Design Hacking: Resourceful Innovation and Sustainable Self-Reliance
About this ebook
"Hacking is really just today's name for the personal creative spirit that has always underpinned human ingenuity," writes Scott Burnham. Throughout this essay he traces hacking's evolution from the digital to the analogue world and shows how the resourceful spirit behind hacking is improving everything from design products to cities and public space.
The essay features insight Burnham gained from years spent researching and working with design and urban hacking projects around the world. From this observation he details the benefits a hacking ethos can bring to products, services and cities:
Hacking creates new engagements between the product and the consumer.
Hacking mandates relevance and necessity in design.
Hacking is resourceful.
Hacking creates abundance from limited resources.Hacking finds the truth in systems.
The text closes with "14 Ways to Get Hacked", showing how product makers or service providers can build in ways to encourage a more playful and resourceful relationship with your offering.
About the author
Scott Burnham, FRSA is a strategist and design researcher behind initiatives in over a dozen cities worldwide and more than thirty exhibitions in eight countries exploring new ideas for design and cities.
He is the creator and director of Reprogramming the City, a global initiative exploring the untapped potential of existing urban assets. He is the former director of The Netherlands Institute for Design’s Trust Design project, and has addressed The World Bank, The World Urban Development Congress, and many other organizations on design strategies and urban futures. He is the author of Urban Play, Trust Design, and Reprogramming the City, as well as a contributor to publications ranging from The Guardian to Metropolis and Architizer.
In recognition of his work, Burnham was made a Fellow of the Royal Society for Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce in London in 2009. For more information see www.scottburnham.com
