Lapland Design Programme 2011 – 2015

The Lapland Design Programme 2011 – 2015 is based on the Strategy for the Creative Industries in Lapland made in 2008 by the Regional Council of Lapland. The preparation of the Lapland Design Programme has been steered by the Faculty of Art and Design of the University of Lapland. The preparation work has been done between 1 August 2009 and 30 June 2011 under project financing granted by the State Provincial Office of Lapland as part of the ERDF / Ministry of Education and Culture Programme for Northern Finland within the EU’s Structural Fund Programme.

The preparation proceeded in several ways: there were meetings between interest groups, interviews, expert meetings, steering group work, and discussions. There have also been workshops, for example a mobile workshop that goes to places where people have already gathered together. The preparation has reinforced the idea that Lapland needs its own design programme to increase the volume of design and to promote design and design actors in Lapland.
 
 

Design within the Lapland Design Programme

The concept of design has changed considerably in recent years. In concrete terms, design has expanded from the area of traditional industrial design to the areas of service and strategy design, among others.

This year the University of Lapland has supplemented the university profile with service design – a leading area where research and artistic activity are in a state of development. The strategy 2020 of the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of Lapland defines design as planning conducted in the fields of the media, visual communication, the textile and clothing industry, and industrial design. The planning and design of spaces and services traverse all the areas of industrial art.

Design thinking has entered the discourse on design, and it has started to rouse broader interest among design actors. At the University of Lapland, design thinking is viewed broadly through interaction between various actors.

The Lapland Design Programme treats design as a broad and diverse concept and aims to influence the reform of the entire spectrum of design.