Analysis of Social Design Projects Based on Krippendorff’s Four Pillars of HCD

Abstract

Design is recognized as a discipline capable of transmitting information through different types of artifacts (material or immaterial), in order to influence the emotions, behaviors and attitudes of the recipients and users. Aiming at efficient communication, the Human-Centered Design (HCD) approach incorporates methods of anthropology and participatory design, concerning itself with the way that the recipients see, interpret and live with the created artifacts. In view of this, this article seeks to describe and analyze two projects developed with design interventions, which sought to communicate and transmit knowledge about relevant social issues. The first is from the Passport to Employability program, which consists of a training course for inmates to assist them in their social reintegration through various activities as well as a toolkit. The second case is the Late Adoption project, which has as its main objective sensitizing society about adoptive affiliation, especially of groups considered difficult to place, such as children over five years old and adolescents, those who have a disability or groups of siblings. When analyzing the two projects from the perspective of HCD, similarities were perceived, such as the need to work in an interdisciplinary way and the importance of making complex information accessible to all stakeholders. In this sense, design can play an extremely significant role as an information mediator between different areas of knowledge and the users or audience of the developed artifact.