Service Design – A Systematic Approach to Social Innovation
Priti Rao
Co-Investigators: Jackie Guille, Bob Young, Malcolm Harper
Design skills are increasingly being used to drive social change, but there is little in-depth research to examine how design can and does contribute to these new endeavours. This project examines the role of service design in driving social innovation in general and more specifically in relation to establishing craft production, as a sustainable means of livelihoods, in India.
Context
The rise in design consultancies and conferences in the areas of service, transformational and social design, signals an expansion of Design’s scope of ambitions beyond just market-led interventions to those that tackle fundamental human and social problems.
There are an estimated 20 million artisans in India of which roughly 6.5 million engage in weaving by hand. Many of these artisans live on less than $2 a day and depend on vital services such as access to raw material, marketing, finance and skill development to earn a living.
Using the case of artisan services in India, this research employs design thinking and methods to understand what types of services are most likely to enable artisans to improve their livelihood.
What We Did
Past studies and literature have mainly focused on craft objects and less on artisans or the vital services that enable them to earn a livelihood.
Furthermore, as many of the existing concepts within service design were more market oriented, a new framework had to be created to understand services for the poor. The research created an ‘Enabling Service Design’ framework drawing on literature from design, management and social sciences.
Who will benefit
An overview of the key beneficiaries of this research.
Impact
The research presents evidence for new, emerging roles of Design in the area of tackling social problems. It further suggests that ideas from Design can be used not just to improve a given situation but also to generate knowledge that can inform policy-making. It presents an example where Design thinking and approach have been creatively reinterpreted for fundamentally new contexts.
