“How do you use design to bring new order to your home or work environment (e.g. sorting socks, herding kittens, container stories)? Have you used design to enhance your economic, expressive, or social opportunities (e.g. self-branding, creative campaigning, the new corner store)?”

Graphic Designers are sure to know of Ellen Lupton’s well-known design publication Design Writing Research, however I would like to profile her project with twin sister Julia Lupton, called Design Your Life. DYL exemplifies the power of design thinking, when applied and associated to lifestyle, social situations and everyday life. This is a great project and resource from two key design voices of today. Continue Reading »

Design supersite Core77 recently reported that the RISD announced the release of HI-RES, a publication featuring student work that calls attention to key social and environmental issues.

“High-Res” is a term used to describe an image that has been brought into greater clarity — higher resolution. How can we bring the future into HI RES? The works featured here demonstrate the enormous potential artists and designers have to radically re-envision the world around us. First presented as an exhibition and publication in spring 2007, HI RES highlights RISD student work that focuses on the opportunities and imperatives in our changing world. These are the images, objects, structures and experiences that will move the world towards a better, more sustainable future.

When it comes to visually communicating Environmental and Ecological issues, Graphic Designers and Illustrators are essentially key to this process. London based illustrator Jody Barton is just one example of the power of Visual Communication, having produced a plethora of bold typographic illustrations, focused toward Environmental crisis. Using techniques of hand drawn typography Barton’s illustration’s scream thoughts and stereotypes of man’s preconceived ideas.

Educated in London at Camberwell College of Arts and The Royal College of Art, Jody has extensive experience working in animation and sound, with work featuring in the likes of Dazed And Confused, Vice, The Face, D&AD, Pantheon Architecture, Creative Review, Intersection, Viewpoint, WAD, and Wonderland Magazines.

Ben Terrett of UK based design studio, The Design Conspiracy and founder of Noisy Decent Graphics, recently posted an interesting article covering his recent talk at Campaign Magazine’s Applied Green Conference. Terrett discusses his thoughts on how valuable design thinking is and should be, in tackling the world’s greatest challenges.

Someone with a designer’s brain can spot these problems and can go about solving them. Someone with a designer’s brain can be invaluable in the fight against climate change. I keep having this thought that the best design minds in history would see Climate Change as amazing opportunity. Don’t you get the feeling Da Vinci could have knocked up an alternative fuel in his spare time? (Ben Terrett)

Marvellous commentary Ben. I really wish, as a design thinker, I was used better. Read the full article here.

The World Wildlife Federation advertising campaigns consistently utilize their existing surroundings very well.

Here is the latest example of their campaign ads, using a paper dispenser with South America cut out, and green foil to tint your view… “clearly conveying that with every piece of paper you take, you’re taking away from the greenness of South America. How multisensory and engaging beyond a simple sticker/poster.” (NotCot.com)

The second example is an amazing use of shadows on a billboard, demonstrating rising water levels. Click here for a Youtube video of the billboard in action. Both ads are designed by the prestigious Denmark based Saatchi and Saatchi.

Cause/Affect is a biennial graphic design competition which celebrates the work of designers and organizations who set out to positively impact our society and communities.

AIGA San Francisco, the professional association for design, has issued a call for entries for a new graphic design competition celebrating the work of designers who set out to positively impact our society and communities.

“So often designers work on pro bono projects, or other projects for good causes, in isolation. In our professional lives we can get the feeling we are sneaking a non-profit client in through the back door, as we strive to meet our other professional obligations.”

Entry Deadline = November 9, 2007.
All design work entered in the competition must promote or support social good and actively engage in enriching our lives.

London’s Victoria And Albert Museum brings it’s spring exhibition, China Design Now; the first in the UK to explore the recent explosion of new design in China, from the 2008 Olympic stadium to the most interesting fashion and graphics.

China Design Now places exhibits in the context of China’s social, cultural and economic reforms over the last 25 years, providing both a critical survey and a narrative that enables visitors to see how China’s new design and consumer culture has developed, what its driving forces are and where it is going. China Design Now will include case studies of influential individuals, companies and organisations that have played an important role in shaping aspirations in today’s China.

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With a people-centric design ethos, I never fail to be inspired by the contemporary outputs of London based Design Studio WIRE.

Founded in 1997, by John Corcoran, Peter Higgins and Tim Higgins, WIRE operates around the philosophy “to make a positive difference by changing the way people think and act”. The work tackles complex issues such as sustainable development, regeneration, inclusive design, community engagement, health, young people, music and the arts. See some more of their work over on Anamorphosis.

I came across a PODCAST mp3 from London’s Design Museum this month. The podcast covers an event entitiled FEEDBACK, held on 9th February earlier this year, which discussed the work of the late Graphic talent, Alan Fletcher, and “explored the history, working practice and achievements of pioneering design organisation Pentagram,” which Alan Fletcher co-founded.

Event speakers included current Pentagram Partners Harry Pearce, John Rushworth, and Paula Scher, each in conversation with Emily King, curator of the Design Museum’s Alan Fletcher exhibition. London designer Ben Terrett was in the audience, and his blog post earlier this year also profiles some thoughts and photos from the event.

For me, Pentagram remain one the most powerful design agencies, consistently producing pioneering contemporary and strategic communication design, with consistent focus to social issues. This is a design studio which all socially conscious creatives should take inspiration from.

Listen to the PODCAST

Founded by Graphic Designer Jody Boehnert, of London based studio Iambe comes Eco-Labs, a non-profit ecological literacy initiative, aiming to provide a platform for collaborative design addressing sustainability & systemic change in the UK. I caught up with Jody this month, as she presented a paper entitled “Should Change be Radical?” at the Sustainable Innovation 07 conference.

“EcoLabs has been created to function as a network, and at the moment I sustain it though my private practice (iambe). I founded EcoLabs, because I came to believe that to achieve more epic design projects, designers need to collaborate. The network facilitates collaboration and nurtures a dialogue on sustainability.

We aim to nurture whole systems thinking, foster ecological literacy, and promote the transformation of the design model. EcoLabs will help create an alternative cultural vision that will drive transformational change, to meet the goals of fully sustainable society. By supporting ecological & systems literacy we will develop a shared vision of where we want to be and how to get there. Visualizations are an important source of inspiration: what will a sustainable global world look like in 10 or 50 years? We will animate the solutions, and help build a social movement to make it happen. (Jody Boehnert)

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