Is Design as a practice completely outside the language of Care?

At the core of this title question, we face the challenges of inter-disciplinary collaboration between design and care. Furthermore, these academic and professional subjects each have multiple sub-disciplines, which are often disconnected on many levels. A third element is the diversity of the people involved to whom the care is intended. Design for Care is inherently complex and may be viewed theoretically as a Wicked Problem (Rittel & Webber, 1973). This article will navigate through the Head-to-Head discussion between a dementia-carer, psychologist and designer with an experienced product designer and researcher who has worked in care and health related projects (M. Rana & J. Magee, 2019, personal communication, 1st July). They consider both the harmonious and dichotomous relationship. Their independent viewpoints find commonality and lead to adapted models for proposed engagement across sectors and disciplines. In immediate response they cite two points of reference. “Design is people” (Jane Jacobs) “Good care is about people” (WHO, 2008)