the role of the designer in impoverished areas of the world - Designing for development to improve quality of life.

My MA dissertationat at the RCA was writen on the role of the designer in impoverished areas of the world, An introduction of the paper can be found bellow.

During my undergraduate degree in 2008 I designed a generator that impoverished and remote communities could use to improve their everyday lives. The concept (called the Universal Generator) addressed the need to provide electricity and therefore had the potential to bring significant benefit to deprived communities. The Universal Generator was successful within many award programs, yet never made it to market as a comercial product. Consequently like many well-intended concepts full of asperations it will be unable to deliver any positive impact.

This experience caused me to consider how often and how much design fulfils its stated aims and objectives. Design for development is a growing area, but how often do the solutions that claim to have the potential to achieve so much, actually do so?

In this paper, I would like to explore and understand the appropriate role of designers in addressing problems of those living in poverty, and examine what methods and approaches we should use in design to deliver the most relevant and successful plans that can be implemented in a sustainable manner.

If you have an interest in this area of design please feel free to get in touch.

UPDATE: The dissertation was awarded a distinction and is available in the RCA library.