Social benefit oriented design approach: Example of social enterprise "Önemsiyoruz"

Social, economical and environmental alterations in the society resulted in the field of design to focus on "meaning" phenomenon in addition to form, function and utility. The use of design as a tool in obtaining solutions to multidimensional and complex issues brings out the discussion of design's contribution to social benefit practices. With the change of design's meaning; roles and duties of designers are also re-defined; the designers are invited to take responsibilities in the process of obtaining solutions for social and environmental problems. Well-established solutions to complex problems require different disciplines' involvement and contributions in the process of obtaining a joint solution for the design's constraints. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the theoretical and practical applications of "Bir Kucak Oyuncak" Project as an example of "social benefit oriented design". Bir Kucak Oyuncak Project, created and carried out by Onemsiyoruz, aimed to develop a play-kit contributing to the "social interaction need" and "to be counted as an individual need" of 0-6 aged children who live with their imprisoned mothers in Turkey. 8 professionals including industrial designers, textile and fashion designers, architects, graphic designers, marketing managers and mental health professionals participated in the process of designing the kit. With the collaboration of different disciplines in the process of design; gathering data, literature review for the association of data with the problems as well as field study were performed. The result of the study indicates the significant contribution of design in terms of developing solutions for unsatisfied needs of the society. It was found that in the practices of design that focus on resolving social problems; in addition to the professionals from different disciplines, the involvement of public institutions, private sector and non-governmental organizations are essential. Current study is considered to represent an example for future social benefit based design practices including professionals from different disciplines and public institutions.