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Diffuse Design

Diffuse design is a term coined by design strategist and expert on sustainable design Ezio Manzini in his book “Design, When Everybody Designs: An Introduction to Design for Social Innovation,” the term diffuse design is sometimes referred to as “nonexpert” and regards humans’ natural capability to design. Diffuse design stands in contrast to “Expert Design,” a term Manzini also uses to identify “people trained to operate professionally as designers and who put themselves forward as design professionals.”

Diffuse design is gaining a place in the discourses in design studies and practices. The two modes of meaning making are the conventional mode, in which things are done the way they have always been done, and design more, which includes a critical sense concerning ethics, creativity to imagine new solutions to problems, and practical means of realizing an idea. Manzini states that these are the basis for design and that we all have access to this, only they must be stimulated, thus the difference between a nonexpert or “diffuse designer” and an expert designer rests in the cultivation of these abilities and context for performing.

Both diffuse designers (by necessity and innate ability) and expert designers (through technical knowledge and formal design competence) attempt to treat design in one of two ways: sense-making or problem solving. By these terms, diffuse designers can be exemplified by grassroots organizations on the problem-solving side or cultural activists on the sense-making side.