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Citizens, designers, volunteers, entrepreneurs, researchers, policy makers, health care workers, public servants: PROUD is all about the people. In the third edition of the PROUD co-design paper we give the floor to these people. They will be talking about

(EM)POWER(TO) THE PEOPLEIS

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their experiences with co-design, and how participating within co-design projects has given them new energy and new possibilities.Peter Zec and Mugendi M’Rithaa, keynote speakers at the PROUD Forum on the 8th of May in Essen, will through in-depth interviews

give us new insights in the changing role of the designer and the way how co-design can be used for societal change.Furthermore, this issue also presents new achievements of the PROUD project.

CAPE TOWN’S SOCIAL DESIGN ASPIRATIONS FOR ALL RESIDENTS

The themes are always current and have a significant impact on the lives of vast numbers of people the world over. I personally find the topics very stimulating, and believe that PROUD should have larger audiences in more parts of the world. You need to establish yourself more, in partnership with local design networks. As a professor, I would expose young designers to PROUD as an essential partner in their quest for academic and professional excel-lence. And I want to invite the PROUD forum to initiate desirable co-design activities with us here in Africa.”

No Godsigner ComplexInevitably, co-design leads to a humbler role for designers. To Mugendi, educating the designers of the future, this is no problem at all. “We do not subscribe to the so-called Godsigner Complex where the designer is assumed to be the exclusive ‘expert’ on all design considerations. The vast majority of the design schools in Africa appreciate the need to engage communities in their peda-gogic and didactic agendas. The designers that leave the schools are thus socially aware and responsible. They practice a benevolent form of design activism; helping constructively effects societal changes that are sustainable, inclusive and show empathy for citizens.”

This interview is a summary. Read the complete interview with Mugendi K. M’Rithaa on the PROUD website via the QR code.

PROUD FORUM: DESIGN FOR SOCIETAL CHALLENGES

“Inevitably, co-design leads

to a humbler role for designers”

MUGENDI K. M’RITHAA

CAPE TOWN - Celebrating twenty years of democracy, elections and being World Design Capital (WDC) 2014: Cape Town has it all this year. Mugendi K. M’Rithaa, as a professor at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, is at the centre of these events. He can see the role of designers in societal changes grow before his eyes. ‘This really unlocks a great creative potential in the city, I’m very excited at the opportunities that WDC presents to our design community!’

The professor in participatory design, sustainable design and universal design, talks enthusiastically about co-design. This methodology is strong in Cape Town.

“It is a global phenomenon that I appreciate for its quest to include end-users as active co-creators and co-producers and not merely as passive consumers. It is very important because of its social impact. It values the principle of active citizenship. Especially in Africa, with its history of exclusion, co-design initiatives play a very important role.”

Co-design appeals to Ubuntu In fact, co-design appeals to the African concept of Ubuntu, Mugendi says. Having Ubuntu means being generous, hospitable, friendly, caring and compassionate. In short, being a good human being amongst others.

“Ultimately, this leads to more socially con-scious design solutions. Notwithstanding, it is critical that Ubuntu is seen to be active and participative in its orientation – ‘I participate therefore I am’.” Mugendi would very much like to see an increase in the footprint and presence of an organisation like PROUD in Africa. “You play an important role in engaging our design community in constructive dialogue.

PROUD | Visions: Interview with Mugendi MʼRit...http://www.proudeurope.eu/list.php?itemID=d2982...

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2 (EM) POWER (TO) THE PEOPLE

THE NEWEST CHAIR COMES WITH WHEELS

8 may 2014 in Essen (GE), presents these new tools and methods and assesses their potential in terms of their productive and social value.

Prof. Dr. Peter Zec (initiator and CEO of Red Dot, Icsid Senator) and Prof. Dr.Mugendi K. M’Rithaa (Icsid President-Elect, Professor of Industrial Design, Cape Peninsula University of Technology), both keynote speakers at this forum, will give insights in the trends and developments within these issues.

How does design as a discipline react to social change today? What methods and tools does it use in an effort to respond to –or even influence – this realignment of social and economic realities? How do we convey design values in a society where the word ‘design’ is applied to almost everything?

Terms like ‘design thinking’, ‘fablabs’ or ‘co-design’ are an expression of a new direction in the production processes – and also the thought processes – used in design. The PROUD Forum,

“In Germany as well as in the Nordic countries

the design community has

been driven by social aspects

for more than 150 years.”

PETER ZEC

The population is aging and there is high cost pressure in the social environment. This leads to a higher personal responsibility and creates more awareness of the quality of products. One can note that especially in the field of medical devices. Consumers – I preferably refer to them as users – today have high demands and ask for better solutions. They use their influence on companies to provide them with new impulses for the improvement of products. So, in the medical area for instance, this process starts the moment the user has to pay half of his wheelchair.”

PROUD creates awarenessDesigners now are very much aware of the responsibility that they have in this process, says Zec. “I know many of them, also the younger ones. This generation is dedicated to making designs for a better quality of life. Institutions such as PROUD help them build this consciousness. This is a very important role of PROUD, to create a broad awareness. The case studies that PROUD has done so far, are excellent examples of making the awareness deeper and better.”

This interview is a summary. Read the complete interview with Professor Dr Peter Zec on the PROUD website via the QR code.

More information:www.red-dot.de/proudforum

ESSEN - Societies in transition provide challenges for designers. Professor Dr Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot and keynote speaker at the PROUD Forum in Essen, thinks that the huge changes in Europe are the best thing that can happen to their profession. “When there’s no budget anymore and nothing is for granted, you start thinking.” Zec is in a position to assess the changes. Having worked as a design consultant for international companies for more than 20 years, with his experience, he is able to outline the developments in the field.

According to Zec, social design has always played an important role – especially in Germany and in Northwestern Europe:

“In Germany as well as in the Nordic countries the design community has been driven by social aspects for more than 150 years. Besides their artistic and aesthetic approaches, creative movements like the Ulm School of Design founded by Otl Aicher and the Bauhaus always had a social implication on their agenda. The Bauhaus, for example, used everything that the industrial age had to offer in an experimental way. The technology paired with the creative imagination became the driving force for the creation of mass products which contributed to a better quality of life.”

Today, we are still rich but also suffering. “While it was all about equipping households with everyday items at the beginning of the 20th century, we now live in a saturated society which is facing new problems.

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PROUD | Visions: Interview with Prof. Dr. Peter...http://www.proudeurope.eu/list.php?itemID=29f3a...

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DIDIER GALETENTREPRENEUR

“After the challenge, I integrated two key elements

of the co-design method into my own professional

approach: putting the end-user at the centre of

the project and collaborate with the end-user during

the process.”

Associate at INFOGGARA, specialists in development

of rural regionsInvolved in: Co-design challenge

APCI (FR)

ROB DENISSENENTREPRENEUR

“What I learned during the FARM:LAB is that

designers look at a problem, put it aside and then look

at it again in a totally different way to approach

the given problem. Doing this together really

opened my eyes!”

Dairy farmer at Heukelom (NL) Involved in: Co-design workshop

FARM:LABS (NL)

YONI LEFÉVREDESIGNER

“Through the PROUD co-design cafe I came

in contact with a woman who, after having seen my co-design project,

was interested in working with me.”

Designer, studio Yoni LefévreInvolved in: Co-design café (NL)


PROUD PEOPLE WORKING ON CO-DESIGN CHALLENGES, EVENTS, MASTER CLASSES, AND SO ON, ALONG THE WAY WE MET MANY PEOPLE.

THIS IS WHAT SOME SAY ABOUT PROUD AND CO-DESIGN

MARIANNE DE MEYEREPOLICY OFFICER

“Working bottom-up on the challenge resulted in a large number of surprising ideas and proposals, which can

boost Buda island.”

Policy officer, City Council of Kortrijk Involved in: ‘Oh my Buda’, Kortrijk’s

co-design challenge (BE)

FREDERIK VLAMINCKNON PROFIT

“Working together on the ‘Oh my Buda’ challenge

opened new doors for us and all our partners, and this

can only enrich us.”

Head of the animation team, health care group H. Hart

Involved in: ‘Oh my Buda’, Kortrijk’s co-design challenge(BE)

WINA SMEENKDESIGNER

“Co-design is a great way to find appropriate

strategies and innovations (for business, institutions and/or governance) with people who are involved in the situation/context

at stake.”

Designer at WiENS Ontwerperschap (NL)

Involved in: Lecturer master class Co-Design for Empathy (NL)

BERNARD CORBINEAUNON PROFIT

“In the process, local professionals gained a new perception of their territory, which in the near

future, could introduce new ways of designing the promotion and supply of

tourist services.”

President of Brie’Nov Living Lab Involved in: Co-design challenge

APCI (FR)

ANONYMOUSVOLUNTEER

“Some local residents who took part said ‘Oh I’m not

very imaginative’ or ‘I haven’t got any ideas’. But the way

activities were designed encouraged the public to take part and inspired people to come up with new ideas.”

Volunteer Involved in: Beyond the castle, Lancaster’s co-design challenge

(UK)

ANONYMOUSCO- DESIGNER

“We’re really spoiled to have this much involvement in the

future of Lancaster!”

Designer Involved in: Beyond the Castle, Lancaster’s co-design challenge

(UK)

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WORKING ON CO-DESIGN CHALLENGES, EVENTS, MASTER CLASSES, AND SO ON, ALONG THE WAY WE MET MANY PEOPLE.

THIS IS WHAT SOME SAY ABOUT PROUD AND CO-DESIGN

HELEN RYANPOLICY OFFICER

“Before, we’d have spoken to people and done a

questionnaire. Now we’d do an activity on site to draw people into the actual site.

What has changed for us is a whole new way

of trusting people.”

Public Realm officer Involved in: Beyond the castle, Lancaster’s co-design challenge

(UK)

MARIE-JOSÉ POELMANPOLICY OFFICER

“The collaboration in the co-design workshops with the

organisations that are actively involved in enhancing the NS Beukenlaan area as

well as other stakeholders brought new insights.”

Assistant Program Manager, City of Eindhoven (NL)

Involved in: Co-design challenge Capital D (NL)

MASAYO AVEDESIGNER

“Design is a discovery process as well as a profound

multi-sensory experience, which deals with forms, colors,

patterns, structures and its relationships that man

has discovered in his living environment.”

Designer & Pedagogue, MasayoAve Creation (GE)

Involved in: Co-design challenge DZNRW, Essen (GE)

will be a creative, supportive and collaborative learning experience, aimed at equipping and improving your co-design knowledge, skills and contacts. To find out more and sign up visit: www.imagination.lancs.ac.uk/FaceMooc

DESIGN INNOVATION HUBSHow to set up and sustain

FACEMOOC MASTER CLASS PROUD Academy goes virtual

creation, and with success. Learning from the different PROUD hub concepts, a hand-book was envisioned to guide other organiza-tions starting up a sustainable hub of their own. Students from Lancaster University researched business models of existing creative hubs in Europe.

The research will form the basis of the trans-national modular business plan. Designregion Kortijk is developing the business plan, which will be based on five main services of a hub: Space, Event, Research, Network and Making. Each service has a toolkit and guide-line to help hubs in adopting marketing and

FaceMooc is a 6-week online course for design professionals interested in developing and sharing expertise in co-design. The course is led by ImaginationLancaster, Lancaster Universities design research centre.

FaceMooc will connect 50 designers from across Europe and beyond in a collaborative learning process. The course will cover the

landscape, principles and methods of co- design, with the opportunity to develop your own co-design process with support from co-design experts. We’re looking for participants who are interested in design processes in which non-designers play a key role in the creative process. This could be within either private (e.g. companies) or public sectors (e.g. local government) sectors. Taking part in FaceMooc

communication strategy, a network plan and a revenue stream. However, as each hub has different internal and external environments, it is important to allocate services according to each hub’s current situation, in order to self-sustain in the long term.

The model is therefore very flexible, because hubs might focus on one service, or select two or three of them, in order to produce a new business plan. Combining the flexible modular business plan and these visualised guidelines will prove helpful for design innovation hubs to develop their strengths to achieve hubs’ sustainability.

Within PROUD, facilitating and supporting open design innovation with designers, organisations from different sectors and others is a big deal. In the last few years, partners have set up innovation hubs for co-designing, testing, sharing ideas and making rapid prototyping in order to make innovation and societal change happen.

The results vary from a fablab in Luxembourg, Kortrijk and Lancaster to a network and workshop space in Eindhoven and a Design Experience Lab in Essen. All of them inspiring places setting great store by knowledge exchange, network, collaboration and co-


MOVING MATERIALS – VIRTUAL EDITIONCollection digitally accessible

The design caravan of the Moving Materials exhibition has visited Essen, Eindhoven, Lan-caster, Kortrijk, and Luxemburg. Over the past two years, new materials, innovative product applications as well as explorations from the materials master classes, have been taken on board at each location.

After this physical journey, Material Sense

For the vibrant Dutch Design Week in October 2014, we will invite (co-)design experts, professionals or non-professionals to join us in a vivid and active PROUD programme aimed at sharing knowledge and experience about the effects of co-design.

To make the programme a great success and a source of inspiration for the people we invite (co-)designers, policy officers and other owners of a co-design project to send us their practice(s) of the project. All practices are good, as the learning is in the doing.

Follow the QR code for the details on how to describe your case, which will be assessed by a team of experts. We are looking forward to learning from you!

CALL FOR PROUD GOOD CO-DESIGNDutch Design Week 2014, Eindhoven (NL)

developed the format further; it will present the 3D animated digital version of Moving Materials. This virtual version, to be launched in May, will open up the knowledge generated throughout the project to a larger public. A selection of materials, products and film footage from the various categories can be explored: new manufacturing techniques like laser cut DIY shoes, strong but lightweight

blown up metals or examples of Sugru: the silicon that helps fixing and modifying your personal stuff and creating product affinity. Hear the sound curtain play music, and find locally produced flax products that support products for a sustainable society. The entire collection gathered during the jour-ney will be digitally accessible, ready to evolve further in the future. www.movingmaterials.eu

PROUD | Case studies overviewhttp://www.proudeurope.eu/casestudy_overview.php

http://kaywa.me/Jv8La


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TECHNOPORT®LuxembourgTechnoport helps and supports individuals and small teams to validate and bridge their ideas to success through three platforms: the technology-oriented business incubator, co-working, and the fab lab.

LUXINNOVATIONLuxembourg Luxinnovation acts as a facilitator for clients seeking Luxembourg national or European funding, planning to launch an innovative activity, looking for technological expertise or aiming to upgrade their innovation management activities. www.luxinnovation.lu

APCIFranceAPCI, in collaboration with its members and its partners, develops tools and group actions that provoke the economic, social and cultural aspects of French design in France and abroad.www.apci.asso.fr

DESIGN ZENTRUM NORDRHEIN WESTFALEN (DZNRW) Germany As a leading European institution in the field of design promotion, the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen has acted as an intermediary between industry, business and designers since 1954. http://en.red-dot.org

THE MUNICIPALITY OF EINDHOVEN The NetherlandsIn the Netherlands, the Municipality of Eindhoven is the leading city in technology, design and innovation. www.eindhoven.nl

CAPITAL DThe Netherlands Capital D, the Design Cooperation of the Brainport region Eindhoven (NL), stimulates and connects creative initiatives with the aim of strengthening the region’s (inter)national reputation in the field of top technology and top design. www.capitald.nl

MATERIAL SENSEThe NetherlandsMaterial Sense is an independent organisation for materials innovation, linking designers, researchers and cutting-edge companies in an active network. ‘Moving Materials’, the exhbition which is part of PROUD, is initiated and designed by Material Sense. www.materialsense.com

AGB BUDABelgiumBuda stimulates connections at the interface between economics, design, arts, education, science and technology. www.buda-eiland.be

PROUD stands for People Researchers Organisations Using Design for innovation and co-creation

PROUD brings designers together with public organisations, businesses and user communities to experience the added value of design thinking and design, while working on innovative solutions for today’s real world problems.

PROUD helps and supports designers to have the right facilities, knowledge and expertise to play this key role in innovating, improving and consolidating people’s lives, businesses and public services across Europe.

PROUD is about transnational development of methods for co-designing services, products and processes that address unmet needs.

PROUD is a European project under INTERREG IVB NWE programme, developed by nine partners in strong design regions and cities: Eindhoven (Municipality of Eindhoven), Kortrijk (Designregio Kortrijk), Paris (APCI), Essen (DZNRW), Helsinki (Culminatum Innovation), Lancaster (ImaginationLancaster) and Luxembourg (Luxinnovation, Technoport). Lead partner in the project is Capital D (Eindhoven). Subpartners in the project are Material Sense (Eindhoven) and AGB Buda (Kortrijk). More information: www.proudeurope.eu.

IMAGINATIONLANCASTER United KingdomImaginationLancaster is an open and exploratory design-led research lab of Lancaster University, which conducts applied and theoretical research into people, products, places and their interactions.www.imagination.lancaster.ac.uk

DESIGNREGIO KORTRIJKBelgiumDesignregio Kortrijk is a joint venture between Interieur Foundation, the City of Kortrijk, Howest, the Intercommunale Leiedal and Voka (West- Flanders Chamber of commerce). Our joint mission is to explicitly market the Kortrijk region that regards design as a lever for development.www.designregio-kortrijk.be

Copywriting: All PROUD partners Interviews: Debbie LangelaanTranslation: Julienne Peeters-Huybrechts Graphic design: De Designpolitie Printing: Drukkerij Lecturis Contact: Capital D, [email protected] Made possible by: INTERREG IVB NWE programme | European Union | ImaginationLancaster | Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen | Designregio Kortrijk | LuxIn-novation | Technoport® | City of Eindhoven | APCI | Material Sense | Capital D |De Designpolitie | Drukkerij Lecturis | Thanks to the European INTERREG IVB NWE programme PROUD can work transnationally on bringing designers together with public organisations, businesses and user communities to experience the added value of design thinking and design, while working on innovative solutions for today’s real world problems.

Be PROUD to be part of it and follow PROUD on: www.facebook.com / PROUDeurope www.proudeurope.eu

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