Design Without Boundaries

Pluralistic approach in the age of collaborative design

"Design Thinking" is a multidimensional activity. For Design to succeed as a business tool, we need a 360 degree approach to collaboration between experts of various kinds. The boundaries are thinning.  

In today’s highly competitive and technologically advanced world there is no one answer in design. As we deal with the increasing complexity of markets, segments and people, it is becoming clear that " Design Thinking" is a multidimensional activity. For Design to succeed as a business tool, we need a 360• approach to collaboration between experts of various kinds. The boundaries are thinning.  An automotive designer needs to collaborate with a fashion or a textile designer before a car becomes comfortable. Where does User interaction design begin and where does Industrial Design end ? Hard products are getting sublime and visual design is getting redefined in spaces. We are looking at an age of ‘diversified’ co-creation between various facets of design, technology and applications.

Design is no more an exclusive activity occurring in “silos” rather a collaborative approach.  “Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature—by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus.

As we deal with the increasing complexity, it is becoming clear that design needs to be a collaborative activity  in a “Pluralistic” sense when it seeks answers for complex problems where no one person has all the answers. The process of design by collaboration needs to be led through design vision & leadership as well as managed well – there has to be a clear focus to a goal, balanced with an openness to a dialogue that involves different viewpoints.

Traditional boundaries and definitions of what constitutes a design team are no longer applicable. At a simple level, design by collaboration happens between different functions within an organization to develop a new service or a product that has a demand and can be made well consistently. At a more complex level, design by collaboration can involve expertise across the globe, users as people using a combination of physical and virtual connectedness.

Are there any boundaries to design effort ? How are people and businesses dealing with complex social, economic, political and technology challenges ?

ADI, Pune Design Festival 2012 is just the platform to evaluate the “Dilution of boundaries in design ” in a collaborative & pluralistic scenario. We at the Association of Designers of India would like to bring together Thinkers & Doers and take a hard look at the new “Collaborative Avatar” of design .

The 6th Pune Design Festival 2012 will definitely give you insight in various diverse forms of ‘designs’ which will help you to create value to your field of work. You will be able to interact, discuss & debate with design thinkers, practitioners and design supporters, to discuss and evolve emerging aspects of design.

The festival will engage a wider audience and citizens into design through various

seminars, workshops, events, symposiums, competitions and networking events for different stakeholders.

We would like to invite you to participate in the festival – which has

been the pinnacle for design learning, exchange of ideas and the most powerful

networking platform for industry professionals, design houses, design institutes, policy makers, media, design students and the design user industry.