Rethink "Design"

When we talk about design, we think of beautiful things, careful layout, detailed package. But a real design is more than these. A product needs to be good looking, but design goes into every process from manufacturing to transporting, from on shelf to in hands of customers. Now more and more people think about “design thinking”, which gives us better products and better services. But what Alisa Tsao, a social designer, said on TEDxXiguan stage might be able to remind you that we have a lot of room for improvements even in the most mundane things around us, and even more importantly that you too, can participate.

Yahan Cao is a social designer from Taiwan. She is now leading a project to design a better world for the elderlies. Instead of thinking she’s the “know-it-all” she asks for help and participation from the community itself as she facilitate change to happen. Using design thinking to address social topics, Cao and her team is now working on a project in Guangzhou and in Xiguan in particular.