The Garden Suit: Asparagus In this part of the series we look at a designer’s deck of cards aimed at cultivating a sense of place and at penetrating complexity of place. Jane Wolff’s Delta Primer Playing Cards are a companion to her book, Delta Primer: A Field Guide to the California Delta (William Stout Architectural… Continue Reading
Cultural Preservation Cards for Iraq Sticking with the “game” theme (see the last post on computer games), This post starts a 3-part series on card decks and how design activists have been using them. Designers have a history with card decks, and among the more prominent examples are the Eames’ House of Cards (“Play it again”… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
I’m showing my prejudice here, but computer and video games would ordinarily be the last place I would expect to find “socially responsible design.” Yet recent offerings prove me wrong. A range of new “serious games” (instructional, informational and educational) are tackling issues from obesity to climate change. One example is Games for Change (G4C),… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Like other reviewers, I really enjoyed Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism (edited by Bryan Bell and Katie Wakeford, Metropolis Books, 2008), and for many of the same reasons. It presents a wide range of informative, thought-provoking cases. However, unlike Fred Bernstein who reviewed the book in Architectural Record, I don’t believe that design activism is… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
[addendum to this post: there was further discussion of this issue on a discussion list focused on design research. I was prompted to write more about the national design policy in response to that discussion, from my social movement/activism perspective. The archive of the whole discussion is here. ] On January 5th a group called… Continue Reading… Continue Reading
Greetings for 2009, For those of you engaged in teaching various aspects of sustainable design, I want to let you to know about a new discussion list I’ve set up, SUSDESIGNTEACH (very elegant name, I know). The list is open to anyone who is interested in discussing the challenges of teaching sustainable design. You can… Continue Reading
Thanks to all those who voted for sustainable design as a “big idea for America” in the Change.org ideas competition. Although we fell fairly far short of the needed 900-odd votes, I was encouraged that 44 people turned up to vote in only 6 days between Christmas and New Year’s — arguably the worst time… Continue Reading
design as a way to “see” sustainability Change.org has initiated “Ideas for Change in America” to generate great ideas for the incoming Obama Administration. Organized into a range of categories, the ideas cover a wide range of causes from government reform to fair trade and humanitarian aid. I’ve submitted an idea to use great design,… Continue Reading
Two (make that three, see update, below) “activist” design competition have hit the press recently, both with money attached. Metropolis Magazine Metropolis’s annual Next Generation competition has a theme this year of “fixing our energy addiction.” The deadline is 30 January 09 and the prize is $10,000. They say, “Rising energy costs are the focus… Continue Reading
Osocio (“Social advertising and non-profit campaigns from around the globe”) reports that they’ve made it onto a list of top 10 blogs about the intersection of design and activism. The list, compiled by Noah Scalin of the design group Another Limited Rebellion, appears to focus primarily on graphic design and includes some foreign language blogs… Continue Reading