DesignAbout Track Reports

1. Design for the Individual (PDF 155kb)
   
2. Design for the Masses (PDF 118kb)
   
3. Design with the Cultural Perspective (PDF 148kb)
   
4. Design for the Flat World(PDF 120kb)
   

DesignAbout Report

Overview
Hewlett Packard hosted DesignAbout, The Other Six Billion People from November 2-4, 2005, at Dinah's Garden Hotel in Palo Alto, Calif., a stone's throw from Hewlett Packard's world headquarters and smack in the middle of Silicon Valley. Sam Lucente, IDSA, the director of brand, design and experience at Hewlett Packard, and Ami Mehta, HP's emerging-markets experience architect, led the event. Designers from across the globe and from multiple design industries gathered with anticipation for what they would learn about the world's other 6 billion people and the new methods and processes they could develop when designing for this underserved group.

The DesignAbout began on a Wednesday night in a Polynesian-inspired setting-the banquet room at Dinah's, filled with exotic woods, masks and a variety of tribal art and sculpture. Each corner of the room hosted delicacies inspired by Indian, Russian, Brazilian and Chinese cuisine.

As the evening progressed, the group was treated to a stunning performance by Parijat Desai, the founder of the Parijat Desai Dance Company. Her pieces elegantly combined an exciting blend of Bharata Natyam (one of the oldest dance forms in India), modern dance and yoga. This was a simple and effective way to get attendees to focus on other cultures, new approaches and the next two days of work. Everyone came together with great excitement for the ideas and concepts they would develop over the next two days.

The skillful composition of the DesignAbout produced exciting results. The intimate size of the gathering, approximately 70 people, inspiring setting and small brainstorming groups helped participants get to know each other and facilitated compelling discussions. The event was structured around four tracks-Design for the Individual, Design for the Masses, Design with the Cultural Perspective and Design for the Flat World. Each track began with a short presentation by thought leaders, individuals with experience working with or for the other six billion, followed by a brief Q&A session. The audience then self-formed into small brainstorming groups and participated in exercises that were deftly orchestrated by facilitators from Jump Associates (a San Mateo-based firm that specializes in helping their clients discover new opportunities for growth). These sessions were crafted to aid participants to innovate, think outside the box and to easily build on each others' ideas.

Attendees tackled the first three tracks, Design for the Individual, Design for the Masses and Design with the Cultural Perspective, on the second day, followed by dinner and a friendly discussion. After completing the final track, Design for the Flat World, on the third day, the group reconvened for one last brainstorming session, the pinnacle of the event: finding real, implementable solutions attendees could integrate into their daily lives. The goal was for each participant to return home with at least three action items that would help them continue the dialogue and make concrete moves to address the subject in their daily lives. The discussion was structured around three focal points: the individual, community and company. Participants generated hundreds of ideas, which were penned onto Post-it notes and posted on a large idea board.

Here are just a few of the ideas:

Individual-focused Ideas

• Travel more
• Sign up for an RSS news feed from a foreign/emerging-market newspaper
• Share your awareness with people, colleagues, and clients
• Search for designers with cross-cultural/cross-disciplinary backgrounds
• Invite corporations to an emerging-market workshop
• Work in China or India for a more tangible cultural exchange
• Design a product every month that costs less than a dollar
• Create a professional interest section in IDSA
• Participate in a lecture series at a university

Community-focused Ideas

• Lose fear of the "other" and embrace designers in other parts of the world
• Help foster this discussion within IDSA, both in education and professional practice
• Share your success stories or failures within the design community
• Get in contact with corporations who want to get involved with expanding and developing business in developing countries
• Build smarter people
• Work with IDSA and other corporations to fund research with the Institute of Design and University of Cincinnati DAAP
• Help build a repository of design innovation from around the world
• Look for ways to combine personal travel with overseas design

Company-focused Ideas

• Early in the design process evaluate products/concepts for how they might generate income in very poor communities
• Explore actual solutions that target the other six billion people
• Become actively involved with a customer and use the learnings from this work to find your company's voice
• Spread this philosophy to other design studios at upcoming global meetings
• Contact the Brazilian government to get a project going
• Talk smarter
• Talk to students and faculty
• Open an active dialog to exchange information with colleagues in emerging markets

The event was a success.

"This event has been great as it will naturally generate enthusiasm and raise awareness in our community that can then be built upon by others." - Steve Wilcox, FIDSA, Design Science

At the very least, it brought some of the world's largest and most influential corporations and privately held firms to the same table, sharing ideas and looking toward a more responsible and sustainable future that is inclusive and forward thinking. At the very most, the DesignAbout served as a tipping point. A change is underway in how designers work and who they work with. The biggest take-away from these three days was the idea of "co-creation": not just studying users from afar but tactually getting them actively involved in the design and development process. Realistically, this is what already happens in the developing world. If someone needs something and can't afford it, they make it. Then their neighbor sees it, and gets the inventor to make one for them. Eventually, businesses are formed from this process and economic independence is not far behind. Pursuing a more holistic understanding about the stakeholders involved in the creation process is the next big challenge facing the profession. Integrating such a perspective is imperative in order to compete in designing for the other six billion people.

"Go from fear to discovery. Move toward an era of co-creation." - Sam Lucente, IDSA, Hewlett Packard

©2006 Industrial Designers Society of America