Concept and Practice of Design Intervention.

Abstract

The main objective of this article is to study the concept of design Intervention, which means to use design process to intervene and improve a problematic situation. The process of the intervention can be divided into three steps, the first step is to define the situation, the second step is to analyse the target group, and the third step is to apply participatory design.

To define the situation, which consists of place, actors, and social activities, designer can adopt anthropological participatory observation to specify design intervention brief. After that,
designer can apply stakeholder analysis to identify the target group and encourage them to participate in the design process.

This concept was tested in media design for Chiang Mai Design Week 2016. The project not only produced media for the festival, but also used the participatory design process to create the interaction between Thailand Creative and Design Center and design community in Chiang Mai for future collaboration.
Designers who are interested in design intervention must change the goal of design from controlling the outcome of the design to working together with the target group. Problem-solving and teamwork skills are also necessary to achieve this goal.