2020 Steps Forward

Design means different things to different practitioners. Although we all aim to look at a better quality of life and bring value, accelerate development and foster nation-building, the actual implementation in education, business, crafts or management require us to address diverse agenda. As a collective, some of the important common concerns that came to the fore were - how DesignFirst should be a mission or movement rather than policy. Gaps needed to close between design and government, so finding ways for designers to work with the Government is imperative. Here are some focus points:

Measurability
Design has not been measured for its impact in India, making it hard to convince new stakeholders what it can do, or the need to integrate it in policy. Finding ways of measuring the impact of design is vital. The results of design-led initiatives should be measurable and relate them to jobs, livelihoods, income/earnings, and better quality of life.

Democracy
The Preamble as a perfect design policy and a democratic approach to design was stated many times - The need for opening up design to everyone, instead of designers wanting to own it. Design belongs to the world.

Community
To find ways for the community to get educated about the merits of design and take forward DesignFirst and What Design Can Do by creating awareness about the wide range of problems that can be addressed using design as a tool.

Platform
A platform needs to be activated through which the Government can engage with creative practitioners. A department that can interface with any creative and creative intelligence service provisions is one need. Then, there is the idea of DesignFirst Labs for education, hubs for citizens and departments for business. This would be done with an aim to embed design in the school system, design policy as part of governance, design for civil society’s everyday needs and so on.

Nation Branding
The need for IP and building competitiveness brought up by architect Madhav Raman of Anagram Architects is imperative for professionals in the sector, and will ultimately shape nation-building and will take the branding of India forward.

Identifying a core group
A core group with senior personnel who have considerable experience in working with public-policy-making needs to be identified. This group will take forward DesignFirst with NITI Aayog with the think tank of our Design Forum contributing ideas, information and directions.

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Core Team: Anthony Lopez, Nishita Karun, Sukanya Panda, Sujatha Shankar Kumar

Editor: Sujatha Shankar Kumar

Supported By: Ajay Sharma, Zeena Lopez, Namita Jain, Saksham Bansal, Vinod Anthony Thomas, Siddharth Kothiyal, Mohan Godwal, Nicholas Pegu, Manasa Krishnan, Anwesha Mukherjee, Vijay Soreng, Gaurav Kapoor, Deepak Lohia

Supported By: Ajay Sharma, Zeena Lopez, Namita Jain, Saksham Bansal, Vinod Anthony Thomas, Siddharth Kothiyal, Mohan Godwal, Nicholas Pegu, Manasa Krishnan, Anwesha Mukherjee, Vijay Soreng, Gaurav Kapoor, Deepak Lohia