The Disruptive Design Method is a 3-part process for activating social change by design, developed by Leyla Acaroglu after a decade of research and practice in sustainable design and creative change-making. Leyla created the 12-part Design Methodology of high-level theories and concepts that underpin the applied DD method.
The Disruptive Design Methodology and Method set is applied through the agency Disrupt Design , and it's taught to professionals interested in activating positive social change through their work via Leyla's experimental knowledge lab, The UnSchool of Disruptive Design.
LANDSCAPING
BUILDING
The initial deep dive into becoming a problem lover, here we take on a mindset of curiosity and exploration. In the Mining phase, we do deep participatory and action research, suspend the need to solve, avoid trying to impose order, and embrace the chaos of any complex system.
The mindset of connection and relationships, here is where we see the world as a giant jigsaw puzzle to create a different perspective that enables a bird’s eye view of the system. Insights are gathered and areas of systems intervention are identified to enable the design of systems change.
The creative phase for the development of divergent design ideas that leverage change within your sphere of influence, here the goal is to evolve the problem arena so that the status quo is shifted with a diversity of ideation and prototyping tools to move through a design process.
The DD Methodology incorporates 12 units of detailed and in-depth critical thinking and doing practices, activating people to understand and creatively intervene in complex and divergent real-world systems. It can be applied to any problem arena and is based on three pillars: Systems Thinking, Sustainability Sciences, and Design Thinking. Drawing on scholars and theories, scientific and experimental, the Methodology empowers the 3-part process of mining, landscaping, and building applied through the DD Method Set.
The 12 units in the Disruptive Design Methodology synthesize a broad range of thinking and doing skills and tools, including systems thinking, gamification and game theory, ethics and empathy, life cycle thinking, research strategies, applied systems intervention, cognitive and behavioral sciences, ideation and creative problem solving, and sustainable production.
Each of these learning modules fit together to form the practice of Disruptive Design, which is the applied approach to designing creative interventions for positive social change.
