Designing Empowerment – Design Thinking for Social Impact

Abstract

This chapter outlines the context behind the “Designing Empowerment” initiative at the Industrial Design program at Virginia Tech. It makes a case for using design thinking and innovation as a catalyst for positive change in our society. With more than 4 billion of us living below poverty line, how do we even begin to make a sense of the challenges faced by majority of humans? What are the design opportunities, if there are any, and how do we go about creating a set of guidelines that can be used to do exploratory research and create compelling solutions? The chapter offers examples of initiatives that have worked, provides evidence of their effectiveness, and presents an argument for using design thinking and innovation as a tool to address some of the most pressing issues: alleviating poverty, providing better education, and improving basic health services for all human beings.

Citation

Sharma, A. (2012), "Designing Empowerment – Design Thinking for Social Impact", Swan, K.S. and Zou, S. (Ed.) Interdisciplinary Approaches to Product Design, Innovation, & Branding in International Marketing (Advances in International Marketing, Vol. 23), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 195-205. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1474-7979(2012)0000023013