The Social Design Reader

The Social Design Reader explores the ways in which design can be a catalyst for social change. Bringing together key texts of the last fifty years, editor Elizabeth Resnick traces the emergence of the notion of socially responsible design. This volume represents the authentic voices of the thinkers, writers and designers who are helping to build a 'canon' of informed literature which documents the development of the discipline.
The Social Design Reader is divided into three parts. Section 1: Making a Stand includes an introduction to the term 'social design' and features papers which explore its historical underpinnings. Section 2: Creating the Future documents the emergence of social design as a concept, as a nascent field of study, and subsequently as a rapidly developing professional discipline, and Section 3: A Sea Change is made up of papers acknowledging social design as a firmly established practice.
Contextualising section introductions are provided to aid readers in understanding the original source material, while summary boxes clearly articulate how each text fits with the larger milieu of social design theory, methods, and practice.

Elizabeth Resnick is Professor Emerita of Graphic Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA.

- Preface / Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA
Section 1: Making a Stand: A New Social Agenda for Design
- Introduction - Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA
- Is Social Design A Thing? - Cameron Tonkinwise, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
- Social Design: From Utopia to the Good Society - Victor Margolin, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
- Emigré Culture and the Origins of Social Design - Alison J. Clarke, University of Applied Arts Vienna, Austria
Section 2: Creating the Future: Defining the Socially Responsible Designer 1964-1999
- Introduction - Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA
- First Things First Manifesto - Ken Garland, independent scholar, UK
- Here Are Some Things We Must Do - Ken Garland, independent scholar, UK
- Edugraphology-The Myths of Design and the Design of Myths - Victor Papanek, formerly University of Kansas, USA
- Design As A Socially Significant Activity - Clive Dilnot, independent scholar, USA
- Designerly Ways of Knowing - Nigel Cross, Open University, UK
- The Future Isn't What it Used to Be - Victor Papanek, formerly University of Kansas, USA
- Commerce or Culture: Industrialization and Design - John Heskett, formerly Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong
- Wicked Problems in Design Thinking - Richard Buchanan, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
- Good Citizenship: Design as a Social and Political Force - Katherine McCoy, formerly Illinois Institute of Technology, USA
- Feminist Perspectives (Design for Society) - Nigel Whitely, independent scholar, UK
- There is Such a Thing as Society - Andrew Howard, Escola Superior de Artes e Design, Portugal
- Design and Reflexivity - Jan van Toorn, independent scholar, The Netherlands
- Design Noir - Anthony Dunne, The New School, USA
Section 3: A Sea Change: The Paradigm Shift from Objects to Systems 2000-2020
- Introduction - Elizabeth Resnick, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, USA
- First Things First Manifesto 2000 - Kalle Lasn, Adbusters, Canada
- A "Social Model" of Design: Issues of Practice and Research - Victor Margolin, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA and Sylvia Margolin, independent scholar, USA
- The Dematerialization of Design - Jorge Frascara, University of Alberta, Canada
- Why Being "Less Bad" Is No Good (Cradle to Cradle) - William McDonough, World Economic Forum, Switzerland and Michael Braungart, Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency, Germany
- Clothes That Connect - Kate Fletcher, University of the Arts London, UK
- Design's Role in Sustainable Consumption - Ann Thorpe, independent scholar, UK
- Transformative Services and Transformation Design - Daniela Sangiorgi, Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Rethinking Design Thinking, Part I - Lucy Kimbell, University of the Arts London, UK
- Rethinking Design Thinking, Part 2 - Lucy Kimbell, University of the Arts London, UK
- Design Things and Design Thinking: Contemporary Participatory Design Challenges - Erling Bjögvinsson, Gothernburg University, Sweden, Pelle Ehn, Malmö University, Sweden and Per-Anders Hillgren, Malmö University, Sweden
- From Design Culture to Design Activism - Guy Julier, University of Brighton, UK
- Decolonizing Design Innovation - Elizabeth Tunstall, Ontario College of Art and Design University, Canada
- Social Design and Neocolonialism - Cinnamon Janzer, independent scholar, USA and Lauren Weinstein, Australian Centre for Social Innovation, Australia
- Futuristic Gizmos, Conservative Ideals: On Speculative Anachronistic Design - Luiza Prado de O. Martins, A Parede, Germany and Pedro Vieira de Oliveira, A Parede, Germany
- Privilege and Oppression: Towards a Feminist Speculative Design - Luiza Prado de O. Martins, A Parede, Germany
- Is Sustainable Innovation an Oxymoron? - Elizabeth B-N Sanders, MakeTools, UK
- Social innovation and design: Enabling, replicating and synergizing - Ezio Manzini, DESIS Network, Italy
- Global Methods, Local Designs - Ahmed Ansari, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
- The Emerging Transition Design Approach - Terry Irwin, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
- Contributors bios
- Further reading
- Index