‘Make us more useful to society!’ –The Scandinavian Design Students’ Organization (SDO) and Socially Responsible Design, 1967-1973 Ida Kamilla Lie, PhD Candidate in Design History, Department of Philosophy, Classics, History of Art and Ideas, University of Oslo
[email protected] Author Bio: Ida Kamilla Lie is a PhD candidate in design history at the University of Oslo, on the project Back to the Sustainable Future: Visions of Sustainability in the History of Design. Lie holds a Master of Arts degree in Art History from the University of Oslo. Abstract: The article explores the brief, but ardent history of the Scandinavian Design Students Organization (SDO) in the late 1960s. Dissatisfied with contemporary design practice and education, a group of students aimed to reposition design, both in its methods and purpose, bringing it more in line with what they perceived to be the urgent challenges of society. The article focuses on the three summer seminars organized by the SDO as well as the two published issues of the member’s magazine &, and places them in a broader history of social design, co-design and participatory design. The study also reveals the mutual influence between Nordic design students and Victor J. Papanek, and places this cooperation in a broader geographic context. Keywords: social design; participatory design; design activism: sustainability; design education; Victor Papanek; Scandinavian Design Students Organization (SDO) Introduction Design activism, social design, co-design, and participatory design are receiving an ever- increasing focus in today’s various design practices. The roots of these developments may be traced back to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when—intimately intertwined with the period’s counter culture and radical politics—the social and activist potential of design emerged in tandem with an interest in the involvement of users, experts, and other stakeholders in design decisions.