims to raise awareness for justice in design and to embed in the design discipline and in particular, to initiate an applied discourse between designers and society. The central component are the workshops. They are aimed at everyone who designs - both people who design professionally and everyone else who shapes the environment through their daily actions and decisions, but the focus is on students from various design disciplines. They receive and develop tools to address social challenges and shape a more equal future - in conviction that designed products directly influence human interaction. Interaction, exchange and creative phases are the core of the workshops, where methods of classical design practice are used. In order to convey variety of user groups, "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" works with the "Diversity Chartas" dimensions of diversity. "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" understands inclusive products as much more aesthetically: they are beautiful because they create a sense of belonging. The concept began as a workshop format in design education with students and citizens and will evolve into a regional platform that is intended to function as a regional hub for designers. It provides opportunities for continuing education, initiating projects, or addressing local challenges in a participatory process. The workshops will be funded by the university of applied sciences in the first half of 2023. In addition, a first platform meeting on the topic of justice in design with students, practicing designers, and interested parties is planned for the end of the year.
Universal Design
Design Education
Transdisciplinarity
Workshop
Justice in design
"How to: design justice?" aims to sensitize people - especially designers - to justice in design. The format aims to inform how to design the world in a more conscious and fair way to confront the social challenges of the present and the future. The focus is on people and society, hence the column of "social sustainability". However, this does not mean that economic and ecological sustainable development is neglected. On the contrary, the format aims to bring people closer to the satisfaction and effectiveness of collectively shaping an environment worth living in through participatory processes. As a further consequence, the format thus addresses a sustainable interplay of living together, the environment and the economy. Questions of justice are relevant and effective across systems. A universal product can therefore replace several specific products - and for example reduce energy and resource consumption. The more diverse the target group, the lower the risk that products will become obsolete. "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" contributes to social sustainability, in particular by providing an impulse for a more inclusive design of the environment. Initial workshops have already launched a discourse on the topic of justice in design. The workshops, as well as the intended networking platform of different creatives, provide the conditions to design "with everybody for everybody". They are intended to promote aesthetically high-quality design solutions that are socially equitable and inclusive, ecologically and economically sustainable and thus generationally appropriate. The sense of belonging to society is strengthened.
If designed products are aesthetically pleasing, we like to surround ourselves with them. If they also function well and offer a high quality of experience, all the better. Whether a product "works well" depends on how smoothly the interaction between the product and the users is in the specific context of use. Many products and services in our everyday life are designed for a specific target group, potentially neglecting marginalised groups - offering a quality of experience only for certain people. The workshops encourage participants to question the existing, include pluralistic perspectives and develop a shared creative vision. Diversity is a key characteristic of the target group: a growing diverse society needs environments that reflect this. Therefore, we need to see diversity not as a limiting factor, but as a gain: when exclusive solutions are replaced by inclusive ones, there is an advantage not only for the previously excluded. According to the principles of universal design, everyone benefits. "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" expands the concept of aesthetics to include a social component: What is inclusive is particularly beautiful because it creates a sense of belonging instead of exclusion. Aesthetic potential thus reveals itself when one deals with issues of justice, inclusion and belonging. Concrete ideas have already been developed in the first workshops. In the different contexts, participants were brought to awareness of the aesthetic potential of inclusive design. Participants of different age groups were able to understand and absorb this. On the occasion of the application of the city Frankfurt am Main as World Design Capital, the associated topic "Design for Democracy" also became the focus of the workshops. Students developed protest posters in which they spoke out against current social injustices and inequality. In a design sprint with a group of designers, initial concepts were developed on how everyday products could be made more inclusive.
The project explicitly considers human and social diversity on two levels: The "How to: design equitably?!" workshops are universally accessible and teach inclusive design approaches.
Universal accessibility:
There are no criteria for exclusion from participation in the workshops or the platform. Although the offer is primarily aimed at designers, any committed person is welcome who wants to share their perspective, consciously help shape everyday life, dedicate themselves to a local challenge or experience an insight into design processes. A diversity of participants is explicitly desired and the setting is flexibly adapted to create as few barriers to participation as possible. Low-threshold contexts already enabled participation by people who normally do not have access to educational and co-creation offers or do not use them: e.g. by working with passers-by and in public places.The diversity of participants in the workshops so far (pupils, students, designers and passers-by) shows that "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" takes universal accessibility seriously and is not limited to the environment of the designers.
Teaching inclusive design:
Inputs and workshops are explicitly designed for the dimensions of diversity in our society and address the question of how to create more equitable conditions for all people through designed environments and products. Principles of universal design, gender-sensitive design and social design are applied. Unless a specific design solution makes sense, the workshops always encourage finding the best possible solution for "everyone". The focus is on including different realities of life in order to develop design ideas that are suitable for everyday life.
The concept is based on the assumption that designed environments and products have a significant influence on how people interact with each other. All those who consciously or unconsciously design carry a certain responsibility. For example designers, as well as architects and engineers, design products and services. But civil society, politicians and entrepreneurs also shape the environment through their everyday actions and decisions.
That's why it's not only designers who create, but all people through their daily actions.
The project "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" raises awareness of this in cooperation with citizens and allows everyone to experience design actively, as shown in the first public workshops with citizens: We can experience self-efficacy by shaping our everyday life. Our actions have an impact on society and the space in which we live. We can participate to shape them together with others. In particular, the potential of transdisciplinary processes will be elaborated: When designers work directly with citizens, more creative, diverse and realistic design ideas emerge. In the further development of the concept, an increasingly suitable space is to be created in the co-creative process:Which forms of dialogue and creativity are particularly suitable for transdisciplinary processes? What dynamics emerge in different contexts? How do we create the greatest possible sense of belonging? What local and regional challenges require more equitable design solutions?
Who do we need for this? What tools are suitable for this? Answers to these questions are to be found in the regional platform planned for the near future.
The workshop concept of "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" is particularly characterised by its scalability and adaptability. It has taken shape over the last year. Over time, different target and interest groups have been involved. The workshops, which were adapted to the context, always included a feedback round, through which the "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" team reflected and learned important lessons for the future and gained important learnings for subsequent workshops. The first workshop on the occasion of the Diversity Day took place with students and professors from a design college. Professional exchange took place in open discussion and group tasks. During the "Road-Show" at the Design for Democracy Tour, the profile of "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" was expanded to include the component of democracy. The workshops took place both with pupils in a school and with the general public at the democracy van of the Road-Show. Here, justice in design was conveyed as a tool for living democracy and the sense of belonging to democratic processes was promoted and strengthened. As part of the "AGORA" event in the series "Hessen Design im Zeichen der Demokratie", the workshop was also held for the first time with designers from various fields. The group of participants consisted of architects, industrial designers and communication designers. After the workshop, parts of the group continue to exchange information bilaterally on theoretical content and events. The aim of the regional platform is to raise this exchange to an accessible network level.
The project aims at the discipline of design and expands it with a transdisciplinary character trait. It utilises the fields of knowledge of (product) design, design theory and transdisciplinary and transformative creation. The objective of the concept is formed by an interplay of the three areas of expertise. Design theory considerations show how influential designed objects are on human behaviour in a society: Products can be exclusive or inclusive, empowering or constraining, depending on how they are tailored to target groups. Target groups are diverse and characterised by different abilities, needs, desires and levels of knowledge. Design methodologies can be appropriate tools to engage different target groups and design for them in a context-appropriate way. They can support consideration processes and democratic decision-making and raise the right questions at the right time. The transdisciplinary approach is based on the observation that single disciplines fail to effectively and comprehensively address complex societal challenges - such as that of creating an equitable environment for everyone. Dialogue formats, multiple perspectives and participation are needed to develop good design solutions. Thanks to this broad basis, "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" has become a flexible format that is capable of growth and offers many interfaces for other areas of expertise.
The aim of the continuous development is also to invite experts from a wide range of fields to the workshops and exchange formats, who are outside the classic design context.
"How to: gerecht gestalten?" puts the topic of justice in the focus of design work. What is often only treated as an "add-on" in conventional design education is given the appropriate overarching space in the workshops. Designers sensitise themselves to questions of justice and study, evaluate and develop tools so that they can meet current and future social challenges in a self-effective way. Designers know how to empathise with target groups. However, in order to design not only for but also with a diverse society, it is important to initiate co-creative processes, i.e. to work together with various other groups of actors. In this way, the concept builds a bridge between those who design and those who are designed for: A sense of belonging is created. The boundaries can become blurred to a certain extent when "everyone" designs for everyone. The risk of blind spots, stereotyping or misconceptions is also reduced by the dialogue approach. In contrast to fixed guidelines and step-by-step instructions, "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" is a format that is just as changeable as the challenges it addresses. It is explicitly intended to be constantly developed and re-evaluated, to be expanded by methods and to remain open for interfaces. In the future, the regional platform should contribute to taking up local and regional impulses from society, to start a discourse and to enable collective creative action.
Although "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" is a project that has emerged regionally in the RheinMain area, it is not dependent on specific location factors and could thus also be transferred to other regions. The development of regional groups can be extended nationally to Germany and also internationally. Locally developed contents, discussion topics and solution approaches can be used as an impulse in other regions, where they can be further developed in a context-specific way. Sharing the approach and results can lead to (more) participatory processes being initiated in other regions. The concept is always adapted to the respective group of participants, their level of knowledge and needs in order to achieve the greatest possible benefit for the participants. This and the broad target group of the "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" project results in a high degree of adaptability. The methodological kit can be applied to a wide variety of challenges and tasks and is therefore not limited to certain groups, places or contexts. The aim is to anchor the methodological thinking developed in an integrative way to the goal of explicitly designing justly or inclusively, also independently of design processes: just design must become just as much a natural part of real-world design processes as the inclusion of economic factors.
Despite its regional scope, the project "How to: make it fair?!" addresses global challenges and is particularly in line with the objectives of SDGs 5, 10 and 16.
10: Reduced inequalities
In order to convey the diversity of user groups, "How to: gerecht gestalten?!" works with the dimensions of diversity of the "Diversity Charta". Looking at the individual dimensions and dealing with them in a creative way in the workshops sensitises the participants to the special power and importance of diversity. In dealing with this range of topics, thought patterns change. This leads to a change in the way of creative action - towards more equitable action.
5: Gender equality
The concept explicitly strives for design solutions that address the challenges of women in society through a pluralistic and participatory approach and facilitate their participation in political, economic and public life.
16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
"How to: gerecht gestalten?!" follows a highly participatory and democracy-strengthening approach. In workshops and discourse, design is to be developed as a democratic tool. Designers and citizens will experience that they are not at the mercy of their environment, but that powerful, realistic ideas can develop from participatory creative projects. Design is understood as a tool for living democracy. The workshops and the envisaged platform for exchange strengthen local and regional democratic processes.
As the workshops are particularly aimed at raising awareness for more justice in design, they also trigger a development of social thought patterns: Diversity is seen more as a strength. Thus, step by step, not only the togetherness is changing, but also the productive and built environment. In the long run, this change also affects SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).
