# Diffuse design

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Designing capabilities of non-designers

**Diffuse design** refers to the designing capability of individuals who are not formally trained as [designers](/source/Designer). Drawing on the natural human ability to adopt a design approach, nonexpert designers bring diffuse design into the world via a combination of [critical sense](/source/Critical_thinking), [creativity](/source/Creativity), and [practical sense](/source/Pragmatism).[1]

Diffuse design was coined by Italian design scholar [Ezio Manzini](/source/Ezio_Manzini) and was a central theme of his 2015 book *Design, When Everybody Designs*. Manzini asserts that everybody is endowed with the ability to design, though not everyone is a competent designer and fewer still become professional designers. He also suggests it is the role of expert designers in [social innovation](/source/Social_innovation) contexts to improve the conditions by which different [social actors](/source/Social_actors) can take part in [co-design](/source/Co-design) processes in a more expert fashion.[2]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Manzini, Ezio (2015-01-02). "Design in the transition phase: a new design culture for the emerging design". *Design Philosophy Papers*. **13** (1): 57–62. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1080/14487136.2015.1085683](https://doi.org/10.1080%2F14487136.2015.1085683). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1448-7136](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1448-7136).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Ezio, Manzini. *Design, when everybody designs : an introduction to design for social innovation*. Cambridge, Massachusetts. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780262328630](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780262328630). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [904398409](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/904398409).

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Diffuse design](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_design) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffuse_design?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.
