She Ji | 2026
Authors: Sotamaa Y.
DOI: 10.1016/j.sheji.2026.02.005
Journal: She Ji
Year: 2026
Publisher: KeAi Communications Co.
Document Type: Article
Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Cited by: 0
This article examines the impact of design on the modernization of Finland. The international breakthrough of Finnish design in the 1950s marks a period of aesthetic modernization of the country. In the 1960s, Finnish design underwent a radical turn. Critics faulted it for being elitist. They claimed that the numerous prizes Finnish design had won and its manifestly aesthetic spirit had distracted attention from designers’ true responsibilities, which lay with ordinary people. As a result, the focus shifted from beauty toward the social impacts of design. After the breakthrough of industrial design in the 1970s, attention turned to the strategic potential of design in the management of businesses and organizations. The late 1990s also saw a period of methodological renewal driven by research, which laid the foundations for user-centered design thinking. A major step forward took place in 2000, when the Finnish Government adopted a national design strategy. This long trajectory of design paved the way for Aalto University, a new innovation university, where design plays a key role. Today, design perspectives have expanded from human-centered to planet-centered thinking, supporting the socially transformative goals outlined in the Cumulus Design Declaration 2025. © 2026 Tongji University and Tongji University Press
design as an agent of change; design leadership; design strategy; radical creativity; social role of design