Aims & Objectives

The Social Design specialism attempts to expand the scope of design beyond the current commercialized and compartmentalized professional practices by orienting towards the “social dimension of design”, with an emphasis on civic participation, social engagement and collaborative design practices. Dedicated to the promotion of social and cultural sustainability, the programme focuses on the realisation of social innovations and civic goals through the framework of design thinking and solution prototyping. The programme aims to: 

- Augment students’ (empathic) understanding of social needs/changes from real-life perspectives. 

- Introduce students to methods for social observation, ethnographic design research and co-designing practices. 

- Engage students with outside partners to address social issues and develop design resolutions. 

- Inaugurate designerly thinking into the professional practices of non-design disciplines. 

- Prototype and realise design solutions for sustainable and positive social change. 

Characteristics 

Is Social Design for you? 

If you are a committed and aspiring design learner with a humanitarian mindset, this specialism would suit you better. The programme aspires to breed a generation of well-rounded project coordinators, design collaborators and dynamic designers, who will become not only design practitioners, but consultants and change-makers in service of business and social needs.