Recipes for Systemic Change - Helsinki Design Lab

The HDL Studio Model89to be weighted towards creating an enhanced awareness ofthe approach while still providing a glimmer of the redesignpotential, therefore preparing the ground for future efforts.We put the model's flexibility to the test during our ownStudio at the Umeå Institute of Design 1 in January 2011, whichwas conducted under much different conditions than theStudios we ran in Helsinki during 2010. With a budget of only€100, few established connections to Umeå and the provinceof Västerbotten, a pre-determined group of students as theStudio team, and limited time to prepare, we made big adjustmentsto the details without abandoning the core relationships—ofpeople, process, problem and place*—that makethe model work. We still made sure to frame the challengecarefully, adjusted the process to suit the situation, movedsome furniture around to make our space more congenial,and lucked out with a team that had an inbuilt spirit of collaborationfrom the start. Within these parameters we reliedon our limited network and the strength of the Studio Modelto help us deliver something useful at the end of the week. Aheightened awareness to the possibility of strategic redesignamongst the students and their audience of local governmentstakeholders was the main outcome of this Studio, and thisis an important first step towards creating the possibility ofsystemic transformation.Through exhilarating—and occasionally brutal—trialand error we have learned some rules of thumb. Successfulapplication of the Studio Model requires the right people, aflexible process, a carefully defined problem, and a place thatis conducive to collaboration— all applied with an openmindedspirit.1—Situated in the northern Swedish city ofUmeå, the Institute has become recognized asa leading design academy in the Nordic region.Sitra/HDL were pleased to be part of a weeklongexperiment called ‘Prototyping the Future’that tested out new curricular areas, includingstrategic design.*PeopleProcessProblemPlace