OUT OF MY MIND

As a designer working in a social field I am asked to work with communities or to develop projects within communities.

I have my ideas, my way of working on a project and I know what I want for them, regarding the general environment and living it I can sense what is important and the direction the project shall take. There is here a big danger :

We need to work with the community, lead them to the idea we have, and guide them towards a solution that suits them. If we have a solution it is not a good solution ! If the community finds the same solution and made the reflection process towards the exact same idea then it is a good solution, we often want to take shortcuts and make huge steps …. go faster …. go bigger and sometimes we forget to involve the most important people in the process.

It is more about the how we reach the goal than the goal itself. The same idea will have more impact if it was developed over one year with a community than if it was developed in 2 months by a designer. I am mostly referring here to the engagement of your local partners. I have seen so many community projects fail due to an implication of the designer taking a center position like a CEO of a company, trying to control and steer the project from a captain perspective. On the other hand, the project I have seen succeed where projects when you barely hear about the designer, project where the designer was more an adviser a mentor leaving the ultimate responsibility and realization to the people the project aim to have an impact on.

I have 4 key principles when I work with a community :

• Do take the role of a team member and not the role of the leader
• Suggesting path to follow and never solutions
• Show recognition and admiration to the achieved work
• Define your exit strategy to let the project live by itself

One of the most important part of such a social project is however to have a good time with the people you work with, having drinks in a bar, dinners together. Being considered as one of them and being part of the community, what will give you more grip and understanding on the group and being able to steer the project with suggestions more easily. But do not forget to be yourself, not trying to be friend for being friend and make it happens, but true friendship and seeing these relations in a long term perspective.

SLOWER = BETTER