Maybe in ’07

Conference that sounded cool… but we missed it…

“Sustainable development,the environment, a trade balance between the North and South, an inherent respect for each person, the smoothing out of existing inequalities. The designer as a professional as well as inventor has a lot of pertinent and efficient remarks to make concerning these burning questions.  “ETHICS : Design, Ethics and Humanism” will take stock of existing research as well as the experience accumulated and results achieved in various design fields.

 Six sub themes are planned to cover a wide range of concerns:
> Eco design and sustainable development
> Design for All and inclusive conception
> Supportive economy and fair trade
> De- industrialisation, design and employment
> Companies and business ethics
> Ethics and the teaching of design”

Fellow travelers

Always happy to learn about others out there paying attention to similar things as we do here at Design for Social Need. Curt Burg hosts Combating Crisis with Design, “a developing research endeavor to understand and make known various methods and proposals to ameliorate the effects of humanitarian needs with progressive design solutions and their implementations.” Check it out.

Make Some Noise

A call for creatives went out to help Oxfam International with their campaign to make trade fair. They’re looking for under-30 creatives to help creative an ad campaign to spread their message worldwide. The competition seems cool but the effort to make trade fair is pretty interesting as well. The main push of the effort is to integrate poverty relief and elimination efforts into world trade. Everything from the World Trade Organization to Starbucks to farming collectives are discussed on their website.

WorldChanging is trying to… well you get it

Officially they start their About Us section with: “WorldChanging.com works from a simple premise: that the tools, models and ideas for building a better future lie all around us. That plenty of people are working on tools for change, but the fields in which they work remain unconnected. That the motive, means and opportunity for profound positive change are already present. That another world is not just possible, it’s here. We only need to put the pieces together.”

Sounds cool. I got a little confused after that but what wasn’t confusing was that they post stories of current, relevant meaningful actions people are taking to make a difference, primarily I’d say under the umbrella of sustainability (but I don’t really know what that word means).

More good work from Design Council RED

The Design Council says it best:

Chronic disease and conditions related to an unhealthy lifestyle have reached epidemic proportions and are rising still. This presents a momentous challenge for our current healthcare system.

Looking at the problem from a design perspective shows that there are many gaps in the way that current approaches relate to people’s daily lives and motivations. Designing from the individual’s point of view could provide the key to solutions that work.

Working with partners in Bolton and Kent over the six months from December 2004, we explored ways to create new healthcare systems. Our design team has prototyped innovative services for self-managing chronic conditions and maintaining healthier lifestyles.

So check out the results… there’s a great video about the project that quickly presents the background, financial impact, methodology and results. Find it here.

By the way, RED is a group within Design Council is “a ‘do tank’ that develops new thinking and practice on social and economic problems through design-led innovation.”
Check out their blog while you are at it.

Who wants Massive Change?

Well hopefully you do and if so you should visit the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and check out Massive Change: The Future of Global Design. It is an exhibition that changes the way you think about design just as contemporary design is changing the way we live in the world. Design affects all aspects of our lives and holds the possibility of changing the very nature of human life itself. Massive Change is an exhibition grounded in a provocative proposition. It is a celebration of the human capacity to change the world and a call to recognize both the power and the responsibility of design.

Conceived by the internationally renowned designer Bruce Mau, the exhibition invites viewers to consider the dynamic future of design culture and the real choices we must make. Massive Change is dramatic, engaging and critical, immersing visitors in a series of powerful encounters with the latest innovations in the fields of urban design, transportation, information design, revolutionary material and more. The exhibition unfolds in a series of ten general themes that address the fundamental role of design in all aspects of human life, from manufacturing and transportation to health and the military. In each area, visitors will encounter the objects, images, ideas and people that are reshaping the role of the world of design.

Link to exhibition information

Article from the Quad-Cities Times on the exhibition

Massive Change (official website)