A Visual Tool for Understanding Wicked Problems in Design Research: A Case Study of Marginalized Youth Unemployment

Abstract

Design thinking has been widely embraced as an approach that fosters discussion and facilitates innovations that promote inclusion and empowerment in the public and private sectors. However, recent concerns have been expressed over its limited application and the exaggerated claims of its impacts when addressing wicked problems (WPs). A central challenge is comprehending how to support the process of simultaneously understanding WPs and acknowledging their uncertainty and risk. Through an action research project (aimed to help reduce youth unemployment by involving marginalized youths in service development in South Africa), this paper investigates the use of the Mess Mapping™ tool for collectively understanding, visualizing and aiding in decision-making related to the complexities of socially-oriented design research. We demonstrate that through a ‘co-documenting, co-discovering and co-defining’ process, it is possible to identify and understand the challenges and complexities that designers may encounter when informing future design research on WPs.

Keywords:

• wicked problems
• participatory design
• service design
• design for social innovation
• Mess Mapping™

Acknowledgements

The first author would like to thank the Lapland Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation for the one-year grant for her Ph.D. research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at

Appendix 1 is available at https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2021.1984664.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 645743.

Notes on contributors

Mari Suoheimo

Mari Suoheimo, Doctor of Service Design, has been researching how to approach wicked problems in service design. A publication reporting “Iceberg Model of Design Problems” in the Design Journal clarifies the exiting types of problems and how to approach them in the design field. She works as a service design lecturer and project manager at the Metropolia University of Applied Sciences.

Tang Tang

Dr Tang Tang is an Associate Professor of Design. She was Principal Investigator at the University of Leeds, and oversaw the completion of the EU Horizon 2020 funded PARTY (Participatory Development with the Youth) project which aimed to understand the complex challenges of youth unemployment in the African San community. Her research interests include design for behavioural change, creative design methods to promote sustainable societies and lifestyles.

Tarja Juvonen

Tarja Juvonen (D. Soc. Sc., Licensed Social Worker) is a Principal Lecturer at the Laurea University of Applied Sciences. She has also been working several years as a social worker among various groups of service users. Her research interests include social work and youth research. The most recent research project she is participating concerns the relations between the municipal income support and the child protection.