TASK 5 - Social Design

by | |

"Waste is a design flaw." Kate Krebs, National Recycling Coalition, 2008.

The socially responsible apporach to design work is something that many designers are following. In a world where climate change is a serious problem, and natural fuels are running out, everyone needs to relook at their carbon footprint.

Greengaged, held at the UK Design Council, set out to examine the ecological crisis, explore the role of design and debate the consequential responsibility of designers.

It was claimed that as designers we are very good at producing waste, but we are all very bad at using it. Rob Holdway, Founder of Giraffe Innovation and Presenter of Channel 4's "Dumped" series, expressed his thoughts on the role of education to teach designers to contextualize their work, and further highlighted the individual responsibility that we, as designers, have to be more aware of what our clients and their briefs are asking of us. In a consumer culture, the ephemerality of design needs to be transformed and celebrated, by only designing consumer products from biodegradable materials.

So what designers have strong ethics and a responsible approach to their design work?


A Better World by Design brings a global community of innovators, to reach across disciplines and unite under a common goal. Presenters share engaging stories, workshops teach creative skills, and discussions reframe perspectives. A Better World by Design is an immersive experience that deepens our understanding of the power of design, technology, and enterprise to reshape our communities and sustain our environment.


The Designers Accord is a global coalition of designers, educators, and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact. Their focus is on creating positive impact in the creative community by connecting a broad network throughout the creative community, inspiring and motivating our members to share best practices, bold ideas, and compelling case studies, and enabling new initiatives to grow from the foundation built by the Designers Accord.

They are working on many exiting projects, one of many is Fashion Futures


Slow is Beautiful from Alex Johnson on Vimeo.


Another project that I thought was about trying to get poeple to stop using plastic water bottles by changing the way people drank water




The most recent development for KOR includes artist series bottles, where graphics reinforce the cause-motivated colors: These bottles will sell for $5 more and that entire fee will go directly to the cause, another detail RKS hopes the consumer will proudly tell those around them.

At the moment IDEO are hosting a competition inviting people to show a vision of a future shaped by climate change


Our Invitation To You from IDEO on Vimeo.



Sam and Dave Save the World from IDEO on Vimeo.

In “Sam and Dave Save the World,” the IDEO Chicago team elected to explore climate change through the constraints of a typical American city. Conceptually, they felt that if a city were a place to escape to (or from), or a place within which one could live without limits, then it would not be a workable city. So they decided to portray a city with limits, as a contained space, by way of a “single house” (as illustrated by the Foam core prototypes in the piece).

You’ll see two side-by-side stories about two neighbors who respond very differently to climate change. Sam reacts; Dave responds. Sam adapts; Dave searches for solutions. The split-screen storytelling technique is effective for calling out these distinctions.

0 comments:

Post a Comment