Designers must consider unseen elements such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules

“Human-centered approaches to industrial and interaction design have long focused on studying human behavior to create informed and appropriate designs. A social interaction designer must consider not only people, environment, and existing tools, but also the unseen elements of the system such as social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural rules.” – Gentry Underwood

Read more in Gentry’s article “Social Software: The other ‘Design for Social Impact’.”

1. People challenge social and cultural boundaries in unexpected ways
2. Design is about cultural invention
3. Prototyping has given us the power to show and tell the story of our design solutions
4. Focus on the experience that the products you design engender
5. Understanding the specific activity we’re supporting is critical to good design