Considering the Real, Ideal, and Surreal in Social Design Initiatives
Creativity is the bridge combining the real, the ideal, and the surreal. When creating for a better society, social designers should consider all three factors to contribute to innovation and the future at large.
Photo by Kylan Stephon Hayes
Creativity as a Tool for Change
In a world growing with complexity and interconnectedness, creativity is crucial to bridge the gap between the role of the individual in conjunction with their role in society. The world demands creative solutions to cater to the needs of the individual and the needs of society at the same time. Generalized solutions often render themselves ineffective in the long-term. How can we develop policy solutions catered to the individual and society without generalization?
Art, advocacy, and education empower individuals to create the change the world needs. Policy initiatives can cater to the individual and society at the same time when the basis of policy starts at the community level. United communities with shared sets of meaning and value face their own problems, and have the capacity to create their own solutions with needed resources.
In the rapidly evolving world of technology, creativity is crucial to solve complex social policy problems. The role that individuals are coming to play as stakeholders in the policymaking process is likely to increase with the rise of identity politics. Those best positioned to engage in this process are artists. They are individuals with the skills of imagination, communication, and self-expression. They bridge the gap between being practically realistic, creatively idealistic, and communicatively surrealist. Let’s break down the implications this has for policymaking.
Design for the Real
When considering policymaking and solutions to social problems, creativity must design for the real world. This is needed to ensure ideated solutions are relevant, effective, and efficient. Before considering aesthetics, creative thinkers must be practical. They must ensure that there is a legitimate need for any implementations. These needs come from the feedback of the community and all stakeholders involved.
Your imagination as an artist is key, but this imagination must function within the frameworks of practicality. Social design is about solving problems for positive social outcomes. The problem must be real and the solution effective before the designer ever considers aesthetics. Expert consultation, community guidance, and iteration will be needed in the design process.
Push for the Ideal
If design is about solving problems for the real world, then these solutions must push towards an ideal world. This is where the imagination is important. The imagination is the vision. Art envisions the ideals. Artists are tasked with imagining a utopia. We cannot create a better world without vision, and art serves as the north star to a new ideal.
If art envisions the ideal, the design serves to communicate and prototype this ideal into reality. This combines the imagination and reality, the real and the ideal. This methodology allows the policymaking process to have a touch of idealism while remaining efficient and effective.
The imagination does not need to envision a new societal structure. It merely needs to analyze where local community problems occur and allow the artistic imagination to intervene and ideate solutions. Test what works and keep what is efficient. Change what is inefficient. The artistic process is the solution, and communication and vision are the first steps.
Embrace the Surreal
We are nothing more or less than what we know. The surreal is not about imagining unreal realities. The surreal is about tapping into ideas and perspectives we don’t yet know exist. This is where the imagination thrives.
The job of the most imaginative creative minds is to directly challenge the preconceptions, perceptions, biases, and assumptions individuals in society may not know they have. The goal here is to subvert conventional ways of thinking that we aren’t aware are stifling us. It is to introduce society to potentials we never thought possible.
Artists and leaders who embrace surrealism will breed innovation. They will rebel against conventional ways of thinking. Every creation will be riddled with innovation. Surrealist thought will introduce new ways of thinking about how we solve social problems, and these ways of thinking will pave the path of the future.
Photo by Kylan Stephon Hayes
Creativity in Social Design
Social design is a newly emerging field of design. It seeks to use the design process to achieve positive social outcomes. It generates social capital to achieve community outcomes. The goal of the design process is social impact. Creativity is the tool of social design, and social capital the currency.
As social designers, we must use our creativity to solve real-world problems. We must use our artistry to pursue a better ideal world, even using surreal and often uncomfortable mediums to reveal what is possible. Where there is a will, design has the potential to solve social political problems faster than the policymaking process.
Social design is the future of creativity and policymaking in a world growing with complexity. Unconventional solutions will become the new standard. Imagination is key to envisioning a new world, and artists are in the position to lead this charge. Let’s let the art do the talking.
Create with Purpose, Join the VRTY Movement
As social designers and artists, we need to move beyond mere aesthetics and craft works with purpose. We can illuminate the invisible threads that bind us, fostering empathy and collaborative action towards a more just and sustainable future for all.
We cannot achieve this alone. We need a collective of passionate individuals united by a shared vision and a commitment to social change. This is where VRTY comes in.
VRTY is a thriving community of artists, designers, and changemakers dedicated to using their creativity to tackle the world's most pressing challenges. We provide a platform for collaboration, learning, and action, empowering individuals to translate their ideas into impactful solutions.
Together, let us harness the power of social-systems thinking and design a future where creativity and innovation are the catalysts for a more just and equitable world. Let’s let the art do the talking.
Join our official community of artists creating for social change. Gain access to social design resources and expertise to be empowered to be an artistic changemaker.
