Designing Designers Through Inclusion. A Design Experience of Career Choice Orientation

Abstract

The issues of social inclusion and participation are also the basis of the design approaches for inclusion. Among them, Design for All, defined as the “design of diversity, equality and social inclusion” (EIDD_Stockholm Declaration, 2004), considers diversity between individuals as a resource rather than as a limit or constraint for the project, and the equality between individuals, communities and peoples as a strategic and indispensable argument for the sustainable development of contemporary society. The development of inclusive products represents a formidable opportunity for cultural and professional growth for young designers, as long as they are motivated by a specific ability to listen and to participate and consciously involve all the players in the value chain of the project. This contribution describes a design experience conducted by a heterogeneous group of young designers as part of an ideas contest. The goal was to develop products that had their greatest value in the ability to enhance both problematic environmental contexts and human diversity, in all its aspects of complexity (physical, cognitive, social and cultural).