Counter-Framing Design critiques the ways in which framing is conceptualised within the design field.
We interrogate dominant frames within the sustainability field in order to develop alternative approaches for co-sustainment and social change. We collaborate with grassroots groups engaged in ‘new economics’: innovative community-led approaches to sustaining livelihoods, which prioritize human and planetary well-being. We see sustainability as an intersecting set of issues concerning multiple communities, including marginalized groups. Counter-Framing Design builds on the emerging field of design anthropology, deploying methods across an extended time-horizon, including ethnographic field research, critical discourse analysis, visual mapping and interventions through culturally embedded design artefacts, to uncover the relationship between socio-political framing and strategic action in the sustainability field. By foregrounding counter-frames, the project aims to go beyond institutionalized forms of sustainable design and to support researchers and practitioners to achieve design solutions to implement radical change for shaping sustainable futures.
More information available on the the Counter-Framing Design website.
Design Dissonance 