Approaching Design for Development from a Capability Perspective

To improve the well-being of disadvantaged and marginalized populations by product design, deep contextual insight is required. However, literature does not specify which topics to discuss or which questions to ask. To address this issue, we used Sen's capability approach to develop question categories and adopted a semi-structured interview approach called the Opportunity Detection Kit. This kit has been tested by evaluating the impact of the Philips Chulha in rural South India. By using the kit, a comprehensive picture could be drawn about the participants' lives, which indicated opportunities for product improvement. The integration of the capability approach and product design therefore seems to be promising.