Tactical Design Solutions for Pandemics

TACTICAL
DESIGN
for Pandemics
Learn about design solutions
that can address public health
needs in times of pandemics
and help us better prepare for
the future.
THE CALL FOR DESIGN
Design is integral to everyday life because it One is people’s health and safety, which
provides the products, services, communication, depends on health experts to guide us on how
and data ecologies that give shape to to deal with the virus. A second front is how to
interactions and people’s daily routines deal with the multiple disruptions affecting our
around the world. Design in everyday life is so livelihoods. That’s where design matters.
ubiquitous that we seldom notice how these
things work and how much we depend on Design expertise is a critical resource for
them to perform our most mundane activities. creating interventions that help us adapt to new
Nevertheless, when they don’t work, we become conditions. It understands how micro actions
quickly frustrated and disoriented. Because and interactions develop into large patterns of
our habits and routines get disrupted and we social behavior, cultural norms, and economic
need to improvise. Failure is a reminder of how activities. Therefore, in this report we present a
important is for things to work well for enabling study on what products, services, interaction,
our livelihoods. communication, and data ecologies have been
used as ‘tactical designs’ to mitigate the sever
The COVID-19 created multiple global public disruptions affecting our daily life, as well as
health crises. It has also disrupted the everyday paving the way for designing new infrastructures
life of billions of people around the world. resilient for future large scale disruptions, such
as the COVID-19 global pandemic.
PRODUCTS SERVICES INTERACTIONS COMMUNICATION DATA ECOLOGIES
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONTENTS

The global mobilization of resources and This study investigated the current
knowledge in response to the COVID-19 infrastructures being deployed in response EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ARCHETYPES OF INFRASTRUCTURES
pandemic has triggered a spur of new to pandemics through real-time analysis of 1 Overview of the study 5 A collection of emerging infrastructures
solutions across borders. A team of design interventions in 5 focus areas and
designers, researchers, and faculty at IIT across USA, Italy, South Korea and China.
DESIGN MATTERS COMBINATORIAL POSSIBILITIES
Institute of Design (ID) have conducted a
real-time analysis of emerging infrastructures This report captures a collection of
2 The call for design in pandemics 6 Combining solutions for innovative
possibilities
for public health from a tactical design infrastructures and the new possible
perspective. ID Associate Professor Carlos fields of action that are enabled by the KEY CONCEPTS RECOMMENDATIONS
Teixeira conducted this study with support combination of these infrastructures. The 3 The lenses of tactical design 7 Design directions to address pandemics
of André Nogueira, ID alum and Associate learnings of analysis indicate tactical design
Researcher. considerations professionals working in EMERGING INFRASTRUCTURES
respond to pandemics. 4 Global deployment of new solutions
KEY CONCEPTS
TACTICAL DESIGN COMBINATORIAL POSSIBILITIES

Tactical design identifies and leverages the Combinatorial Possibilities seeks to
patterns and logics within infrastructures and generate new interventions that improve
the consequent enabling resources of a given patterns of daily life by combining and
situation to iteratively generate alternative integrating existing and novel infrastructural
pathways.
ARCHETYPE AFFORDANCE
An archetype is the transferable core logic An affordance is a tangible clue in a designed
of a designed solution defined by its goal, artifact that indicates a specific action that is
features and affordances, meaning the enabled by the artifact.
actions it enables us to take. (ex. Mug handle affords grasping motion)
“We have been witnessing ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE

our most trustable systems Entrepreneurial ecosystems are growth-
oriented regional clusters of actors that
Infrastructures are the assemblages of
social, ecological, and technical components
falling short in addressing support the development of new initiatives
and incentivize risk-taking organizational
that determine access, mobilization, and
allocation of resources within a region or
this challenge. behavior. domain.
-A challenge that they were

not designed for.”
EMERGING INFRASTRUCTURES As a way of learning from current real- time developments, this study mapped a total of 14 components that
emerged during the period of January-April 2020 in four different countries: China, South Korea, Italy, and
the US. The goal was to understand the complex interconnectivity between the health of the public and their
Moments of disruption require change because new imperatives are at play. Unexpectedly and overnight the
activities of daily life, and how a complex web of new products, services, communication, and data ecologies
COVID-19 virus triggered governance systems to impose a series of new tactics including social distancing,
mediates this interconnectivity and the interactions among various agents.
self-isolation, use of protective gears, travel bans, remote work, frequently washing hands, and many others.
However, current infrastructures composed by products, services, communication, data ecologies and the
We explored over 50 interventions being deployed in different countries, each with its own contextual
resulting interactions to accommodate such orders. New solutions are being designed and deployed as first
variations. By deconstructing them through their various components, we were able to identify several
responses to deal with the challenges of COVID-19, individuals and organizations are struggling to understand
patterns that can give shape to new infrastructural archetypes.
what it takes to create new infrastructures for public health in a time of pandemics.
USA CHINA SOUTH KOREA ITALY

The government is using techniques of symptom China mobilized its mass surveillance tools South Korea is using a combination N/A
checking to get real-time data of recent travel, to monitor quarantined people and track the of different technologies to trace the
SURVEILLANCE TOOLS
PRODUCTS
location, age, and existing health conditions. spread of the coronavirus. movements of infected
patients.
Drug and biotech companies have been Chinese scientists are seeking potential N/A N/A
ANTIBODY TEST AND TREATMENT searching for a cure among which the most COVID-19 treatment antibodies. But currently
promising candidates is antibody. no proven effective treatment.
Digital screening, monitoring, and consultation Remote diagnosis, monitoring, and care Government-funded testing for people with N/A
REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING provided at home to mitigate the spread of conducted by doctors via remote control of cars lessens exposure risk, provides results
infection. medical equipment. within 3 days.
SERVICES
Appointment-only service for medical N/A Government-funded testing for people with N/A
DRIVE-THRU TESTING professionals; lacks unified communication and cars lessens exposure risk, provides results
standardization. within 3 days.
Instacart partners with national, regional, and Online group purchases for scheduled, com- Online stores of biggest grocery vendors Cicalia.com has launched with the promise of
GROCERY DELIVERY local chains to pick and deliver orders in given munal delivery utilize shared labor from culi- provide next day/same day grocery deliver- delivering orders to smaller and remote pro-
time slots. nary industry. ies to home. vincial towns.
Office real estate are planning new service plans Many office buildings have security personnel The country’s largest mobile operator SK Companies are allowed to reopen on the con-
OFFICE SPACE RECONFIGURATIONS for office layouts for returning workers. to give temperature checks for people wanting Telecom said it’s staff will return to work dition that they respect strict security proto-
INTERACTIONS
to enter. starting early May. cols in the workplace.

Quick and safe testing voluntarily provided by N/A Government implemented drive thru test- N/A
DRIVE-THRU TESTING healthcare services. Insurance and affordance of ing to decentralize the testing process to
a vehicle is a must in the States. minimize contamination.
Cities have temporarily limited access to vehicles Integrating their fragmented delivery systems The “virus patient travel log” (govt) is Only cycling for essential trips is permitted,
MICRO-MOBILITY SYSTEMS on certain corridors in order to help pedestrians into the last mile reach using autonomous publishing the movements of people before and for physical activity, so long as people stay
in social distancing. robots. they were diagnosed with the virus. one meter apart.
US residents use hashtag to share their daily life. Many residents and NGO are using hashtag to South Korea is using hashtag like “Work The Red Cross in Italy is using hashtag as a way
HASHTAG Organizations like Red Cross are sharing knowl- raise the attention and action from govern- from home” to start their manifestation for to ask help and share the volunteers work.
COMMUNICATION
edge with hashtag. ment. certain call.

NowThis in US media shared the VR what The FXG, a VR company in China shared the Zipview real-estate company in South Ko- Italian hospital utilized VR to combat clinician
VR/AR TRAINING COVID-19 looks like inside the lungs. situation of Hangzhou through VR contents. rea introduced VR real-estate, as a case of stress during COVID-19 crisis.
successful growth under COVID-19.
The San Diego Zoo has been deploying the live The Great Palace has recored panoramic vid- Over 400 museums and archaeological sites The National Museum of Modern and Con-
LIVE STREAM cameras all around the filed with animals. eos to see 360 degrees view of the exhibitions. have joined a portal website launched by temporary Art in Seoul (MMCA) has uploaded
the ministry of culture. exhibition videos to YouTube.
Enforced on the state and local level to “flatten China’s one time intervention (early 2020) is Deploying contract tracing measures, pub- Reducing exposure rate of vulnerable popu-
SOCIAL DISTANCING the curve” and protect vulnerable populations. insufficient to avoid an outbreak in summer lic where able to trace virus infected areas lations by limiting non-essential travel and
DATA ECOLOGIES
and autumn months. and avoid them. group gatherings.

No mass testing makes contact tracing hard to China deployed many tools for mass surveil- Government implemented Orwellian Government contracted startup developing
implement because of the limited data on who lance and created movement maps for those surveillance and has warrantless access to opt-in app that tracks contacts via anonymized
CONTACT TRACING has the virus. infected to keep close contacts informed and public data. Bluetooth data.
quarantined.
Shortage of test kits from the start of outbreak China did not practice mass testing, which the Tested every single individual. Started pre- Testing entire municipality to reduce
MASS TESTING make it difficult to implement mass testing. reason for an anticipated second wave. paring testing kits before the outbreak. spread rate by identifying & isolating.
In addition to its unique features and While products, services, communication,
affordances, each archetype is enabled by a and data ecologies can give shape to various
unique ecosystem of actors within the local interactions depending on their context, they
context, consequently conditioning the can be explored based on similar functions
OFFICE SPACE RECONFIGURATION
interactions of its constituencies. they assume within the systems they are USA
INTERACTIONS
embedded, regardless the diverse forms and As companies call their office workers
shapes through which they do that. to return to work, new social distancing
measures will be implemented according
to new safety measures in these spaces.
DRONE SURVEILLANCE
CHINA
Drones with thermal cameras are being used
PRODUCTS
to check quarantined residents’ temperatures

and drop face masks in bid to control corona
virus outbreak. The devices can identify the
person with the body temperature in a crowd. VR TRAINING IN COVID-19
They were also used to drop food items, face USA, UK
COMMUNICATION
masks and disinfectant products.
Oxford Medical Simulation offered 17,000
doctors and nurses training for COVID-19
pandemic using VR technology to help
busy hospitals and medical facilities as
they are being crushed by large numbers
of patients during the pandemic.
GROCERY DELIVERY
CHINA
China utilizes communal grocery delivery,
SERVICES
serving more people in fewer trips. Bulk

deliveries are dropped at local pick-up
stations, where individuals find their
specific order.
MASS TESTING
SOUTH KOREA
DATA ECOLOGIES
South Korea has reduced its number of
new cases using free testing at walk-in and
drive-through locations. By mid-March the
country of 51M had tested over 270,000.
Strategies were adapted from lessons
learned during the MERS outbreak.
ARCHETYPES OF INFRASTRUCTURES
By studying the functions assumed by 14 tactical designs in the 4 different countries, we were
able to identify the common functions of these solutions interventions, and start to codify their COMMUNICATION
archetypes.
The advantage of understanding archetypes of design solutions is the transferability of these VR/AR
solutions to an array of diverse context, while predictably and reliably knowing how they influence TRAINING
in similar ways the patterns of social behavior, cultural norms, and economic activities despite the
global diversity of livelihoods and public health conditions in which they end up being deployed.
PRODUCTS
SURVEILLANCE
TOOLS HASHTAG LIVE STREAM
MICRO-MOBILITY DRIVE-THRU
SYSTEMS TESTING
ANTIBODY
TREATMENT
OFFICE
SPACE
RECONFIGURATION
INTERACTIONS
CONTACT
TRACING
DRIVE-THRU MASS
REMOTE
TESTING
PATIENT TESTING
MONITORING
SOCIAL
GROCERY DISTANCING
DELIVERY
DATA ECOLOGIES
SERVICES

ANTIBODY TREATMENT

GROCERY
DELIVERY

Antibody technology is expected to utilize for multiple purposes: Test, Analysis of Spread and Treatment to

Grocery orders are grouped by neighborhood and delivered to a communal drop-off location for individual

prevent the spread of pandemic. pick-up.

SURVEILLANCE

SYSTEM
DRIVE-THRU
TESTING

Using various surveillance tools, the government assembles and integrates the citizen data to monitor and

Parking
lots are converted into drive-thru testing centers.
prevent pandemic spread.

Wearable devices data

Health apps data

Drones and
CCTV data

Credit card data

Social networking data

Mobile network location data

REMOTE PATIENT MONITORING DRIVE-THRU TESTING

Providing
medical care at home through digitally connected devices to mitigate the spread of infection Grocery orders are grouped by neighborhood and delivered to a communal drop-off location for individual

pick-up.

OFFICE SPACE CONFIGURATION

MICRO MOBILITY SYSTEMS
Companies of office space and commercial real estate will be providing services and policy updates of
Providing means to facilitate social distancing protocols while meeting peoples immediate transit needs
office
layout operations for their buildings and for the returning workforce.

using alternate modes of commute.

/

6ft

~29% of workforce)

LIVE STREAM VIDEOS VIRTUAL REALITY COMMUNICATION

Visitors who can not make it physically to the zoo location can see animals virtually through cloud-based To
share information and raise discussion remotely to keep safety of doctors, nurses and patients

live stream videos online.
Healthcare Facilities

Hospital create the contents VR contents sharing for isolated
Doctors, Nurses use the learning
for tests, diagnosis, treatment people for better understanding
to test and treat patients
of COVID-19 to improve safety COVID-19 through social media
minimizing risks
and performance of medical
staff and patients.

Experts give training and lecture Doctors, nurses receive training

remotely to nurses and health and lecture remotely from
workers experts and doctors
HASHTAG SOCIAL DISTANCING

Hashtag is a tool on social media to share their thoughts on certain issues, topics, and it is a very efficient A strategic measure across the world to protect the general public and has helped health leaders identify
way of spreading information.

vulnerable populations.

MASS TESTING
In an effort to reduce the reproduction number or “R Number” municipalities has adopted the strategy of COMBINATORIAL POSSIBILITIES
testing mass populations, sometimes including the entire communities.
This study covered that infrastructural components being developed for public health are not limited
to a single design intervention. Rather, they belong to a portfolio of solutions from which possible and
complementary solutions can be combined and give shape to new infrastructures oriented towards
improving the health of the public. The flexibility inherent in the various combinatorial possibilities can
help individuals and organizations provide inclusive infrastructures capable of accounting for diversity of
livelihoods.

CONTACT TRACING

Tracking citizens data to identify and inform about COVID +ve cases and potential risks areas to refrain from.
4 STRATEGIES FOR OPENING UP

The unprecedented nature of this scenario presents an opportunity to form entrepreneurial ecosystems

composed of different organizations and stakeholders working collaboratively to design a well-integrated

system of interventions. In this context, the ingenuity of design is perceived as an advantage for seamlessly
and successfully integrating existing and new infrastructural components that respond to contextual
variations. The study identified five different plans of combinatorial possibilities to integrate products,

services, communication, and data ecologies that can help influence new interactions and enable large scale
behavior change.
CENTER FOR AMERICAN AMERICAN ENTERPRISE HARVARD EDMOND J.

PAUL ROMER
PROGRESS INSTITUTE SAFRA CENTER FOR ETHICS

Preventing the spread of Gradual and selective lifting Ensuring the safety of Introducing a massive “test

disease and recovering of stay-at-home orders. essential workers and and isolate” policy, making
the social system as soon providing access to it safe for Americans to

as possible. essential services. return to work and keeping
the infection rate below 5%

Massive condition tracking. of the population.

ANTIBODY SURVEILLANCE CONTACT TRACING
Leveraging the antibody solution capabilities for surveillance purpose, proactively aims to recover from the

Tracking citizens data to identify and inform about COVID +ve cases and potential risks areas to refrain from.

pandemic situation.

Wearable devices data

Health apps data

Drones and
CCTV data

Credit card data

Social networking data

Mobile network location data

MASS GROCERY DELIVERY BIO SCREENING

Utilizing local public transportation infrastructure to deliver groceries. Alert infected individuals and ensure health safety in public spaces.

.

RECOMMENDATIONS

TEST & ISOLATE

Supporting “test and isolate’ policy to make it safe to return to work and keeping the infection rate below
5% of the population.
Our analysis indicated critical approaches that can be adopted in tactical design for pandemics.

Yet, when leveraging infrastructural archetypes as a tactical design approach to create large scale

interventions, it is critical to consider how the various infrastructural components are conditioning
the flow and allocation of various resources in a given context, and how the access to these resources

condition the livelihoods of diverse agents. Below presenting our recommendations based on the

4I’s model (Nogueira, 2019), suggesting that all tactical design for pandemics must consider the

interconnectivity of organizational levels, integration of multiple systems, interactions of diverse sets

of agents, and iteration over time.

INTERCONNECTIVITY OF INTEGRATION OF MULTIPLE

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS SYSTEMS

• Recognizing that different types of • Integrating siloed systems based on the

+

knowledge shape dynamics at different purpose to avoid dispersed organizational
system levels efforts

-

• Incorporating considerations from • Uncovering opportunities in

the “tacit knowledge” that governs daily organizations across systems based on
activities complementary functions
• Aligning activities and expertise • Combining efforts based on functional

across levels to prevent unintended gaps of seemingly separate systems
consequences
What We Learned
The uncertainty facing us calls for a We are dealing with unprecedented
tactical integration of emerging solutions diversity and many archetypes fall short
and their adaptation to different places. in addressing it. In tactical design: INTERACTIONS OF DIVERSE ITERATION OVER TIME
SETS OF AGENTS
Emerging strategies and imperatives will • There is no silver bullet approach. • Revealing unconsidered interactions to • Designing infrastructures to be adaptable
require: • Variations of a portfolio of archetypes trigger new forms of resource exchange and responsive to changing dynamics
• Identifying available infrastructures, can help address multiple variations of • Enabling new interactions by • Identifying the various temporalities that
• Intelligent integration of infrastructures, demands. reconfiguring how people, organizations give shape to a global pandemic beyond
• Their adaptation and application to • The more diversity we face, more design and infrastructures act together national and organizational boundaries
different contexts, we need. • Igniting new entrepreneurial ecosystems • Understanding solutions as archetypes to
• Strategic application of design at across sectors that respond to new foster adaptability to and adoption of new
multiple levels of systems. combinatorial possibilities scenarios
FUTURE DIRECTIONS
This study indicated that the intelligent integration of infrastructures and the design of their
components is critical to dealing with pandemics. Different strategies and emerging imperatives
will require organizations and people to iteratively develop new ways of organizing daily
activities, consequently creating new interventions. Due to the unprecedented uncertainty and
diversity of the current circumstances, industries will have to tactically develop and adapt their
responses by mobilizing entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Acknowledgements
Tactical Design for Pandemics project was carried out as

part of the Strategies for Open Innovation course at the
IIT Institute of Design, directed by Associate Professor
Carlos Teixeira, with support of Andre Nogueira.
Contributors
Jack Gerber Kanal Chhajed
Esther Lee Vaaibhav Bhardwaj
Ananya Garg Yoichi Kanayama
Mridula Dasari Dmytri
Sze Wing Alpha Tanvi Ranka
Katie Petersen Mrinali Gokani
Pinakee Naik Shuyi Liu
Hongpyo Kim Yueyue Yang
We will keep studying and analyzing these archetypes on an industry by industry basis, with the
Report Design
involvement of experts from the fields of design and public health. During Summer 2020, we
Azra Sungu
will investigate the new interventions and infrastructures that are being deployed to address
the following questions:
All the visuals used in this report are licensed for reuse
for educational purposes.
• How can tactical design address emerging imperatives in a changing world?
All rights reserved. May, 2020

• How can variations of archetypes support equitable and adaptable solutions?
• How can different industries combine and apply solution archetypes to adapt to the new
TACTICAL DESIGN FOR PANDEMICS | STRATEGIES FOR OPEN INNOVATION, MAY 2020

Tactical Design Solutions for Pandemics

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TACTICAL

PRODUCTS SERVICES INTERACTIONS COMMUNICATION DATA ECOLOGIES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY CONTENTS

TACTICAL DESIGN COMBINATORIAL POSSIBILITIES

“We have been witnessing ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM INFRASTRUCTURE

-A challenge that they were

USA CHINA SOUTH KOREA ITALY

to enter. starting early May. cols in the workplace.

edge with hashtag. ment. certain call.

and autumn months. and avoid them. group gatherings.

to check quarantined residents’ temperatures

serving more people in fewer trips. Bulk

  

Social networking data

   

   

OFFICE SPACE CONFIGURATION

Experts give training and lecture Doctors, nurses receive training

HASHTAG SOCIAL DISTANCING

4 STRATEGIES FOR OPENING UP

CENTER FOR AMERICAN AMERICAN ENTERPRISE HARVARD EDMOND J.

   

Wearable devices data 

    Health apps data

     

MASS GROCERY DELIVERY BIO SCREENING

   

     

TEST & ISOLATE

interconnectivity of organizational levels, integration of multiple systems, interactions of diverse sets

    

INTERCONNECTIVITY OF INTEGRATION OF MULTIPLE

ORGANIZATIONAL LEVELS SYSTEMS

• Recognizing that different types of • Integrating siloed systems based on the

Tactical Design for Pandemics project was carried out as

All rights reserved. May, 2020

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Wearable devices data

Health apps data