ABSTRACT
This chapter delves into the various social institutions influencing designed products and the very practice of the designer. We start with the practice of design under the two classic oppositions of democracy and normative power. Using examples from history, including the COVID-19 outbreak, we see how designers help social institutions monitor and mould our actions, decisions and behaviours, thus influencing our individual and communal realities. We highlight the socio-psychological dimensions of identity and examine the ways in which design shapes and moulds our personal, social and professional identities. These are further developed through three key parts of our identity—national, gender and race—through various designed products. We conclude by outlining several examples in which design changes through the mirror of religion, political culture and war.
