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Jami Dodson

Oct 10
0

Seeing Clearly

By | Design, Social Media | No Comments

This past Sunday evening I caught a glimpse of 60 Minutes on CBS between switching out loads of laundry and general domesticating. It was a short, expose segment on Luxottica, the Italian eyeglass-wear company that pretty much has a monopoly on the eyewear market in the U.S. Luxottica not only owns Pearle Vision, LensCrafters and other boutique eyewear shops, it also owns Sears and Target Optical, and Sunglass Hut. According to the report, they manufacture glasses for numerous brands, slapping a money-making Prada or Chanel logo on the side. And did I mention they also own Ray-Ban and Oakley brands? By owning the top eyewear retail outlets and producing the majority of the glasses themselves, Luxottica can set prices as high as they wish. I personally don’t wear glasses (yet), but it shouldn’t cost $300+ to see things clearly.

Enter Warby Parker. Funny name for a company that was started by four guys who gave a damn at Wharton Business School. Warby Parker (WP) is an alternative to the mall-store set, offering frames and prescription lenses for a reasonable $95. Total. That’s it. WP creates their own designs and sells them directly to the customer through their website and storefronts.

So where does design and social value come in?

  • First, the design thinking behind this venture plays a large part in WP’s success. They saw the need to change the way people typically purchase eyeglasses and an opportunity to offer pairs at a reasonable cost. Can’t make it to one of their twelve showrooms? No problem. WP will ship you (for free) five pairs of glasses to try out for five days and a postage-paid box to return them in. It’s UX gone 3D.
  • The combination of stylish product design and good website design sets the company apart from the competition. By the look and feel of their site, it’s probably accurate to say most of their customers are young and hip, but that doesn’t mean grandpa wouldn’t look sharp in snappy tortoiseshell frames.
  • Check out their 2011 annual report. A well-designed interactive infograph approach to their end of year report gained them major popularity points. “We thought some people would find it interesting, but it was retweeted 2,000 times and led to our three highest consecutive day of sales–even more so then when we were in CBS Sunday Morning or the New York Times,” co-founder Neil Blumenthal told Fast Company in this article.
  • And then, of course, is their blatant mission to do good. For every pair of glasses sold, WP provides a pair to someone in need. WP also partners with non-profits to train people in developing countries how to start their own glasses-selling business. Their solid commitment to sustainability as a business has garnered them a certified B Corp designation by B Lab.

A huge driving force for our entire founding team has been this concept of really being a force for good in the world,” says co-founder David Gilboa in this Fast Company article.

Turns out, design + entrepreneurship + doing good = a profitable success. Who’da thunk? (A book on this topic currently on my Nook wishlist is “Start Something That Matters” by Blake Mycoskie, the founder of TOMS shoes.) I’d like to see more businesses that embrace this model come to life in the very near future. Backing sporadic philanthropic efforts here and there doesn’t have the same impact on consumers as it once did, and can come across as a mere PR stunt. Consumers now have access to company information that might not have been so transparent before. One doesn’t need glasses to make the right choices.

Oct 03
0

The Hidden Link

By | Design, Social Media | One Comment

(Photo by tcp909.)

Let’s talk about something near and dear to my heart. Hot dogs. Yep, you know you love ‘em. Whether it be a homemade weiner with kraut from Binkert’s or a dirty water dog sporting mustard and neon-green relish, hot dogs rank pretty high on my favorites list. So it really struck me when I heard Candy Chang talk about one of her many design for change projects, a Street Vendor Guide  for New York City’s ubiquitous food cart vendors. She spoke last Thursday as part of the Mixed Media Lecture series hosted by the Center for Art Education and the MICA Graphic Design department.

Chang describes herself as an artist who wants to make cities more emotional. She is a TED Senior Fellow, a Tulane Urban Innovation Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and was named a “Live Your Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah Magazine. By combining public art with civic engagement and personal well-being, she has been recognized for exploring new strategies for the design of our cities in order to live our best lives. More of her biography can be found here.

We choose what consumes our hearts. The world becomes more rewarding when you look beyond what you’re searching for. —Candy Chang

Chang worked with Rosten Woo and John Mangin of the Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) and Sean Basinski of The Street Vendor Project to make the Street Vendor Guide an accessible and understandable presentation of important regulations. They found that many vendors were receiving fines of up to $1,000 for small violations that could easily be avoided. Taking a look at the old regulation documents, however, one could easily see how the information was getting lost in translation, often quite literally. Chang designed a new vendor guide that depicts the safety rules and street regulations in easy-to-understand illustrations accompanied by text in Bengali, Arabic, Chinese, English and Spanish. It also includes policy reform recommendations and personal vendor stories. Guides were distributed for free to thousands of street vendors and are available as a download from the CUP’s Making Policy Public site.

This is just one example of how Chang’s work has shifted a microcosm. Her other work is equally inspiring, crossing the intersections of public art and urban planning, design and communication. One of her more recent projects is Neighborland, an online tool about real places that stemmed from her I Wish This Was public art installations. It promotes community discussion about ways to improve common spaces and connects like-minded citizens with an emphasis on pooling resources. The website encourages residents to speak up about what they want to see change in their city. Prominent street signage encouraged people to also text their ideas to the site, allowing conversations and grass-roots efforts to oscillate between the screen and real world. This unique project is an example of how the gap between the online world and reality can be bridged. I think future efforts to further explore the possibilities of this connection between technology and community will become cutting edge innovations in social change.

Sep 26
0

525,600 Minutes of Fire

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Sometimes things we intend to do (no matter how earnestly) somehow get pushed off the to-do list and fall into a dusty corner. That’s usually where design for good ends up—a smoldering ash in a fire fueled by deadlines, paying clients, administrative duties and, well, work. We set out with the best of intentions and then shiftily look at our feet when asked about our progress on outside projects or what we’re doing to make a difference.

That’s why it’s impressive to me that a design and branding agency makes the case for spending an entire year with a pro bono client. That’s enough time not only to ensure that the creative work gets accomplished amidst other surprise deadlines that inevitably pop up, but also time enough to establish a strong rapport and fully understand the client’s needs. Cayenne Creative, out of Birmingham, AL, selects one lucky non-profit annually and goes all out. Furthermore, they partner with select vendors to offer discounted services to the organization. They begin with a laundry list of all the sorely-needed communications projects and tackle them starting with the most important. This is part of their F.I.T.B. Initiative, aptly named because of the passion behind the flame, the “fire in the belly” that sparks Cayenne’s creative thinking and their mantra for why they do the work they do.

Think about how much more effective you can be when you focus all of your energy in one direction, versus trying to spread it out. — Cayenne Creative

In 2010, Cayenne selected Birmingham Education Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to improving Birmingham’s schools, for their F.I.T.B. Initiative. The work won them several local, regional and national Addys, as well as recognition in the latest September/October 2012 Communication Arts design annual. It’s eye-catching and vibrant—a fresh approach for a conventional cause.

Our goal was to humanize the foundation by calling it “Ed,” and to inspire people to engage, to raise their hands, to say, “I have the answer. I am part of the solution. I am Ed.” The red desk became an icon, a guerrilla tactic, and a way of creating a cognitive link to the campaign.

I see this year-long collaborative process as a win-win for both non-profit and design studio. The pros are many. The agency doesn’t have to spend all the precious billable hours on pro-bono work crammed into 3 months, rather, the work can be spread out over a longer period of time. Which in turn, allows for a more extensive, polished final product. And let’s face it, a lot of firms do social value work on the side because it’s an opportunity for creative freedom and a chance to win a prestigious industry award. Better work is bound to come out of a longer courtship.

There are great design firms out there currently doing work 24/7 for the greater good. And while very admirable, it’s not realistic for everyone. So what is the best business model for incorporating work with social value with the bread-and-butter clients? Should it be a separate entity that thrives alongside everyday projects? Can it be incorporated seamlessly into everyday workflow as second nature? Or is it about giving ourselves a pat on the back and a trophy in the conference room?

A year long commitment to a project that might not pay the bills is a stretch for any agency. But it’s one worth taking. It might just be the fuel that your belly needs.

Sep 19
0

The Election Connection

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It was over twenty years ago when Madonna wrapped herself in an American flag in the first PSA (watch it here) for the Rock the Vote campaign. I’m not sure what I was doing in 1990, but I definitely don’t remember seeing that. I do recall, though, other celebrity and musician endorsements popping up on MTV while I licked nacho-cheese Dorito dust off my fingers. Hard to believe they have been at it for so long. If you can handle the optical assault (did the RTV web designer not get the memo that white type on a black background is not a good idea?), I recommend reading the Rock The Vote history timeline on the website. RTV made huge strides in youth electoral participation by introducing the register by telephone number option and later, online registration for young voters. Today, Rock the Vote is still rocking out, now partnered with data research organization Young Voter Strategies, and is actively road tripping to universities and colleges across the U.S., as well as launching initiatives like getting Virgin America to offer in-flight voter registration and teaming with XBOX to offer easy voter registration while gaming. Clearly, they are finding alternative ways to reach their audience by making voter registration a seamless integration with what teens are already doing.

Millennials are the fastest growing, most diverse generation in our nation’s history, accounting for nearly one quarter of the electorate nationwide, outnumbering seniors this November. By 2016 this group of young people is predicted to make up nearly 33% of all actual voters. —RTV website

Rock the Vote’s method for moving the masses is straightforward: We use music, popular culture, new technologies and grassroots organizing to motivate and mobilize young people in our country to participate in every election, with the goal of seizing the power of the youth vote to create political and social change. In the golden age of music videos, these campaigns were spot on. Are these methods still the most effective when it comes to engaging the most ADHD-riddled demographic of today?

A less popular national youth voting campaign (as of this writing, I VOTE has 262 followers on Twitter) is getting the word out via “viral videos/PSAs and interactive social media.” It’s called I VOTE, and you can view the video spot directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Jessica Sanders below.

It brings a lot of women’s issues to light but let’s admit, it’s a little creepy. According to their sponsor site, “I VOTE will establish this dialogue [among the younger generation] by tapping into an extensive nationwide network of A-List creatives to produce fresh, original content that resonates with younger voters. Filmmakers, actors, artists, photographers, and musicians will lend their talents to give voice to the issues facing us in 2012 and the youth will listen….and talk back.” I wonder if these additional endorsements will be in the same “scary issues” vein as the first video and what millennials will have to say about them.

Regionally, two MICA students have launched Don’t You Want To?, a youth voting campaign with the hopes of getting young people involved as citizens and participants in our democracy. “We hope to use design to go where grassroots organizing and volunteer based registration campaigns cannot,” they proclaim on their Facebook page. Not really sure how that works, but I like the sound of it! The orange and blue are fresh takes on the usual presidential color palette.

The video promises candidate cheat sheets, posters, buttons, online resources and t-shirts, the latter of which I found to be questionable in their messaging. Shirts have slogans such as “Let’s Get a Booth” and “Pull My Lever”, as well as, “Stuff My Box”, “Give Me An Election”, and “Take My Poll” (complete with silohuetted pole dancer). Say what?

I know, I sound like a grandma when I say times have changed. And they have. The web has made information on candidates and election-sensitive topics (biased or not) readily available to those who seek it. And youth-centric issues are hot buttons on the election agenda this year—student debt woes, unemployment and health insurance, even same-sex marriage debates. Once shielded viewpoints now fly freely across the transparent twittersphere. To stand out and engage millennials in this realm, register to vote campaigns do have to kick it up a notch. But that doesn’t mean we should cheapen the message and resort to low-brow, off-color humor. The right to vote is a gift and should be taken seriously. I have to agree with ‏@janekleeb:

Cross the Party Line, cute http://dontuwant2.onlineshirtstores.com/  The rest of the shirts are ridiculous. Stuff my box?! Young voters better than this.

Sep 12
0

A Trio of Powerhouse Design Conferences

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Fall is here and it’s time to get your learn on. As a lifelong learner and information sponge, I wish I could clone myself to take advantage of all the goodness out there. Opportunities flourish in the classroom and out, and sometimes a short conference is all you need to get inspired to put good ideas into action. Students especially have many opportunities to attend, often at a reduced rate. Here are three upcoming design conferences with an emphasis on social change and the value of design in business. Check them out.


A Better World By Design, September 28-30, Providence, RI
Cost: Students $45, Professionals $275, single day passes available

The Gist:

A Better World By Design takes place on the campuses of Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University. The goal is connecting multidiscipinary professionals and students to promote a socially-conscious global community.

The conference centers around the student Better World Challenge (submissions for this year are now closed). This year’s challenge is all about the digital divide and connecting the disconnected to the powersurge of information available through technology. The winner receives a $1,000 stipend towards implementation of the idea and is automatically placed into Dell Social Innovation Challenge’s semi-finalist round for a chance to win $50,000. Check out last year’s finalists and winners in this video.

Speakers include:

Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts
Cheryl Heller, American designer and brand strategist
Dr. Timothy Beatley, internationally recognized sustainable city researcher and author

Topics include:

Panels on Design Policy
Urban Farm Tours
Studio Workshops

Fun Factor:

Celebrating it’s fifth anniversary this year, ABWxD is hosting a birthday shindig on Friday night with a stationary bike race, photo booth, bike-powered DJ (whatever that is), and food trucks with local eats and drinks.

Design-O-Meter:

Looks to be a great student event with a focus on collaboration and social change. Intimate setting and refreshingly affordable.

Why It Matters:

ABWxD focuses on bringing together individuals from around the globe to collaborate on social design issues. Not to mention RISD is a hub in itself of design and innovative thinking, with president John Maeda at the helm. A completely student-organized event, ABWxD strives to create impact by thinking globally and acting locally. Connecting the student body to the professional one is paramount in strengthening design education, and this conference is a leader in building those socially-conscious design relationships.

GAIN, AIGA Design for Social Value Conference, October 9-10, San Francisco, CA
Cost: AIGA Student Member, $425, AIGA Professional Member $475-850

The Gist:

From the website:
To be relevant in today’s economy, businesses must think about more than just their bottom line. At “Gain” you‘ll hear design, business and social innovation leaders from a variety of industries share their visionary approaches to creating social value.

Presenters will demonstrate the broadening role design plays in institutional strategy, leadership, process and service, product and message, and how the creative attributes of designers provide special advantages to tackling socially relevant projects and enhancing the human experience. Build value for your brand and strengthen your business practice at “Gain.”

Watch presentations from the 2010 Gain conference here.

Speakers include:

William Drenttel, designer and publisher, Winterhouse
Patrice Martin, co-lead and creative director, IDEO.org
Justin Ahrens, principal, Rule29
Robert Fabricant, vice president of creative, frog design

Topics include:

Negotiating and Contracting for Pro Bono Jobs
Implementing Social Change
Successful Grantwriting and Fundraising

Fun Factor:

Roundtable discussions with specific industry experts, opening night reception, you’re in San Francisco!

Design-O-Meter:

The preeminent professional’s conference with the big name speakers to prove it. Top of the heap schmoozing but you’ll probably have to work (and pay) for it.

Why It Matters:

AIGA recently revamped their membership pricing structure to be more affordable, and is adapting to meet the needs of those in this rapidly changing profession. The crème de la crème speakers at this event make the case for the value of design throughout business and messaging, something that is essential in today’s marketplace. The emphasis is in exploring the role of the designer in the professional space, rather than under the safety umbrella of academia, which is of particular interest to me—integrating social value as part of a holistic approach, not pro-bono work designers are supposed to do on the side.

DesignThinkers Conference, Nov. 8-9, Toronto, Canada
Cost: Before Oct. 9, non-RGD members (Canada’s semi-version of AIGA) $525, student member $175, single day and deluxe tickets available

The Gist:

This is the 13th year for Canada’s largest design conference and is part of an event-full design week in Toronto. The theme is The Sacred Order of Alternative Ideas with the Latin motto finire cogitationes ad infinitum, meaning, limit your thinking to the limitless.

Watch this video for highlights from last year.

Speakers include:

David Butler, VP, Innovation, Coca-Cola Company
Lisa Strausfeld, Global Head of Data Visualization, Bloomberg
Stefan Sagmeister, Co-founder & Creative Director, Sagmeister & Walsh
Glenn John Arnowitz, Director of Global Creative Services, Pfizer

Topics include:

How to Market with Content Workshop
In-House Q&A with Julia Hoffmann & Glenn John Arnowitz

Fun Factor:

Studio tours, an opening party, “Teaching to See” film screening, a PechaKucha night, and a student portfolio workshop with Bryony Gomez-Palacio

Design-O-Meter:

Has been on my radar since I saw last year’s speaker lineup. Combines relevant topics with additional activities.

Why It Matters:

RGD is a professional graphic arts organization much like AIGA, however, they set design standards and designate those who qualify as Registered Graphic Designers (R.G.D.). Members must pass a standard examination of accreditation. How does this change the profession and value we put on design? Are designers more revered for having this accreditation and does it help raise overall awareness?

Sep 05
0

99 Problems But This Ain’t One

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Crowdsourcing. Throw that one into a convo among graphic designers and you’re sure to see the fur fly. You’d have to be living in a bomb shelter to not know how transformational providing this type of contest-based service has been to the design industry. Controversial, yes. But is crowdsourcing going  to die a sudden death as a result? … meh, probably not. There are scores of sites out there promoting this type of service business model, and probably just as many reasons as to why it works and why it shouldn’t.

But this post isn’t about that.

99designs.com is the number-one online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design, with a new design uploaded every five seconds and more than $35,000,000 paid out to our design community since 2008 (from their website). They have launched a recent initiative that will provide free graphic design services (logos, t-shirt design, print and web design) to 99 nonprofit organizations, selected over the next few months. There is no deadline to apply and nonprofits can submit this short form to get started in the running.

According to their blog, they have already said yes to these contenders:

  • Cancer Council Australia advises the Australian government and other bodies on practices and policies to help prevent, detect and treat cancer, and advocates for the rights of cancer patients for best treatment and supportive care.
  • Greenbelt Alliance aims to make the San Francisco Bay Area a better place to live by protecting the region’s greenbelt and improving the livability of its cities and towns through public policy development, advocacy and education. (California)
  • Black Dog Institute is an educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility offering specialist expertise in depression and bipolar disorder. (New South Wales)
  • Voice of Warriors helps veterans and their families connect with a wide spectrum of mental health and other resources at a local and national level. (Michigan)
  • CASE for Refugees provides free legal advice, representation and advocacy to refugees, humanitarian visa holders and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. (Western Australia)
  • National Breast Cancer Foundation has allocated more than $55 million to more than 230 breast cancer research projects since 1994 to further its mission to promote and support breast cancer research. (Australia)
  • Menlowe Ballet performs imaginative and illuminating new works and provides  professional performing opportunities to students from the nationally recognized Menlo Park Academy of Dance. (California)

Does this side venture into the do-good world help redeem 99designs from its low ranks or is it a PR stunt to help soften the blow of what’s really going on here? It’s ironic they mention their other community outreach efforts in the nonprofit contest FAQs. It also states that the winning designs (for the nonprofits) will be compensated by 99designs.com, which doesn’t change the biggest problem with this particular crowdsourcing model – the fact that the designers who do the work but don’t make the cut are not paid. But because this is work for a nonprofit, does that make it okay in the name of pro bono?

This contest-like approach for getting creative work for free is not new. Sometimes the winner gets recognition or some other form of compensation for his or her efforts, but somehow that seems more feel-goody and less cut throat than when the “prize” is payment for services and is only rewarded to one lucky person. A creative freelance site like Elance employs a more agreeable model, where designers bid on proposed projects and work one-on-one with the client for an agreed-upon price. Sure, maybe the fee is still unreasonably low and devalues the design profession, but at least designers are getting reimbursed for their time and work.

There are other low-cost options out there for nonprofits who have little to no funding for design and marketing services (why these services are usually not deemed essential to the overall operation budget is another topic for another day). Taproot Foundation connects professionals with social change organizations to give them access to resources such as design, technology and marketing. Grassroots.org is another example. Many designers take on pro bono projects in addition to their daily work to flex their creative muscles. And students are usually in need of real-world experience in and outside of the classroom.

It’s easy to forget that crowdsourcing isn’t always a negative thing. It has just become synonymous with crowdsourced design. Kiva and Kickstarter are harnessing the power of the masses to benefit organizations around the globe. Used in other ways, crowdsourcing can be very beneficial for nonprofits without endorsing the type of spec work that 99designs blatantly encourages.

Aug 29
0

Mobile Design

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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.

Aug 22
0

Commando Design

By | Design, Social Media | 2 Comments

I admit, I’m having a few withdrawal symptoms from my week in Colorado, working pro bono for Yampa Valley Data Partners. I was one of nine graphic designers selected to attend the inaugural Steamboat Design Camp, held in picturesque Steamboat Springs. Back in Baltimore, there is no pre-work hike traversing waterfalls and taking in gorgeous vistas, no daily breakfasts delivered by fellow generous Yampa Valley Design Guild members, and there’s definitely no trace of black garlic infused scotch for added inspiration. What is left simmering, however, is the inspiration and energy from doing said thing, and a slight transformation of perspective—inside and out. We accomplished what we set out to do (reminding ourselves that sharing stories and trading tips wasn’t going to get the real work done), which was come together from various backgrounds and different parts of the country to collaborate and learn and ultimately deliver an identity system for our selected nonprofit.

Our client was Yampa Valley Data Partners, a regional nonprofit organization of Routt and Moffat counties that provides community information and data to small business owners, developers and other community members. YVDP facilitates discussions and regional forums based on indicator data and issues critical to the community. In layman’s terms, this translates into a lot of charts and graphs, which is a challenge in itself. But Executive Director Kate Nowak’s bigger issue was an outdated logo and lack of consistent branding; something that wasn’t helping raise awareness about the organization or its mission.

On day one we started learning as much as we could about YVDP and jotting down ideas and sketching doodles. By late that evening we were transferring those thoughts to computer comps and adding color palettes and tagline suggestions. (Why we didn’t go with “We have more elk than people,” I’ll never know.) We discussed and critiqued and somehow decided on our top three to present to the client without scratching each other’s eyes out. Kate was overjoyed with our efforts and gave good feedback and asked the right questions in return. We then split into two groups in order to divide and conquer the rest of the materials. The logo team further refined the brand and built out the brand guidelines and stationery, and the publication team developed various collateral pieces and ad templates.

Collectively, we did a lot in five days. It would have been fun to take it further, to go beyond the list of everyday templates and items necessary for running a business, understanding that sometimes those are the most essential and should take priority. The subject matter itself practically begs for a microsite or app to help present such complex information in a user interface designed with the audience in mind. I wanted to do more research; find out why the community didn’t know about YDVP and ask those who did, how they used the information for their respective projects. To find out what marketing channels or media outlets would provide the most bang for the buck. But yeah … it was only five days.

We all came to Camp for various reasons, although one common thread among us was the desire to participate collectively. Many of the other attending designers work alone or have had little experience working with other designers in their community. Collaboration is a controversial theme in many graphic design discussions. In Ellen Lupton’s AIGA article, Why Collaborate?, she comments, “I’d love to collaborate, as long as I can work alone.” Can’t say I don’t share some of her sentiment.

Does collaboration achieve a better design end-product or does it potentially water it down by combining ideas and introduce mediocrity by way of democracy? When design is something so individual and subjective, how is a consensus reached? In other fields, there also might be many ways to solve a problem but the clear solution is the one backed by evidence and which minimizes risk. Collaboration as a concept in design is monumental, but it takes skill to execute it successfully and gain productive insight from it. We can reach higher and do better work when we partner with others if we let down our guard and listen. (And if everyone makes a comparable contribution.)

I’d encourage every designer to try forming an impromptu team and help out a nonprofit or tackle a social issue. See what bubbles up. You’ll walk away learning a lot about yourself in the process.

About Steamboat Design Camp: It’s a camp for designers that want to use their creativity to benefit a Steamboat non-profit organization. Coordinated by the Yampa Valley Design Guild, SDC is an intense collaborative design experience–from initial meetings to energetic brainstorming…design iterations to the final launch party. It is also a chance to get inspired, and see firsthand how the designs you do can bring positive change in the very communities we all work and live in.

Thanks to Todd and Lisa and the rest of the Guild for organizing this inaugural event and I hope that it continues to inspire and encourage social designers from all over in the future.

Aug 15
0

Cool Tees for a Hot Issue

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Gotta love the do-good projects that bring graphic designers together and gives something to the masses in return. I was out in Colorado this weekend for Steamboat Design Camp (more on that later) and was feeling the love for these cool, er, hot, t-shirts.

In response to the tragic Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs, a group of designers, marketers and volunteers began Wildfiretees.com in June. Word spread like, sorry guys, wildfire on Twitter and Facebook and t-shirt sales took off.

According to the July 27th press release on their website, Wildfiretees’ sales had reached $527,000 with 100% of profits helping those affected by the summer Colorado forest fires. And they’re still going strong. Half of proceeds are going to the Care and Share Food Bank, and half to the Colorado Red Cross. At $20 a pop, you can also donate one to a firefighter. Sad I missed the now sold out “More Disco, Less Inferno” design.

“It’s hard for our team to imagine that we began this project with a goal of selling, maybe, 200 T-shirts” said Sara DeRose co-creative director of Fixer Creative and co-organizer of the initiative. “To our pleasant surprise, a global community has reached-out to support this cause and as of this morning we have sold roughly 27,000 T-shirts.”

“The effort emerged out of a simple and overpowering desire to support wildfire victims in a way that would exceed any individual checks our group could write.” —Wildfiretees.com

I love the impromptu community that develops over something like this. Similar, larger movements evolved out of reactions to the Katrina and Haiti disasters. Sometimes all we can do as designers is gather together and contribute to the cause after the fact. How can we spark that same urge and excitement more proactively in our own circles?

Aug 08
0

A Bump in the Bike Lane

By | Design, Social Media | 2 Comments

The U.S. has long fallen behind other countries in public transit options and providing alternatives to driving. Small strides are being made in the two-wheeled direction, however, with Alison Cohen’s bike sharing upstart Alta Bicycle Share, based out of (where else?) Portland, Oregon. Alta has launched bike rental operations in Washington, D.C. and Boston, among other cities, and will put 10,000 bikes on the streets of New York this summer.

The setup works like this: borrowers unlock a bike from a docking station scattered throughout the city by inserting a prepaid keycard and return the bike to any other docking station at trip’s end. Annual, monthly, 3-day or a 24-hour subscription can be purchased. After paying for a membership, the first 30 minutes of riding is free, with additional costs incurring after that. Pricing can get a little tricky, though, and can be cost prohibitive for tourists or those without time to wait for a keycard in the mail.

Capital Bikeshare rental station near McPherson Square Metro (WMATA) station, downtown Washington, D.C. Photo: Mariordo Mario Roberto Duran Ortiz (Own work)

I looked for information on strides made towards bike sharing programs in Baltimore and didn’t get very far. In November 2011 there were plans for the city to partner with B-cycle to put 300 bikes on Baltimore streets by fall 2012. Like Alta’s partnership with NYC, B-cycle was to be privately funded and use no public subsidies. (Citibank and MasterCard provided $41 million and $6.5 million dollars to fund the NYC fleet, respectively.) I hope they are still moving forward with this plan as I haven’t seen a fancy bike fleet yet.

While Alta and similar biking initiatives are forward thinking in their attempts to alleviate traffic congestion and promote a greener transportation option, too often these types of initiatives ostracize those who most likely do not have access to a car or even a debit or credit card to pay the associated fees. These are the people that really need access to affordable transportation—to get to work, to have access to healthy food and exercise, to tend to family matters, to have options. Furthermore, the digital divide prevents the poor from even knowing such programs exist.

Baltimore has taken recent initiatives to provide more transportation outlets to city dwellers. The free Charm City Circulator operates three routes connecting popular points downtown. Zipcar car-sharing stations have populated the city, but are mostly concentrated downtown and near universities, ie. near middle-class professionals and internet-savvy students. As with bike rentals, these transport hubs will have to move beyond the Inner Harbor and Mount Vernon areas to offer their services to the true transportation deserts in the city.

A more viable solution might be to provide more affordable bikes to those in need. Velocipede Bike Project is a great resource to get moving on two wheels on the cheap. And (surprise!) international designers are already on top of affordable solutions. Using nine dollars worth of materials, bicycle enthusiast Izhar Gafni has created a fully functioning, water-resistant bicycle, made, from seat to spokes, entirely of recycled cardboard. What if these cardboard bikes were for sale at light rail stations?

Not that smaller scale car-sharing services don’t exist among the poor. I’m sure you’ve seen someone on the side of the road hacking—shaking their forefinger, gesturing for a ride. (I’ve only seen this in Baltimore.) Perhaps there is an opportunity for a social designer to tap into this informal vehicle-sharing system and make it more efficient and available on a larger scale.

From my experience, people who want to commute by bike or cycle as part of a green, healthy lifestyle already own a bike and incorporate cycling into their daily routines as much as they can. Bike sharing might be a great alternative to driving, but only for a select few who know their whereabouts and have the liberty to choose. Sure, an awareness campaign would be a good place to start, but I think further design thinking needs to be employed to change behaviors and update the Baltimore transportation landscape. We need to include those on the other side of MLK and Guilford in our efforts. As social designers we need to seek beyond the traditional boundaries of two-dimensions and create multifaceted ideas that promote positive change.