African Industrial Design Practice: Perspectives on Ubuntu Philosophy

The underlying principle of this book is the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which acts as a guide for developing empathic products and services. The book makes the case that empathy is the key to any successful product and service design project because it enables designers to make wise design choices that align with users' demands.

Fifteen chapters provide the latest industrial design developments, techniques, and processes explicitly targeting emerging economies. At the outset, it covers the design context and the philosophy of the Ubuntu approach, which places people and communities at the centre of the development agenda. The book covers new product development, design research, design cognition, digital and traditional prototyping, bringing products to the market, establishing a company's brand name, intellectual property rights, traditional knowledge, and the business case for design in Afrika. It concludes with a discussion about the future of design and the skills aspiring designers will need.

African Industrial Design Practice: Perspectives on Ubuntu Philosophy will be an essential textbook for undergraduates, postgraduates, instructors, and beginner designers in emerging economies to provide regionally contextualised design processes, illustrated examples, and outcomes.

Chapter 2 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Richie Moalosi is Professor of Industrial Design at the University of Botswana. His research interests include design and culture, design research, design for sustainability, and social innovation. He is a member of the Institute of Engineering Designers, Pan Afrikan Design Institute, and Africa Design (Chapter of the Design Society).

Yaone Rapitsenyane is the Head of the Department of Industrial Design and Technology at the University of Botswana. He is also a service designer and a lecturer in sustainable design. His research interests include developing sustainable business models for SMEs and developing Sustainable Product-Service System curricula for African universities.