Industrial Design Students Design for Social Innovation: Case Study in a Taiwanese Village

Abstract

Over the past decade, numerous scholars have argued that industrial designers must also bear a social responsibility in addition to their responsibility to corporations to help create profits. In addition to collaborating with industry, design schools must strive to enhance design students’ social responsibility through cooperation with nonprofit organizations. Industrial design education was introduced in Taiwan in the 1960s, successfully assisting Taiwanese industries in transforming and upgrading from original equipment manufacturers to original design manufacturers, and subsequently to original brand manufacturers. This paper discloses the results achieved as industrial design students used their design expertise to assist in the successful transformation of rush-weaving handicrafts at Foothills Community in Yuanli town in Miaoli county, Taiwan. A ten-member industrial design graduate student team spent two months residing in the community. The students interviewed the local villagers, co-created a series of activities with them to help improve the landscape and environment of the community, and assisted the village to develop innovative and diverse rush-woven products that have won a world design contest award. This social innovation project enabled the participating design students to experience social responsibility. In addition, the gradually disappearing traditional handicraft skills of local elders combined with the innovative ideas of new generation young designers transformed traditional handicrafts into new cultural products.