MacLeod, Myrna and Macdonald, Iain
(2018)
Learning from the locals: how can co-design support malaria education in a post-colonial environment?
Design for Health, 2 (1).
pp. 163-185.
ISSN 2473-5132
Abstract
Designing for social good framed within an ethical practice
has a long tradition informed by the democratic philosophy
of John Dewey, but more recently it has been acknowledged
that co-design can embody cultural respect and empathy
through an expressed purpose. Using the principles of co-design, a northern European university took a small group of
graphic design students to Mozambique to participate in a
practice-led research project with local youth groups. The
focus was on promoting malaria awareness and preventative
education in an area of Africa where the disease is endemic
despite large interventions from NGOs. This study examines
the iterative process of the co-design project and how it
responded to the challenges of a post-colonial environment
to deliver a method of communication that was valid and
participatory. When people engage in a co-design process,
they also engage in ethics, in a process with embedded
ethical, reflective and social qualities based on lived
knowledge. If design-based social change is going to be
effective and sustainable, it must be rooted in empowerment,
and not solely dependent on the designer. Applied through
this ethical and democratic approach, co-design could
provide an engaging new strategy to solve some of the
world’s greatest social problems.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Co-design; graphic design;
malaria education; semiotics;
post-colonialism; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Design Innovation |
| Item ID: |
16045 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1080/24735132.2018.1451676 |
| Depositing User: |
Iain Macdonald
|
| Date Deposited: |
01 Jun 2022 11:47 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Design for Health |
| Publisher: |
Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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