Samenvatting

In this co-design project, we wanted to better understand how leverage point theory could be applied to the social design field. We also wanted to develop an alternative perspective on and language for the different systemic levels design needs to tackle to contribute to societal impact and long-term changes. To achieve this, we needed to start from unravelling different perspectives on the notions of “impact” and “system”. Translating systems thinking to the context of social design by visualizing leverage points as nested areas in a system proved to be an effective way to bring new perspectives on social design projects and to introduce a shared “impact language” between designers and their stakeholders. The Impact Method we developed together with five social designers can support informed decisions and targeted creativity. It helps with answering which system(s) to focus on, determining the workings of these systems together with the stakeholders, discussing their situated influence on different leverage areas in the system, and ideating on social design activities in these areas. This research took a first step in enriching the work of social designers in the Netherlands with systems thinking and a workable way to introduce it in everyday practice. We hope that, by further iterations in other geographical contexts and publications, it will find its way to professionalize the social design field, yielding much-needed impact on socio-technical systems and society at large towards broader sustainability transitions.