Category Archives: resources

Blogs on the intersection of design & activism

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 blogsContinue Reading

matching designers to activist opportunities

Several organizations are attempting to help designers find activist opportunities — although none of the organizations call their opportunities “activist.” Sounds too political? There are a few different models, from online, searchable databases of designers and organizations in need, to organizations that themselves do the work and take on volunteers to help them. Below areContinue ReadingContinue Reading

In the press

Is it something about October? Or is activism really taking off in the design community? Architectural Record offers a special issue on socially responsible design for October 2008,Continue Reading

Timely publications

In the past couple of days I’ve come across two new publications on the theme of design activism, and interestingly one comes from a product design perspective, Design for Social Impact, (namely IDEO with the Rockefeller Foundation) and the other comes from the architecture perspective, Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism (Metropolis books by way ofContinue Reading

Designism 3.0 event in NYC

The Art Director’s Club of New York are hosting the 3rd annual “Designism” event to debate and support design for social change. What they say: “Join the third annual gathering of leading creatives committed to social activism and instigating change through media. The evening promises controversy, conversation and includes a moderated debate, lightening round presentationsContinue Reading

resources: teaching sustainable design

We interrupt the series on ethics to announce some resources that may be of interest to those of us teaching sustainable design. First is a conference, “360 Degrees – Charting New Territory in Sustainable Design Education” on September 19th, 20th and 21st in London and Brighton, United Kingdom. Find out all about it on TheContinue Reading

resources: better world & American human development

I recently learned about two resources that seem pertinent to design activism. The first is an upcoming conference called “A Better World by Design” to be held November 7-9th at Brown University in Providence RI (USA). What they say “A Better World by Design asks the question today’s designers, engineers, and economists should be asking.Continue ReadingContinue Reading

new “social design” website

Under the double negative banner “we cannot not change the world” a group has launched a forum for social design. They say, ” The SocialDesignSite aims to foster and facilitate a discourse on social design by establishing a unique interactive platform between everyone interested on the topic. We present innovative projects that help develop andContinue Reading