Design

Mobile Design

By August 29, 2012 No Comments

By now we’ve all seen bookmobiles, bloodmobiles, traveling HIV-testing clinics and mobile farmer’s markets as a way to bring goods and social services to the people (not to mention the ongoing food truck explosion). Now another four-wheeled venture has recently joined the traveling ranks. Introducing the mobile design studio!

Erik Olovsson, a recent design school grad, converted a mobile home into a roving design studio and is traveling across Sweden producing menus, business cards, posters and animation for local small businesses. He even takes it a step further by offering his services for barter or trade, eschewing cash for life’s necessities.

‘I want to explore my role as a designer and be my own producer, in the same time challenge the norms in the business,’ Olovsson commented in Frame magazine.

Wherever Erik’s Designbuss makes a stop, he rolls out the welcome mat and sets up chairs to have one-on-one contact with clients. What a great way to encourage idea exchange and provoke curiosity among passer-by.

“It is rare that a designer gets a deeper insight into the client’s business,” he adds in this article from Good. “It’s easy to be sitting in the office and surf design blogs instead of finding inspiration from reality.”

I admire Erik’s Design Buss immensely. The introduction of the digital age changed everything about how graphic designers work and forces us to be tethered to a computer for most of the day. When, ironically, the inspiration for creativity and the cause for social design is all around us. Some designers have reacted to this electronic epidemic by incorporating handmade elements and artist techniques into their work, hence the rise of the letterpress, screenprint and DIY craft.

I hope other graphic designers follow suit on Erik’s charming approach to the business of design. A mobile design studio might be a good transition for students of social design to get local and take their act on the road, while getting to see some of the communities they might be helping without the barrier of the screen.

Author Jami Dodson

Jami Dodson is a designer, writer and thinker with extensive experience in creative services. When not designing or volunteering at greening events, you can find her at the farmer's market or enjoying a manhattan.

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