1. ABSTRACT
Social'Design:'Applications'of'Design'Methods'for'the'Public'Good'
Bachelor’s Thesis - G. Carlota Cubelos Pérez
Universidad*Complutense*de*Madrid*–*Facultad*de*Bellas*Artes*
Bachelor*in*Design*–*June*2015*
Tutor:'Eugenio'Bargueño'Gómez'
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Key Words:
Social Design, Social Support, Empathic Design, Environment Sustainable Design,
Human-centered Design
The bachelor’s thesis, which falls within the category of Social Design, intends to
emphasize the value of design, within any branch, mainly towards the Public Good. Its
intention is to reflect on the role of design and the designer in society, and focus the
creative efforts of the designer to generate proposals and solutions to the real problems
of the people in the world today.
Through a study of the main exponents of Social design throughout the 20th century
and especially during the last decade, such as Víctor Papanek, Alistair Fuad-Luke or
Kenton Lee; we can observe a growing trend in this type of projects where design is an
essential tool to help people. Therefore, it was decided to focus this project with the
intention of helping some of the most disadvantaged social groups, whether through
collaboration with other professionals, companies or craftsmen.
There are a total of six initiatives in this work from different branches of design, which
are aimed at improving the quality of life and the environment in which many people
live. These initiatives are: a support tool for people with Parkinson (Product Design), a
packaging system that collects for a food bank and thus be able to give food to people
who live on the street or go through a difficult economic situation (Packaging and
Service Design), poster font for the Organization of HomelessFonts (Graphic Design), a
set of illustrations for phonetic materials that serve as a tool for speech therapists
(Illustration), scenery for a zarzuela made with recycled materials (Set Design) and the
elaboration of a backpack completely made with reused t-shirts (Slow Fashion Design).
All these proposals were born with the same objective in common, which is improving
different aspects of society through learning and experimentation.
Thus we can see that the designer, thanks to tools they possess, can bring about a job
more engaged with people; thanks to the creativity and ingenuity, one could develop
effective solutions to real problems.
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