Fighting poverty through design: Comparing design processes for the base and the top income pyramid
Journal article, 2013

The base (BOP) and the top (TOP) of the world income pyramid represent the poor people and the people from developed countries, respectively. About two-fifths of the world population can be categorized as poor. Poverty is a trap because children born to poor parents are likely to grow up to be poor adults. In recent years, a poverty reduction approach that combines business development with poverty alleviation has received attention. The design of products for the BOP is an important ingredient of this poverty reduction approach. While companies are beginning to address the product needs of the BOP, there is limited practical and theoretical knowledge to support them. The current understanding of the design for the BOP is limited. This study aims at exploring the differences between the design strategies used by the industrial design students in designing products for the BOP and TOP markets. The results indicate the differences between their design strategies (i.e. problem driven strategy, solution driven strategy) in designing products for the BOP and TOP markets. We have discussed the implications of the findings for design practice and education. In particular, we have discussed how university-based design projects for the BOP can help in developing students’ different design skills.

design education

Base of the Pyramid (BOP)

protocol analysis

design strategies

poverty

Author

Santosh Jagtap

Lund University

Andreas Larsson

Lund University

Viktor Hjort af Ornäs

Chalmers, Product and Production Development, Design and Human Factors

Elin Olander

Lund University

Anders Warell

Lund University

Pramod Khadilkar

Indian Institute of Science

Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering Design, ICED

22204334 (ISSN) 22204342 (eISSN)

Vol. 1 DS75-01 DS75-01 211-220

Driving Forces

Sustainable development

Subject Categories

Design

Other Engineering and Technologies

Learning and teaching

Pedagogical work

More information

Latest update

12/2/2024