Building Society Through Social Design

This chapter describes and explains social design and social innovation through design. It discusses how social economy organizations could further integrate design into their innovations. The chapter provides illustrations from the health sector, particularly those relating to the elderly. Four social designer profiles emerge from the literature, depending on the social need and the design skills to be activated. Social innovation is promoted in the social economy sector. The chapter focuses on envisioning a “society-building” approach through social design demand and envisioning a “society-building” approach through social design offerings. According to an approach that emphasizes the importance of design within social economy organizations that integrate social innovation, the economy should be thought of as a human interaction. There are several new organizational forms including organizational structure with an autonomous design function, organizational structure with systemic and situated design function, and organizational structure with a technological design function.