Co-sponsored by Hewlett Packard, produced by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and facilitated by members of Jump Associates and the Institute of Design, this program focused on developing a collaborative and open-minded environment from which would grow new initiatives and ideas about how to design for the other six billion people.

The IT industry typically designs for the world's 600 million people that have access to connected computing. What about the other six billion people? How can design, technology and innovation enhance their lives? But this question doesn't apply only to computers and consumer electronics. Designers possess a great degree of untapped ability to broadly empower societies through tangible, everyday tools.

This year's DesignAbout explored how designers can bring well-designed artifacts to the rest of the world, designs that are culturally sensitive and sustainable for the people, societies and businesses making the tools.

This was an interactive, intellectual, forward-thinking, three day brainstorming event. It was not a conference. The participants were visibly exhausted at the end but felt empowered and energized to apply their newly gained perspective to their day-to-day world.

"We need to challenge our processes and invest in meaningful ethnographic/user research and allow cultural immersion and co-creation help us create relevant designs and solutions." - Mathiew Turpault and Edward Siahaan, Bresslergroup

Two relevant and timely books inspired this DesignAbout:

• C.K. Prahalad: The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid
• Thomas Friedmans: The Flat World

The facilitators developed a set of easy-to-follow guidelines and tools derived from these books. These tools (see the tracks section) helped the brainstorming groups stay focused and develop solutions that can be applied in their practices now. The ideas generated in the final comprehensive brainstorming activity are proof that the format and structure of the three-day event worked extremely well.

"All in all, this workshop was an eye opener, an exercise that raised our awareness and has motivated us to learn more aobut the issues, opportunities and best practices." - Mathieu Turpault and Edward Siahaan, Bresslergroup

IDSA and Hewlett Packard are happy to publish the results here.

Credits:
This report was prepared and written by Leslie Speer, IDSA. Leslie Speer is an Associate Professor at California College of the Arts and a Director for Bolton Associates, a London based design firm. She is currently getting her Masters in Product Design, Innovation and Management from Middlesex University in London and her thesis is focused on sustainable design, innovation and business in emerging markets. She has worked for over a decade with artisans in Mexico, helping them to create small businesses, improve their products for the world market, and by taking her students into Mexico to teach them about designing with and for a foreign culture. She is the chair of the newly formed IDSA Professional Interest Section, Design for the Majority.

©2006 Industrial Designers Society of America