Our workshops and programs used the Design to Improve Life Compass as a tool to guide people through the design to improve life process with the aim to learn how to work with design methodologies while working on a hands-on design to improve life solution. The aim was to transform education by embedding meaningful innovation capabilities.
Three projects are showcased here:
Education Seminar in Helsinki
A Happy Guangzhou by Design
Design to Improve Life Education Conference – 3 years activating the talents of schools.
Education Seminar in Helsinki
As part of the Design to Improve Life Cities program between INDEX: Design to Improve Life and World Design Capital Helsinki, this project introduced Design to Improve Life Education to 5 Finnish high schools from the Helsinki region. The seminar ran over three sessions: an introduction to teachers, a workshop with students and a final reflection and future strategy session with school stakeholders.
Partners: World Design Capital Helsinki, INDEX: Design to Improve Life
Education, process facilitation, innovation, design to improve life
Team: Sille Bjørn Askefro, Liza Chong, Rafael Canales
Helsinki, Finland
Teacher workshop: learning the methodologies and designing a project for their students.
Students workshop: design to improve life solutions at their schools.
Strategy workshop: how to scale innovation and entrepreneurship in education.
A Happy Guangzhou by Design
During a 4-day workshop, our team helped participants to address these challenges under the topic “How might a ‘Happy Guangzhou’ be created by design?”. The objective was to provide participants with knowledge, skills and learning on how design can improve lives for people while solving challenges in urban planning, infrastructure, public transportation, waste management, pollution and co-existence for the city of Guangzhou in China.
Over 60 participants ranging from business managers and civil engineers, to school teachers and industrial designers, developed different design to improve life solutions to these challenges and reflected on what the value of design is in improving lives for people.
The solutions and process outcomes were used as input for the Guangzhou Knowledge City project during an innovation lab with decision makers.
Partners: Guangzhou Knowledge City, INDEX: Design to Improve Life
Design methodologies, process facilitation, design to improve life, innovation strategy
Team: Sille Bjørn Askefro, Heidi Lyng, Mandy Lau, Rafael Canales
Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts – Guangzhou, China
Project plan overview
Over 60 people worked in design teams creating design to improve life solutions and learning about the process.
Conference 2013 – 3 years of activating the talents of school
The Design to Improve Life Education Conference 2013 was the closing event for the first cycle of the education project. The focus was to show the results of the program and to create a space to co-create the future of education.
We made the conference dynamic and interactive: with a showroom where students and teachers shared their experiences on the program, workshops to introduce newcomers to the didactics, facilitation and design principles behind the project and a final discussion-reflection fishbowl session.
The event was part of the INDEX: Award 2013 events and gathered over 100 leaders in innovation, education and design.
Client: European Regional Development Fund, Design to Improve Life Education
Education, social innovation, design to improve life
Project Partners: INDEX: Design to Improve Life, Go' Proces, University College UCC, Malmö Högskola
Design Society – Copenhagen, Denmark
