Design Labels: The Words that Divide & Unite Us

As designers, how do we explain what we do?
There's a wide range of design labels to choose from. For example Service design, user centered design or social design.
But are these labels really so distinct?
Are these designers doing something different?
Or are these designers really doing the same thing?
We tried to collect all existing design labels... But we stopped counting at 177. There are a lot of labels out there.
And it makes sense. Labels are a way for us as designers to indicate what we do, how we do it and what we value.
We looked through this collection of design labels and sorted them into 5 different groups:
Labels can refer to inputs that influence the design, the output of the design, the criteria we aim for, the methods we use, or even to the setting where it all happens.
Each of these five clusters stands for one aspect of the designer's practice.
Let’s say you are in the business of designing chairs for hospitals which promote a healthy posture.
The setting might be hospital waiting rooms.
The criteria might include people sitting together, in a healthy posture.
The output might be chairs.
The input might comprise physical resources like wood, fabrics and metal.
And the methods used might be participatory techniques for specific user groups.
Each of these elements can be the start, or the heart of your story.
And some of them could change during the process, such as when recycled materials must be used.
The existing design labels just emphasize one aspect of our practise.
So when you explain what you do as a designer, don’t just wave a single flag.
Tell the whole tale. Check out our research on design labels.
...and craft your own story!
tudelft.nl/ide/designlabels