ABSTRACT
Jonathan Ive, former Chief Design Officer at Apple, is often called upon to explain how Apple became a financial success through putting design at the heart of what it does. P. Garvey, when asking an IKEA employee about what typifies good design, was shown the small grooves at the base of IKEA mugs which mean they do not gather pools of water when up-ended in dishwasher racks. In very many cases, social research and design work meet but never engage, because they are often literally worlds apart. Thinking about what contexts, values and futures mean in a specific piece of work can help an anthropologist to make a connection, if not a perfect fit, with design. Design is a social field in that it creates relationships between people based on thought and the sharing of concepts. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts in this book.
