Year: 2012 – 2015
Research team: Maik Perfahl / Wolfgang List
Research type: Research through Design
Research output: Publication

The research Most Likely Design is about designing, producing and distributing an affordable product by yourself. Every topic has its time and its relevance at a certain time in history. There was the topic of Social Design in the 60´s and again some years ago, there was the big topic of recycling in the 90´s and so on. Right now the topic of small scale business and economy is very relevant, especially for a young generation, still studying or working in their first jobs. There are countries within the European Union like Greece, Spain, Italy and many more with a huge rate – 25% or more – of youth unemployment. Since the second world war it was never so hard for young people to find a good job, but at the same time it was never so easy to start an own business and present it to a broader audience. There are a lot of funding opportunities for young entrepreneurs but it is also a mixed blessing. It is good to raise funds for some parts of a company like the development of prototypes, financing exhibitions, and so on, but if a business idea is based on funding, like a lot of companies concepts are, the business will fail. At the end a business idea must also work without funding. This research is about small scale businesses and should give the readers the tools to start an own company and focus on their own ideas. How to design, produce and distribute an affordable product?