Zaid Khan
Abstract
After nearly a decade of field-building, systemic design has emerged with a robust theoretical foundation, as well as practical tools, methods, and cases, to help designers better work with complexity in higher-order systems.
This focus on establishing foundational works for the young field leaves some areas of the integration between systems thinking and design underdeveloped; namely, communication design.
Communication design, as explored within a systemic design context, has traditionally been concerned with visual thinking, which itself is a common characteristic of both systems thinking and design. The result of this concentrated effort on visual thinking has led to advancements in communication artefacts, such as the flagship gigamaps and synthesis maps.
At RSD8, the discussion titled Conversations on Systemic Design generated much dialogue around the need to better translate the value of systemic design for a variety of audiences.
It’s here where the opportunity to develop a stronger ‘strategic’ foundation for communication design, with a systems orientation, is presented as a critical next step towards strengthening the field and breadth of systemic design.
This discussion explores how the principles of systemic design (Jones, 2014) inform an evolved practise of strategic communications – the planned process of delivering a relevant message to a specific audience to achieve an objective – to reach a broader set of stakeholders.
The discussion will be based on the author’s recently completed Major Research Project which took a systems-oriented communication approach to Canadian News Media, a higher-order system.
The issues facing Canadian News Media are complex in nature; with multiple stakeholders, different organisations and industries, competing value systems, objectives, perspectives, and interests. This makes it an ideal case to examine the effects that a more systems-oriented approach to communications may have towards inviting action in a contested system.
The author will offer a set of learnings, based on how the principles of systemic design could inform a systems-oriented approach to communications. Following this, the discussion will surface the potential value of systems-oriented communications, its consequences, and future considerations and possibilities for research.
