In the 1970s, Dieter Rams had already recognized the profound connection between sustainability and design within his “good design” principles. Today, our world is driven by the relentless and unstoppable progression of digital innovation, that has been particularly pushed forward by the pandemic. As designers, we are not only called upon to analyze this advancement in the light of sustainability but also to reconsider the very concept of sustainability. This thesis examines the journey that digital designers must undertake to achieve outcomes that reflect not only environmental, social, and economic sustainability but also the nuanced meanings that arise from the intersection of these three lenses. If disciplines such as product design or architecture have already made a steo forward, digital design has been left behind due to the perceived immateriality of whatever is digital. However, this is far from reality. Digital is also physical, and has an impact on all of us, on our context and on our planet. This narration shift also requires a reconsideration of the existing design approaches: humans can no longer be placed at the center of everything but must be seen as vitally connected to the context in which they live, act and interact. Moving beyond user-centered design and human-centered design approaches, we can shift the focus to a holistic perspective that considers all humans, all “non-human” entities and the environment as the three fundamental pillars. Thus, life-centered design emerges as an intersectional approach that does not reject previous methods but expands upon them, adding new layers of complexity. Following in-depth research that forms the foundation of this new approach through the seven life-centered pillars, the Life-Centered Design toolkit is created and introduced. It represents an exploratory research tool aimed at guiding designers in creating intersectionally sustainable products, services, and digital systems. The toolkit includes tools such as maps and canvases that serve as a continuation of the existing and already in use tools. Just as the new Life-Centered approach is a natural extension of the User-Centered and Human-Centered ones, the tools represent an evolution of the old ones, driven by those new layers of social and environmental complexity. To advance the theoretical research, the concept of the Life-Centered Design toolkit has been tested through focus groups run with both student and professional designers. The goal of the test was to explore the perception around intersectional design and around the need for new tools to support the design process in reaching new, intersectional outcomes. Thanks to the insights obtained from concept testing, the thesis has achieved its goal of initiating a narrative shift in the realm of sustainable digital design.
Negli anni ‘70, Dieter Rams aveva già riconosciuto il profondo legame tra sostenibilità e design all’interno dei suoi principi del “buon design”. Oggi, il nostro mondo è guidato dalla progressione incessante e inarrestabile dell’innovazione digitale, particolarmente accelerata dalla pandemia. Come designer, siamo chiamati non solo ad analizzare questo progresso alla luce della sostenibilità, ma anche a riconsiderare il concetto stesso di sostenibilità. Questa tesi esamina il percorso che i designer digitali devono intraprendere per ottenere risultati che riflettano non solo la sostenibilità ambientale, sociale ed economica, ma anche i significati sfumati che emergono dall’intersezione di queste tre prospettive. Mentre discipline come il design del prodotto o l’architettura hanno già compiuto passi avanti, il design digitale è rimasto indietro a causa della percezione di immaterialità rispetto a tutto ciò che è digitale. Tuttavia, questa percezione è ben lontana dalla realtà. Il digitale è anch’esso fisico e ha un impatto su di noi, sul nostro contesto e sul nostro pianeta. Questo cambio di narrazione richiede anche una rivalutazione degli approcci di progettazione esistenti: gli esseri umani non possono più essere collocati al centro di tutto ma devono essere visti come vitalmente connessi al contesto in cui vivono, agiscono e interagiscono. Superando gli approcci di progettazione user-centered e human-centered, possiamo spostare il focus verso una prospettiva olistica che consideri tutti gli esseri umani, tutte le entità “non umane” e l’ambiente come i tre pilastri fondamentali. Così, il Life-Centered Design emerge come un approccio intersezionale che non rinnega i metodi precedenti, ma li amplia aggiungendo nuovi livelli di complessità. A seguito di una approfondita ricerca che costituisce la base di questo nuovo approccio attraverso i sette pilastri Life-Centered, viene creato e presentato il “Life-Centered Design toolkit”. Esso rappresenta uno strumento di ricerca esplorativa mirato a guidare i designer nella creazione di prodotti, servizi e sistemi digitali intersezionalmente sostenibili. Il toolkit include strumenti che fungono da continuazione degli strumenti già in uso. Proprio come il nuovo approccio è un’estensione naturale dei precedenti, così gli strumenti rappresentano un’evoluzione guidata dai nuovi strati di complessità sociale e ambientale. Come avanzamento della ricerca teorica, il concept del toolkit è stato testato attraverso dei focus group con studenti e professionisti del design. L’obiettivo dei test è indagare la percezione sul design intersezionale e sulle necessità di nuovi strumenti che supportino il processo di progettazione, al fine di raggiungere nuovi risultati di sostenibilità. Grazie agli approfondimenti ottenuti dal concept testing, la tesi ha raggiunto il suo obiettivo di avviare un cambio di narrazione nel campo del design digitale sostenibile.
Towards Intersectional Sustainability: a narrative shift to advance the state of the art in digital design methodology
Bianchini, Letizia
2022/2023
Abstract
In the 1970s, Dieter Rams had already recognized the profound connection between sustainability and design within his “good design” principles. Today, our world is driven by the relentless and unstoppable progression of digital innovation, that has been particularly pushed forward by the pandemic. As designers, we are not only called upon to analyze this advancement in the light of sustainability but also to reconsider the very concept of sustainability. This thesis examines the journey that digital designers must undertake to achieve outcomes that reflect not only environmental, social, and economic sustainability but also the nuanced meanings that arise from the intersection of these three lenses. If disciplines such as product design or architecture have already made a steo forward, digital design has been left behind due to the perceived immateriality of whatever is digital. However, this is far from reality. Digital is also physical, and has an impact on all of us, on our context and on our planet. This narration shift also requires a reconsideration of the existing design approaches: humans can no longer be placed at the center of everything but must be seen as vitally connected to the context in which they live, act and interact. Moving beyond user-centered design and human-centered design approaches, we can shift the focus to a holistic perspective that considers all humans, all “non-human” entities and the environment as the three fundamental pillars. Thus, life-centered design emerges as an intersectional approach that does not reject previous methods but expands upon them, adding new layers of complexity. Following in-depth research that forms the foundation of this new approach through the seven life-centered pillars, the Life-Centered Design toolkit is created and introduced. It represents an exploratory research tool aimed at guiding designers in creating intersectionally sustainable products, services, and digital systems. The toolkit includes tools such as maps and canvases that serve as a continuation of the existing and already in use tools. Just as the new Life-Centered approach is a natural extension of the User-Centered and Human-Centered ones, the tools represent an evolution of the old ones, driven by those new layers of social and environmental complexity. To advance the theoretical research, the concept of the Life-Centered Design toolkit has been tested through focus groups run with both student and professional designers. The goal of the test was to explore the perception around intersectional design and around the need for new tools to support the design process in reaching new, intersectional outcomes. Thanks to the insights obtained from concept testing, the thesis has achieved its goal of initiating a narrative shift in the realm of sustainable digital design.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
2023_12_Bianchini.pdf
accessibile in internet solo dagli utenti autorizzati
Dimensione
16.62 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
16.62 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/215073