24 May 2018 / Education and research

Design is the message

Design methods are the focus of Design School Kolding’s appearance at this year’s People’s Meeting in Allinge with thousands of badges and plenty of coffee
By Charlotte Melin

In both words and action Design School Kolding will focus on how design methods and processes can create results.

-Public authorities work with voluntary organisations and next of kin to an increasing degree in order to find better solutions. The design profession features a huge catalogue of methods that bring users’ knowledge into play, makes sure you ask the right questions and quickly reach workable prototypes and solutions, says Rector Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen.

With a team from Design School Kolding’s LAB for Social Design Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen invites in People’s Meeting attendees for a cup of coffee and a dialogue on how design thinking and design methods can make a difference and contribute to better welfare solutions.

Design School Kolding will be exhibiting some of our succesfully completed projects as inspiration for how to use design methods in a welfare context.

Design af relationer/Designing relations: Design School Kolding’s LAB for Social Design has developed methods to create unpaid relations between local volunteers and the inhabitants of the Skansebakken institution for the severely physically and mentally handicapped. The project won the KL Innovation Award.

Design af dialogværktøjer/Designing dialogue tools: BESLUTNINGSHJÆLPERTM is a revolutionary new dialogue tool developed with Lillebælt Hospital. BESLUTNINGSHJÆLPERTM enables the patient to work out the best course of treatment for their individual situation in close dialogue with their doctor.

Design af sikker medicinhåndtering/Designing safe medicine handling: Design School Kolding’s LAB for Social Design and a number of Aalborg nursing homes have developed this project on new and more secure methods to handle medication for elderly patients.

A new social media
We walk the walk AND talk the talk: at the People’s Meeting Design School Kolding will launch The Message – an unhackable social medium.

Our trust in Facebook and other social media are at rock bottom but we still want to communicate. That’s why Design School Kolding is introducing a new media – an analogue Facebook – where People’s Meeting participants can talk the talk with friends and strangers – entirely offline. A mobile workshop sets the scene in which to set your imagination and your inner opinion maker free and create your own badge. Just as on social media there must be an exchange of messages and therefore you swap your own message for one from the pile of messages.

Design School Kolding are bringing to the People’s Meeting hundreds of badges with messages created by students from the Accessory programme.

During the meeting’s four days Design School Kolding will receive guest messagers with widely differing key issues such as Kolding Mayor Jørn Pedersen, MPs Christine Antorine, Kristian Thulesen Dahl and Morten Østergaard as well as Danish Design Centre CEO Christian Basson.

Facts
The People’s Meeting: June 14 to June 17 in Allinge, Bornholm Design School Kolding are based at main stand J41.

For further info contact Charlotte Melin, Head of Communications, Tel +45 40865157