[2] Victor Margolin and Sylvia Margolin wrote in 2002 about the "social model" as a design practice and research methodology, primarily focused on social services but the ideas could be expanded in to educational systems, healthcare systems and for civic technology design.
[3] Margolin suggests a multifaceted approach to solving problems, first accessing the situation by answering a few core questions, followed by survey research and interviews, content analysis of archival data, and/or participant observation.
[4] Additionally there is importance of the wider influence including the environmental awareness of the design, since the environment effects everyone and is interconnected.
[11] In this view social design is an activity that should not be framed with connotations of charity, aid donations, help, etc.
It is not voluntary work, but it should be seen as professional contribution that plays a part in local economic development or livelihood.
While traditionally, Design has been approached as a profession that remains strictly answerable to market forces, social design envisages the possibility of a more distributive conception of surpluses, by ensuring that the benefits of services and systems reach a wider range of user groups who may often fall outside the market system.
[3] Margolin writes, "The primary purpose of design for the market is creating products for sale.