A DESIGN APPROACH TO SOCIAL REFORM

By prof. anil gupta in an exclusive for india art n design ezine, prof. anil gupta discusses this essential topic that lies at the root of all design work. He is the guest editor of our design impact special edition beginning today. Will designers collaborate with grassroots innovators in the event that we need to utilize design for social change? Prof. Anil Gupta is well-known for the vast quantity of work he has done with grassroots innovators through the National Innovation Foundation and the Honey Bee Network. As a result, he has observed, evaluated, and assisted in the implementation of a number of innovative ideas that have contributed to societal change. His shodhyatra, an activity in which he goes on foot into the interiors of India seeking for design talent at the grassroots level, is a great example of his commitment to “design for society” and serves as a good representation of it. Initiating the “design impact week” at india art n design, professor Anil Gupta encourages designers, so-called intellectuals, and creatives in society to become aware of the social importance of design and physically “do something about augur.” as well as providing us with the platform, which is the honey bee network. over to the professor: After collecting 180,000 suggestions, innovations, and traditional knowledge practices (of course, not all of them are original) from over 550 districts across the nation, we ought to have tens of thousands of ideas that are successfully spreading among people who are in need of these solutions by this point ( see www.nifindia.org). It’s possible that there are just thousands of real items that have been released into the market (excluding exchanges in small neighborhoods). If we add additional about 200 thousand projects that were done by students studying technology or engineering (see www.techepdia.in, which is an initiative of www.sristi.org), then the line of ideas that are ready to be pushed further gets even longer. Even if we assume that just five to ten percent of these are worthwhile for designers to look at (at least the ones that have been rewarded; see techepdia.in/award), there is still a long path that designers and grassroots innovators need to traverse together hand in hand. group of attorneys specializing in the area of intellectual property protection have worked with us on a pro gratis basis in order to enable us to submit more than 660 patents, the bulk of which have been filed in the previous four years. Why isn’t it possible for the designer community to collaborate with honey bee network? It is important for designers to interact with society in order to influence social imagination, its execution through economical, aesthetically functional, and elegant rendering, and to broaden the community of users, who can then fertilize the designers’ repertoire. Designers should also do this in order to broaden their audience. I can state from my experience that one can never honestly teach without also being a student. It is not appropriate for designers to see this participation as an act of altruism. Instead, they should look at it as a chance for both of them to learn something new. Elegance, quality, equity, and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive and may, in fact, be combined with entrepreneurship, empathy, and education. I have stated without a shadow of a doubt that the designers in our eco-system of innovation are the most vulnerable link. They have the potential to significantly boost the efficiency of a product or service’s last leg of its journey. However, if they become engaged right from the start, they will be able to make the whole supply chain more efficient and cost-effective. However, in order to participate in the design industry successfully, they will need to become familiar with new phrases such as design angels, design venture capitalists, design partners, and design donors. They have the option of charging their full cost if the product is sold on the market, charging at concessional conditions, or working as students at the Community Innovation Academy. In the second scenario, what they are contributing is essentially the tuition for sitting at the feet of thrifty, transgressive, and empathic innovators at the grassroots level. If designers effectively collaborate with grassroots innovators, societal transformation and influence will increase by a factor of many more than before. Take a look at these three instances from Arku Valley, Mizoram, and Meghalaya of how waste heat from cooking stoves is being harnessed and used to save energy. In Meghalaya, there are four shelves that are used for curing wood rods that are used for trolleys, drying firewood in Chiraponji, preserving cheese or other food products, and fumigating a seed bag on the top shelf. Shouldn’t the layout of the kitchens we have in our urban homes evolve over time? Sheikh Jahangir, originally from Jalgaon, is credited with making Three Idiots popular thanks to his invention of a scooter-mounted wheat grinding mill and washing machine, in addition to numerous other innovations. However, the items have not yet been released to the public. Will you continue to position impoverished people at the bottom of the pyramid, despite the fact that it is an economic pyramid, or will you recognize their potential at the top of the ethical and innovation pyramids as well? Children’s creativity is equal to that of adults. Occasionally they are able to overcome our frustration with inefficiency more quickly, and sometimes they are able to overcome inertia even more quickly. Consider the issue of sitting in front of a television or computer with poor posture; who among us does not suffer from occasional lower back discomfort or another issue of a similar kind as a direct result of this? Did we accomplish anything other making the salaries of physicians higher? An innovation exhibition was held at rashtrapati bhavan from march 7-13, 2014, and was organized by the national innovation foundation along with other sister institutions of the honey bee network. The ideas that kulsoom and tarun came up with were outstanding, and they were very well received by attendees at the event. Either a sensor monitors your sitting position and turns off the television, or if you do not sit correctly, the television will not turn back on (patent applied). or by pressing buttons on the rear, which will guarantee that your posture is corrected (p a). Although we were all aware of the issue, none of us took any action to address it. However, our children did not want to be patient in the face of lethargy, and there is where the optimism for the future lies. Will there continue to be a divide between the designer community and the honey bee network? Please visit inditerrain.indiaartndesign.com in order to see the photographs.