Making Things is Making People: from Design for All to Design for Each

The term "revolution" denotes a sudden and radical change. If this revolution takes place in a "crisis" period, which literally condenses both the concept of danger and opportunity, its result becomes disruptive and unpredictable. Today, society is attending the beginning of a fourth industrial revolution that is a consequence of the earlier computer-science one, made by portable supercomputers, intelligent robots and increased brain capabilities through neurotechnology. This revolution introduces the "Industry 4.0" term to describe how it will change the "value chain" configuration, promoting the creation of "smart factories". This revolution does not only make the factory intelligent, but it is also the origin of the vast movement makers. As Cris Ardersen tells us, we are faced with a new paradigm of thought that eliminates the gap between invention and mass production: "If I could do it, anyone can do it" (Ardersen, 2009). Klaus Schwab, who recently theorized this Fourth Revolution (2016), is convinced that we are only at the beginning of a transformation that radically modifies the way we live, work, relate, and even question the meaning of "being human". At the same time, some other market’s leaders (as Toyota) are pursuing "the art of making people" (hitozukuri), which for years have been the basis for an innovative and effective solution. The main issue of this paper concerns the contribution of design in defining and supporting the role of man within these emerging scenarios, in particular on the impact this fourth revolution determines on the quality of people’s life, by analysing the meaning of "taking care”. The ease of customized production opens up a new scenario that allows thinking and producing objects even for a single need or for a single person. Far from the mass production, in this new vision take place the European project "OpenCare" (by Makerspace WeMake and City of Milan), the project "Make to Care" (by Opendot) and the recent project "Second name: Huntington" (by the national Huntington association with well-known Italian designers, Milanese fablabs, Cattaneo laboratories - internationally recognized for genetic programming - and Triennale of Milan). Starting from this experiences of social and productive innovation, we will try to understand the potential of the revolution when it is design-oriented, design-driven, but also when it is designed to propose new design objects that impact on the more fragile people's daily life, the quality of home life.