The role of design in society

Welcome to the third issue of Volume 27. Two months ago, I was invited to contribute to a roundtable about a review of design in the public domain, which was chaired by Professor Rachel Cooper OBE, the Distinguished Professor of Design Management and Policy at Lancaster University, UK. It was an inspiring discussion among leading academic experts in this area, which, alongside the enjoyable review of the articles featured in this issue, has allowed me to rethink the role of design in society. Design plays an important role in shaping our societies, defining or influencing how we interact with tangible matters, such as products, services, and environments, and intangible matters including emotions, identity, culture, and social norms. It advocates human-centred approaches, catalyses innovation and economic growth, promotes sustainability and fosters behaviour and social value. By harnessing design, society may creatively tackle complicated challenges, improve the quality of life for both individuals and communities and encourage an inclusive, diversified, sustainable and prosperous future for all. The nine articles included in this issue, 27.3, have reflected the significant role of design as it performs in society. They discuss how design may promote and land its role from theoretical and practical perspectives, ranging from exploring the transcendent nature of products, applying user-centred approaches, leveraging design-driven innovation, and investigating resistance in design to the impact of design on society.

Opening this issue is the paper ‘The sacred and profane in design: Exploring the transcendent nature of ordinary products’, where Günes and Görgün embark on an exploratory journey, focusing on how specific products have transcended their utilitarian purposes. Drawing from marketing literature they investigate how ordinary products acquire heightened significance in the eyes of consumers, becoming secularly sacralised. Whilst also exploring design literature to form a deeper understanding of the mechanisms which transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Concluding that designers should approach secular sacredness to reflect products’ intrinsic essence and values rather than employing it as a manipulative tool, highlighting how designers can foster deeper emotional connections between users and products by incorporating sacredness into the design process.

The following paper concentrates on crafting a novel design method known as the user-centred collective system design approach. This approach aims to enhance stakeholder involvement in the design process of product-service systems (PSS). Specifically, the article titled ‘A user-centred collective system design approach for Smart Product-Service Systems: A case study on fitness product design’ was authored by Cong Fang, Wei Liu, Huan Lin, Yuge Qi, Xin Tian, Yi Huang, and Stephen Jia Wang. Together with a case study, it provides new insights into PSS theory and practice and demonstrates new perspectives for addressing complex design problems.

The next paper ‘Case study of design-driven innovation in Japanese high-end electrical fan market: Focusing on differences in originators’ is developed by Yoshito Kubo and Osamu Sato. It investigates variances in the design-driven innovation process, outcomes, and post-launch effects caused by the alternative approaches taken by industrial designers and developmental technologists. The authors analyse the advantages and disadvantages of having two kinds of originators as the starting points. The insights offered will be of particular interest to industry-engaged researchers and technical product-oriented companies.

Using design as a means to influence human behaviour or address social, political, and environmental issues reflects design activism. Karma Dabaghi, in the paper ‘Designerly resistance: Professional object design in support of Lebanon’s street protests’, explores the design activism theory and examines its practical value through a case of the 17 October Revolution in Lebanon, where Guillaume Crédoz, an architect and designer, collaborated with protestors to support their efforts in executing acts of political disobedience against corruption and government injustice. This is an example of how design may help shape public values and social norms in society.

Games are increasingly being used in the rehabilitation process as an interactive approach to engage patients in therapeutic activities. In the paper, ‘A study on the intention of upper limb hemiplegic patients to use interactive gaming devices for hand rehabilitation’, Chujun Yang, Chih-Fu Wu, Jingyan Wang, Wen-Chi Chen, Haoyen Chang and Dan Dan Xu examine the pre-factors and personal characteristics which may influence the intention of stroke patients with hemiplegia to use interactive gaming devices for hand rehabilitation. The findings have generated guidance which could be valuable to those firms designing and developing rehabilitation training equipment.

The following paper ‘Designing technology for smart and sustainable cities of tomorrow – What can we learn from IPCC’s sixth assessment report?’, written by Teija Vainio, undertakes a comprehensive review of expert recommendations concerning climate change within the context of urban human-computer interaction (HCI) design. Its primary contribution lies in identifying the most pressing priorities and recommendations for the HCI research community to address in the near future. This analysis aims to guide HCI researchers towards effectively reducing the societal impacts of climate change through their work.

Preserving urban graphic heritage is essential for understanding a city’s history, culture, and development. Urban graphic heritage may not only encompass the visual components found in urban environments that carry historical, cultural, or artistic value but also be a verbal (intangible) phenomenon, as noted by Robert George Harland, the author of the article ‘Developing an explanatory hypothesis for urban graphic heritage through the observation of physical traces’. The article highlights the connection between graphic heritage and urban heritage, establishing the foundation for understanding urban graphic heritage. It also seeks to determine the significance of graphic images within urban graphic heritage. The paper will be of interest to those invested in design heritage and investing in urban graphic images.

Housing and neighbourhood are critical for older adults’ well-being as for their influences on various aspects such as safety, social connection, accessibility to key healthcare infrastructures and the sense of community. Considering the importance of those places to age-friendly and diversity-sensitive design, Micheline Phlix, Ruth Stevens, Jan Vanrie, An-Sofie Smetcoren and Ann Petermans aim to understand how design may promote community connection in a manner sensitive to both age and diversity, in their paper ‘The “right” place to age? Exploring age-friendly and diversity-sensitive design in a super-diverse neighbourhood’.

Closing this issue is the article ‘China industrial design award evaluation: Explicit features, implicit values, and participation experience’ developed Lei Yu, Xin Feng, Anran Wang and Guoqiang Chen. This research conducts a thorough examination of the China Excellent Industrial Design (CEID) award, a prestigious recognition bestowed by the Chinese government. The analysis focuses on explicit features, implicit values, and participation experiences, revealing the complex interplay that shapes the award’s impact and perception.

Disclosure statement of funding

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.