quality design for the poor

When companies design products and services for the poor, they often think about making them as low-coast as possible. It is important to realize that people who live in poverty value quality design. Quality design doesn't mean that good and services need to cost more. Quality design meet people where they are and acknowledging status, aspiration and dignity. Design for the poor is more important now than ever before. It is the future of business growth. Howe can companies serve the legitimate needs of the poor not just for price but also for status, aspiration, and dignity?

Status: Evidence of wealth often reveals in the purchases people make. On the streets of Moscow in 2003, thousands of young people wear wearing cell phones around their necks as a statement achievement, however, 1/3 of these phones had no service. In Ghana, villagers are proud of displaying items to decorate home. How might we design experiences that are meaningful both to the individual and to the society around them?

Aspiration: In India, the hierarchy of the road mirrors the hierarchy of society. From bicycle to scooter to motorcycle to car, wealth is expressed not only in more comfortable experience, but by rules of the road that require smaller vehicles to yield to larger ones. TATA Nano fills a market need. It serves as a status symbol. It is aspirational but it has sacrificed quality for accessibility. How might we create accessible moments that retain their aspirational quality?

Dignity: Disney is a master at conferring on people the feeling of dignity and privilege. Its customers range across demographic. It respects audiences and designs an experience down to the smallest details. Unlike mainstream restaurants where servers recommend the most expensive wine on the menu, Disney servers suggest lower-end bottles so that guests feel like kings and queens. How might we elevate the dignity of the experience, across all moments?

Vanity for the poor: VisionSpring sells low-coast reading glasses to the poor in India at price ranging $2 to $4.

It pattern is very true, I agree with how many products, which represent aspiration. The challenge for design is finding a spot between aspirational and low-cost when you hit the boundary where they have to be traded. Good examples they have above. It remind me another pattern “Shanzhai” which is the exact “quality design for the poor” in China.

Madsen, Shally. Cotter, Colleen. Patterns. 10 April 2010 http://patterns.ideo.com/issue/quality_design_for_the_poor/