[Book] LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation

LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation
Edited by Mariana Amatullo, with Bryan Boyer, Liz Danzico and Andrew Shea
Published by Designmatters at ArtCenter College of Design
July 2016, 360 pages

The professional landscape for design in social innovation has reached a critical moment. Designers are now acting as mediators, synthesizers and key contributors of social and environmental challenges at a strategic level. Organizations are recognizing that designers bring a unique set of abilities and methods for developing human-centered artifacts, services, environments and systems. Fueled in part by strong student demand, new graduate and undergraduate programs in social design are emerging across the nation. Graduates from these programs are entering the workforce with expanded skill sets and aspirations about their role(s) as creative individuals.

LEAP Dialogues: Career Pathways in Design for Social Innovation is a first-of-its-kind book that explores the new careers in the emergent field of design for social innovation with contributions from 84 leaders from across disciplines and sectors. These contributors encompass diverse points of view, stories and experiences about key issues, creating a multilayered picture of how this field is being shaped. The book’s distinctive framework, presented through a series of informal dialogues interposed with first-person essays, “day-in-the-life” entries and case studies, addresses the spectrum of challenges and opportunities for those building careers in design for social innovation, and for the organizations looking to support those careers. The unexpected pairings of perspectives in the dialogues push each other to uncover insights and ideas that are at times provocative, at times reflective, at times informative–but always engaging and accessible.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHY: Why Designers Practice in Social Innovation

• Introduction – Mariana Amatullo
• Pushing Boundaries: Overcoming Limitations in Social Design – Valerie Casey & Barry M. Katz
• Not An Option: Design as a Necessity – Tommy Lynn & Suzi Sosa
• It’s A Thing: Unpacking Social Design – María del Carmen Lamadrid & Cameron Tonkinwise
• Contrasting Approaches: Life vs. Numbers – Tracy Pilar Johnson & Denis Weil
• Design Driven Approaches: Time, Patience and Discipline – Robert Fabricant & Manuel Toscano
• Agents Of Scale – Bobby Chang & Christopher Fabian
• Social Demand: A New Economic Order – Charlie Cannon & Seth Goldenberg
• A Day in the Life of Mari Nakano
• A Day in the life of Matthew Manos

WHAT: What Designers Need to Practice in Social Innovation

• Introduction – Liz Danzico
• Separated At Birth? Entrepreneurs and Designers – Thomas Fisher & Kim Tanzer
• Making Models: R&D in the Social Sector – Renuka Kher & David Sherwin
• Participatory Methods: Democratic Action and Design – Manoj Fenelon & Eduardo Staszowski
• Method Essays
  • Visual Mapping – Danny Alexander
  • Co-Design – Sarah Brooks
  • Visualization – Landon Brown
  • Prototypes – Diagram Partners
  • Insights & Synthesis – Jon Kolko
  • Context Immersion – Liz Ogbu
• Unique Demands: The Right Tools for the Job – Anab Jain & Sarah Lidgus
• Opportunity: Supporting Careers in Social Impact Design – Jason Schupbach & Cynthia E. Smith
• Fellowships: Creating Career Opportunities – John Cary & Marika Shioiri-Clark
• Foundation Work: Entry Points, Barriers and Funding – Lee Davis & Tara Roth
• A Day in the Life of Ramsey Ford
• A Day in the Life of Dawn Hancock

HOW:How Designers Practice in Social Innovation

• Introduction – Bryan Boyer
• Scaling Ambition: Impact vs. Eradication – Rodrigo Canales & Tom De Blasis
• Institutional Culture – Barbara A. Barry & Lorna Ross
• Measuring Progress: Designers in Government – Dana Chisnell & Cyd Harrell
• Evolving Roles – Mollie Ruskin & Jessica Teal
• Durable Partnerships – Carol Coletta & Chelsea Mauldin
• Diving In: Nonprofits, NGOs and Design – Jeff Wishnie & Jocelyn Wyatt
• Impacting The Social – Stuart Candy & Candy Chang
• Taking The Leap – Cheryl Heller & Paul Polak
• A Day in the Life of Dan Formosa
• A Day in the Life of Jan Chipchase
• Case Studies
  • Introduction – Andrew Shea
  • Catapult
  • Center for Urban Pedagogy
  • D-Rev
  • frog
  • Greater Good Studio
  • IBM
  • IDEO.org
  • MASS Design Group
  • New Orleans iTeam
  • Proximity Designs

The Future Outlook of Design for Social Innovation

• Learn Before You Leap? Lessons from Design Educators – Allan Chochinov