Being a sociable designer: reimagining the role of designers in social innovation

Figures & data

Figure 1. Different interpretations of the role of designers in social innovation.

Table 1. Overview

of types of initiatives and respondents

Initiative	Type	Initiated by	Respondents’ backgrounds	Usage of design
Hong Kong
Goodseed	Organisation	Government	Social service	Capacity building, design thinking, co-creation
DOMAT	Organisation	Architectural agency, social enterprise	Architecture	Architecture, product design
Fine Dying (SI.DLab)	Project	Non-profit social design agency	Academia & social design, product design	Design thinking, co-creation, empathy, immersion, prototyping, capacity building
Form Society	Organisation	Independent	Social design	Event organising
Play Depot	Organisation & project	Independent	Visual art	Design activities are organised by stakeholders
Bangkok
Co-create Charoenkrung (TCDC)	Project	Government	Graphic design, Education, Business	Urban renewal, prototyping, visualisation, event organising
Deschooling Games	Organisation	Independent	Graphic design, Education, Engineering	Game design, event organising, co-creation
Pom Mahakan	Organisation & project	Independent	Engineering, Architecture, Graphic design	Design thinking, prototyping, co-creation, community architecture, participatory mapping
Bangkok Chinatown	Organisation & project	Architectural agency	Architecture	Design thinking, prototyping, co-creation
CROSSs	Organisation	Architectural agency	Architecture	Participatory design, architecture, prototyping, designing relations
The Rambutan	Organisation	Independent	Graphic design, visual art	Graphic design, activism
Kuala Lumpur
Earth Heir	Organisation	Social enterprise	Business, International development	Product design
3nity design	Organisation	Design & branding agency	Design	Branding, graphic design, product design, strategic design
Green pocket park (POW Ideas)	Project	Architectural agency	Architecture	Architecture, art
Lorong Bandar 13 (Think City)	Project	Government	Architecture	Urbal renewal, architecture, co-creation, visioning
Water Warriors & Mukim Pasangan (UM)	Project	Academia	Watershed management	Designing relations

Figure 2. Methodological map.

Table 2. Overview of themes pertaining to the role of the designer

Reoccurring themes pertaining to the role of the designer	Cities
	HK	BK	KL
The importance of tangible results	x	x	x
The importance of social relations in general	x	x	x
The importance of relations between stakeholders	x	x	x
The role of education	x	x	x
The role of internal and external communication	x	x	x
The creation of value	x	x	x
The perception of value	x	x	x
Raising awareness about issues	x	x	x
Building trust with the community	x	x	x
The negative perception of design(ers)	x	x
The lack of control over the design process	x	x
The attitude of the general population towards design(ers)	x	x