Social, Environmental & Economic Sustainability for the Design Industry.
November 2010
Issue 1 The Sustainability Issue
CONTENTS p2
— Editorial
p3-6
— Design & Ethics: Good, Bad, Innocent Or Ignorant?
p7-10 — Design And Morality, The Responsibilities In Design p11-14 — Graphic Design In An Age Of Anxiety p15-18 — Working With Values p19-20 — Gallery p21-24 — I Believe Design Can Change p25-26 — Gallery p27-30 — The Role of Graphic Design In International Development
EDITORIAL Icograda. Leading Creatively Founded in 1963, Icograda (the International Council of Graphic Design Associations) is a voluntary assembly of organisations concerned with graphic design, visual communication, design management, promotion, education, research and journalism. Icograda promotes communication designers’ vital role in society and commerce and unifies the voices of graphic designers and visual communicators worldwide.
issues associated with their practice. As well as informing, we also hope to educate people on the things they can do to make their work more sustainable. Leading by example, the entire layout of this magazine has been created with sustainability in mind. From the amount of ink used, to the paper stock and printing methods deployed. So please read and take in the information presented and help us create a brighter future for the next generation.
The vision, mission and core values of the council are collectively embodied in the statement ‘leading creatively’ and manifested through our Members’ diverse activities to use design as a medium for progressive change. Communication design is an intellectual, technical and creative activity concerned not simply with the production of images but with the analysis, organisation and methods of presentation of visual solutions to communication problems. The Icograda Foundation was established in 1991 for the advancement of worldwide understanding and education through the effective use of graphic design. Working in conjunction with Icograda, Triple Bottom Line is a magazine which aims to inform designers about the ethical 2
“Applying a system of values and ethics in your design practice is almost certainly something you've thought about at some point or another, probably in some hypothetical question relating to doing work for a cigarette manufacturer, oil company or the like. However, I think a fuller more complete approach is necessary.”
WORKING WITH VALUES “This is the real world” “There are no friends in business” “Its all about the bottom line”
As a freelancer newly started in the design business, I’ve been on the receiving end of many such a comment from helpful, if somewhat jaded friends and co-workers. The perception of business as a sphere of life where values are not just out of place but in fact detrimental to success is a surprisingly persistent one. Call me naive but I don’t agree. There is no reason why values should not be a part of a business strategy, particularly that of a design business. As designers we find ourselves in a field rife with loose ethics. Having worked for the last year in the property advertising industry I can personally testify to the sorts of subtle deceit and exaggerations that we perpetuate every day in our work for what are all too often products, services and ideas of no particular benefit to anyone. Applying a system of values and ethics in your design practice is almost certainly something you ve thought about at some point or another, probably in some hypothetical question relating to doing work for a cigarette manufacturer, oil company or the like. However I think a fuller more complete 15
approach is necessary. In this article I’ve briefly examined a few of the issues that all designers should seriously consider. Choosing Projects from an Ethical Standpoint Touched on in many a university course and perhaps the most obvious ethical issue in the creative industries, this can be quite a dilemma for the struggling agency. In my own experience I was once approached to produce a string of adult sites complete with all the latest bells and whistles and with the prospect of a very large sum of money. I immediately said ‘yes, lets have a meeting!” but as the day proceeded my conscience started to kick in. I tried to convince myself that as long as I wasn’t creating the content I could stay neutral, and that if I didn’t do the job somebody else would. In the end, though, I decided I couldn’t feel right about it and called the whole thing off. While not everyone might feel the same way about adult sites, it’s important to have some general guidelines as to the sort of projects you think are ethically sound. The hard part is sticking to them no matter how much money is waved in front of you. It’s tempting to give in to the money, or the alluring idea that it doesn’t really make a difference what you do, but for your own sake, be prepared to take a stand on issues you care about and to draw the line on projects which you think detrimental to society. In the end, the global community is made up of nothing more than individuals making small decisions every day, but its these decisions that affect us all. As
Collis Ta’eed
“AS DESIGNERS WE FIND OURSELVES IN A FIELD RIFE WITH LOOSE ETHICS.” a designer you have a lot of power held in your hands. You have the power to make almost anything seem desirable or even essential, to change the way people see whats around them. This may sound exaggerated, but consider how important Hitler saw his propoganda ministry. It was paramount to his success in getting Germany to its pre-WW2 attitudes. While you will doubtless never be involved in anything so overtly wrong, you should bear in mind the implications your work has the potential to have. Here are some examples of the sorts of projects I personally would stay away from. This is by no means a definitive list, but some areas our practice chooses to avoid: - Anything detrimental to the environment - overfishing, uranium mining, etc. - Gambling, Cigarettes, Alcohol - X-rated adult projects - Marketing aimed squarely at children for products which have little real benefit - Companies
on the global offenders list (companies that use child labour in the making of their wares, take advantage of developing countries, or grow genetically modified ingredients) I have been amazed by how many creatives have sung the praises of certain multinationals for their huge budgets and creative thinking without a minutes thought to where this money is coming from. These companies can often seem like a dream client, until you realise that their huge budgets are made off the back of child labour or shoddy environmental practices. Creating value, not just making money This is by far the most subtle issue and involves a bit of mindshift. When considering your business it is very tempting to think of everything in terms of the bottom line, to measure success only in monetary terms. Now I am by no means saying you should forget that aspect of business, particularly if you want to last out the year.
However there is more to what you are doing than just bringing in money, there are a variety of benefits that you and your business will be providing for those around you. The best way to illustrate this idea is with an example. Imagine a hypothetical business, lets call it Anderson & Sculthorp Design (ASD) with ten employees in various capacities. Now even if ASD were to only be just breaking even every year the business would still have value, and I’m not referring to the business assets. There are ten people whose livelihood is provided, who are gaining experience and living off ASD, and there are clients who have a relationship and rely on the ASD team and so on. Taking this to its logical conclusion means thinking of a business as an entity interconnected with those around it. Rather like a parent might provide for their family, in the same way a business provides for its employees and clients. My own agency Good spends a significant amount of money for web hosting every year. While we on-sell much of that hosting we also provide free hosting for organisations who we think shouldn’t have to pay, or put another way, who have better uses for that money. Thus our agency is providing a service to the community and regardless of its profitability has created value. Every design practice is called on at some time or another to provide a free pitch for a job. You know the story, great client, big project, you could really use the cash flow, but they have asked for some ideas and mocks up front - for free. It may
“ IT IS VERY TEMPTING TO THINK OF EVERYTHING IN TERMS OF THE BOTTOM LINE, TO MEASURE SUCCESS ONLY IN MONETARY TERMS.” seem harmless enough, especially if you get the job, but what you are doing is effectively crippling the design industry. Every time an agency pitches for free they are creating the impression that design is cheap and that it’s not really necessary to pay for their or any other design agency’s time. No other service based industry provides a sample of their services for free. Have you ever been to a mechanic who said they’d do an oil check for free in the hope that you’d get them to 16
permanently service your car? or how about a doctor who gave you your first visit to see if the “relationship gelled”? Of course not, but this is the sort of thing that design agencies do all the time, and unfortunately clients ask for constantly. By all means show your portfolio, chat to the client, give costings and quotes, but don’t work for free. Interesting designs and formats with unusual materials are probably the highlight of print work. However, its important to bear in mind when choosing stocks, sizes and materials the environmental cost of what you are doing. There are a variety of things you can do in this regard too, for example choosing recyclable materials over non-recyclable, biodegradable over non-biodegradable, keeping paper sizes relatively standard to prevent huge wastage in offcuts, selecting a printer or manufacturer that has a commitment to the environment and so on. The key factor to remember is that in virtually any print job, there will be a run of thousands of copies, so a small change will make a large difference. It may cost slightly more (though certainly not always), but you can simply pass this cost on to the
17
client, explaining the reasoning. If you aren’t proposing anything outrageous and they are a reasonable sized client, they will more than likely accept, no sweat off your back and you
“A SMALL CHANGE WILL MAKE A LARGE DIFFERENCE.” can sleep better at night knowing you’ve made a contribution. Now we all know that advertising is about glossing over a product’s failings and focusing on its strengths and this is a great way to market things. Occasionally however advertising falls into the domain of outright lies. I once built a website for a property development billed as being the ultimate in design and location. The property itself, a perfectly ordinary looking building in an ordinary location near an airport with planes constantly flying over-
head. Now I dutifully went about my job and listening to the client went about cropping images in such a way as to only highlight parts of the building, zooming in on the view of the coastline to make it seem closer and so on. Who loses out in such a scenario? The average guy on the street who is out buying a home. Maybe he’s a bad guy, maybe he’s a good guy, maybe he’s you. We all hope that once the guy gets there he’ll make his own decision, but this stuff works, so it seems he doesn’t. Why do sports cars have half naked women draped over them? Why do they then sell so well? We are all so much easier to fool than we’d like to admit. The point is, advertising is all well and good, but you should always use your best judgement in marketing products and services and keep things in check, exactly the way I didn’t. These few points are just the tip of the iceberg, and there will be issues that you believe in as an individual more than others. But hopefully the distinctions that we at Good believe in have got you thinking. If our businesses are ethically sound, we will have a more prosperous community.
“WE ARE ALL SO MUCH EASIER TO FOOL THAN WE’D LIKE TO ADMIT.”
18
GALLERY Troubled Waters. Anthony Burrill has made a new series of limited-edition posters, printed in BP oil from the ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Profits go to the ‘Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana’. The oil was collected direct from the polluted beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana. The project was devised by Karen Corrigan and Grégory Titeca of branding agency Happiness Brussels. The poster is a typically Burrill-like statement of fact: ‘Oil & Water Do Not Mix.’ They were screen printed by hand in New Orleans and signed by Burrill. The 200 signed posters are to be sold online at GulfOfMexico2010.com. All profits will go towards funding the work of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana in the Gulf, a voluntary organisation (est. 1988) set up to restore and protect the coast and wetlands of the Louisiana regions in the Gulf of Mexico. For further information please visit: www.crcl.org
19
20
“We are members of a widely distributed network with access to numerous decision makers. If we could create a sensible campaign and distribute it to our colleagues and friends, we could potentially leverage our collective strength.”
I BELIEVE DESIGN CAN CHANGE In this week’s Feature, Canadian designer Eric Karjaluoto talks candidly about his studio’s path to addressing sustainability and the resulting resource, Design Can Change. The post below is from his blog, ideasonideas, and is reprinted with permission.
I’m not good with numbers, but I find them interesting nevertheless. For example, you and I spend a lot of money. In fact, if you are a member of the AIGA, you take part in purchasing or specifying over USD $9 billion of printing and paper per year. At the risk of sounding obtuse, I have to say, “That’s a lot.” Let me give you another number: 81 million tons. That’s the amount of paper waste you and I helped generate over the past year. How about this one?More than a million. That’s how many species are expected to be at risk of extinction by 2,050 as a result of global warming. Another? USD $11 billion. That’s the average cost of climate-related disasters in Europe during the 80s and 90s. These numbers make me lay awake at night thinking about the future my seven month old son has to look forward to. I suspect they are just as worrisome to someone like you. The first steps At our studio, we read about sustainability and committed to become more responsible. We started to use only 100% PCW papers and 22
tried to look critically at the choices made at our studio. At the same time we felt a little dismayed; it didn’t seem like we were doing enough. smashLAB is tiny, so changes in our studio don’t add up to much. Plus, we mostly work online and in brand design, which results in very little printing. These facts left us thinking there was little we
“ IF YOU ARE A MEMBER OF THE AIGA, YOU TAKE PART IN PURCHASING OR SPECIFYING OVER $9 BILLION OF PRINTING AND PAPER PER YEAR.”
Eric Karjaluoto, MGDC
could do to combat climate change. Perhaps we were better off to let the politicians and environmentalists sort this one out. Changing my mindset In my early twenties I became a vegetarian. Initially, I could only think of what I was giving up. I missed hamburgers,
-USD $9 billion spent on paper and printing.
-81 million tons of paper waste per year
-More than 1 million species expected to be extinct by 2050 as a result of global warming -The total cost of climate related disasters in the 80’s and 90’s reached over USD $11 billion
say, I had no awareness of Buddhist food, which I now find quite delightful. As a result of vegetarianism I became more open and aware of alternatives. Today I consider a continental meat-based North American diet somewhat dull. I have learned that it’s difficult to think outside of the familiar, and the notion of sustainability was one which I
”
steaks, and bacon. (Mmmm sweet, sweet bacon.) It took months to move past this outlook. (Mmmm bacon.) With time however, I became aware of the options available to me. Having grown up in a small town, I had not been exposed to Indian, Thai or Singaporean food - cuisines which often feature meat-free dishes. Needless to
WE FELT THAT AS AVERAGE CITIZENS, IT WAS OUR DUTY TO CONTRIBUTE SOMETHING.” could only apply to my own limited experience. While I was wrapped up in thinking about what our studio had to stop doing (i.e. printing on virgin fiber), I was missing out on the opportunity. An insight We ask clients to candidly consider their weaknesses and strengths when we work with them. In considering our firm’s ability to affect climate change, we asked ourselves the same questions. Our weaknesses were clear: Our organisation is small and has negligible influence. We had limited financial resources and our knowledge of the topic was limited. Our strengths, on the other hand, included being able to craft and distribute messages. Additionally, we could gain access to the required information. 22
“ IF YOU SHARE OUR HOPES, I ASK YOU TO ALSO LEND A HAND.” We also counted our motivation to “do good” as an asset. This process led to a pivotal insight: We are members of a widely-distributed network with access to numerous decision makers. If we could create a sensible campaign and distribute it to our colleagues and friends, we could potentially leverage our collective strength. Looking outside the confines of our studio and thinking of ourselves as part of a whole exposed our true strength, and that marked the beginning of Design Can Change. Qualifications Over the next ten months, we researched, engaged in debate, compiled content, built information graphics, stared at endless
23
lines of code, and started to loathe the word “sustainability”. On many days we just wanted to go back to our lives before the project. We struggled with our lack of knowledge. With no formal education in sustainability, we worried that it was inappropriate for us to broach the topic. As a result, we were thorough in our research and sought partners to help us with the effort. Additionally, we accepted that as unqualified as we were, it was better to act than stand idly by. We felt it foolish to wait for some savior to solve the problem. We felt that as average citizens, it was our duty to contribute something. What it is Design Can Change encourages graphic designers to pool their influence and impact climate change. In some respects it is a starting point for designers who wish to embrace sustainable practices. It is a resource that contains project samples, reading lists and tools.Additionally, it is a directory that allows conscientious buyers of creative services to connect with like-minded designers. It is a framework that helps enable a sustainable mindset in a designers work. It is a pledge to do our best as professionals who have a responsibility to future generations. It’s up to all of us Take the next while to visit
www.designcanchange.org. The presentation is straight forward and easy to skim. Think about what we’re proposing, and please take the pledge. If you share our hopes, I ask you to also lend a hand. We need to reach every one of our colleagues with this message. You can help by doing the following: If you have a blog, post about Design Can Change and your efforts to become sustainable - Download one of the logos and place it on your website with a link to: www.designcanchange.org Grab a copy of this PDF and send it to the designers you know, asking them to take the pledge. There are few other professions in which ethics and social responsibility are as sincerely measured as in the field of graphic design. I believe that is why design can change: because of people like you. Please join us.
24
GALLERY Canadian Red Cross Cossette, Montréal, Canada Canadian Red Cross launched a print advertising campaign using typography and across the fold features to remind Canadians about the plight of people affected by earthquakes, tsunamis and storms in the Asia Pacific region. “After waves of disaster hit Asia Pacific this week, we’re on the ground providing aid, support and hope”.
25
26
“Since the industrial revolution, design has taken a primary role in modern societies. It attempts to shape a better life for people and humanise information and technology. Everything we use and experience today from a newspaper, a cup, a car, a map, a computer, a medical device, a chair, a street sign, or a shelter has been conceived by a designer”
THE ROLE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT In July 1987, a working paper entitled Graphic Design for Development was submitted by board members of Icograda to UNESCO (the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization), following a fourday seminar in Nairobi, Kenya. The main objectives of the seminar were to raise awareness on the contributions graphic design can make in improving people’s lives and to increase a better understanding of graphic design in international organisations. 21 years on, this study shows how graphic designers have become more sensitive to world issues and how the professional world of design tries to encourage and promote new social design practices. The Role of Graphic Design in International Development was originally written by Sali Sasaki for Seoul’s 2008 Design Olympiad, which took place from 9-12 October 2008 in Seoul, Korea.
I. Introduction In recent years the realm of design has expanded rapidly into new areas. The social and humanitarian benefits of design paved the way towards a new kind of practice shaped around socially responsible behaviour.
27
Sali Sasaki
This new perspective on design gave more responsibilities to designers who play an important role as the new agents of change. Designers today seek to create something new for the world by using creativity and strategic design thinking whilst demonstrating their ability for social awareness.
“ALL DESIGN MUST FILL A HUMAN NEED [...IT] IS BASIC Design has always played an important role around society and the individual as it affects TO ALL HUMAN cultural identity, social structures, economies, cultural development and environments. It ACTIVITIES” touches many individuals on a daily basis and encompasses a variety of disciplines, from architecture, to communication, engineering, products, computer-related technology and even contemporary studies in anthropology and ethnography.
Victor Papanek wrote in Design for the Real World that “All design must fill a human need [... it] is basic to all human activities. The planning and patterning of any act towards a desired, foreseeable end constitutes a design process. Any attempt to separate design to make it a thing by itself works counter to the inherent value of design as the primary underlying matrix of life.” [2] Since the industrial revolution, design has taken a primary role in modern societies. It attempts to shape a better life for people and humanise information and technology. Everything we use and experience today
from a newspaper, a cup, a car, a map, a computer, a medical device, a chair, a street sign, or a shelter has been conceived by a designer, whilst historically and politically, designers have worked on the promotion of tolerance and respect, sustainability issues, ideology, beliefs, propaganda and national identity amongst others. In recent years, design has become an international phenomenon affecting an increasing number of countries from the developing world and designers play a major role in the process of cultural and sustainable development. India, China, South Africa and Brazil are successful examples of places where design is believed to be an effective methodology and tool for sociocultural improvement.
“It is very important for any nation to understand the larger agenda of the work of designers. By working with designers, a nation invests in the growing ability to change, to work on innovation, on creativity. Enabling change and enabling creativity is perhaps the most important challenge that we are faced with.” [3] During my four-year career in UNESCO (the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) I concentrated more specifically on the promotion of graphic design for development and researched about its application in the fields of general education, public health, environment, public information, and social responsibility by emphasising on cultural diversity, contemporary practices and the empowerment of future generations of designers. Design is a creative methodology that has the ability to support UNESCO’s notion of successful development, which is defined as being “a tradition specific to each culture combined with the most modern economic, scientific and technological resources.” [4] Many graphic designers are today involved with both social and cultural responsibilities in a world that is more globalised than ever. Following are a few examples on how they propose solutions to global challenges and choose to cooperate in an international context.
II. Graphic design, the UN and international development A Yale architecture graduate called Donal McLaughlin designed the United Nations emblem in 1945. To this date there are very few visual symbols that are so universally understood by people from around the world. The UN emblem demonstrates the power of graphic design in its ability to unite people through graphic images by rendering complex ideals into one visual symbol. Over the past 60 years graphic designers have worked to promote UN values by creating posters, book covers, or corporate identity. Although collaborations between graphic designers and UN agencies have been relatively inconsistent in the eighties and nineties, graphic design started contributing very positively towards UN goals since the start of the millennium. Here are a few selected examples to follow: 1.1 UNICEF corporate identity UNICEF has been for many years at the forefront of “good” UN branding within the UN family. Its in-house branding toolkit has been used as a model by other UN agencies when they needed to refresh their own identity. This toolkit has been designed to be accessible to all including non-designers
who are not familiar with graphic design and typography rules. 1.2 UNFPA corporate identity UNFPA is another successful example. Their youthful and colourful identity is an exception in the UN system where sobriety is usually favoured. Another unusual feature is the public availability of their styleguide on their website. 1.3 DesignMatters programme www.accd-dm.org In 2001 Art Center College of Design launched Designmatters, a college-wide initiative focused on socially responsible design. By showing its commitment towards world issues, Art Center became the first design school in the world to receive an NGO status from the United Nations. The Designmatters Fellowship Programme has also managed to send a few of its students to the UN Headquarters and other UN agencies in recent years. In September, Art Center initiated a poster exhibition celebrating the anniversary of the declaration of human rights at UNESCO headquarters. Designmatters is an educational model for design schools that are looking to make their own contribution towards international development.
28
Fig 1 - UN
Fig 2 - UNICEF
Fig 3 - UNFPA
1.4 JAGDA and UN Water for Life Campaign In 2005 the Japan Graphic Design Association launched the Water for Life poster competition, in partnership with the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo, following the success of their Peace Poster competition. Poster competitions remain today the most common graphic design initiatives related to social awareness campaigns.
understanding plays a particularly important role in the exercise of place branding.
2.2 INDIGO – The International Indigenous Design Network www.indigodesignnetwork.org The INDIGO Network promotes indigenous design as living culture, looks at its relationship to national identity and its role as visual culture within contemporary society. “Big Words” will be launched in 2009 as the first INDIGO exhibition investigating on the evolution of graphic language in indigenous and non-indigenous communities alike.
II. The cultural value of graphic design There is a cultural dimension to graphic design that is affected by traditions, multiculturalism, ethnicity, diversity, language, gender, beliefs, value systems and also a certain ability to “transform the visual heritage of places and peoples into contemporary commercial currency and cultural expression” [5]. In order to be socially credible, design must mean something in the cultural context where it originates. It is a powerful method to promote cultural identity and therefore it is important for local people to develop the design skills that will allow them to communicate about their own cultureand develop a visual identity inspired by both a deep sense of tradition and contemporary life. Graphic design is compatible with all traditional cultures and can be adapted in different socio-cultural contexts. Cultural
29
Following are a few examples amongst many others that show how graphic design can impact the world. The next generations of graphic designers need to be aware of their ability to emphasise on deeper cultural meanings and develop their capacity in strengthening mutual understanding amongst people and nations. 2.1 Branding South Africa Place branding specialist Wally Olins explains in an interview that ‘Brand is a useful way to help governments understand the value and complexity of external reputation and internal cohesion (...) the strategic pillars of nation branding are: connecting policy, culture, people, products and tourism in a joint strategy, a coherent approach to short, medium and long-term planning (...) honesty, transparency and inclusion, clarity of vision, and lastly, courage.” [6] Graphic design played a crucial role in the re-branding of South Africa, during its bid for the 2010 World Cup, as it modernised South African iconography and culturally symbolic images and transformed them into effective communication campaigns.
2.3 Reinventing “Made in China” www.vam.ac.uk/chinadesignnow This year the Victoria and Albert Museum in London showcased contemporary Chinese design for the first time in the United Kingdom. The creativity reflected in the graphic posters from Shenzhen (the “birthplace of modern Chinese design”) introduced a new perspective on China as a creative nation. By focusing on design China’s goal is to gradually change people’s perception on the label “Made in China” and establish itself as a genuinely creative environment. 2.4 Afrikan Alphabets Following a Master’s degree in graphic design from Yale University, Saki Mafundikwa returned to his native country Zimbabwe and researched on the origins of African writing systems and typography. His research of ten years was followed by a book called Afrikan
Fig 4 - UNFPA
Fig 5 - Sebastian Bettencourt
Alphabets in which he promotes through a designer’s perspective an aspect of African culture, which had been long suppressed by colonial powers. To Saki Mafundikwa, design has always been inherent to African culture. These are a few examples amongst many others that show how graphic design can impact the world. The next generations of graphic designers need to be aware of their ability to emphasise on deeper cultural meanings and develop their capacity in strengthening mutual understanding amongst people and nations. III. Room for improvement: What next for graphic designers? In order to promote the expansion of graphic design beyond conventional frames of reference as well as help maintain the international discourse of design and its role in socio-cultural development, graphic designers and other related organisations have to learn, promote, network and collaborate. Here are ten recommendations to achieve socially responsible design: 1.Build experience around the needs of people living in different contexts; 2.Network with international organisations and corporations in order to demonstrate the value of design; 3.Participate in multidisciplinary initiatives in which designers have a critical role to play
Fig 6 - Jackson Wang
Fig 7 - Shenzhen Graphic Design Association
in the development of entrepreneurship and innovation; 4.Work on publications, events, exhibitions and competitions on design in collaboration with design bodies from different continents showcasing international design works and initiatives for cultural development; 5.Advocate the power of graphic design in a cultural context by organising workshops and seminars and by encouraging cross-cultural design activities; 6.Study the quality standard of design education across the world and help develop design curricula for the developing world; 7.Learn from professional organisations that can provide expertise, knowledge, guidance, contacts and ensure an international perspective and representation of design; 8.Enable a open sources of information on design methodologies in partnership with public/private partners worldwide; 9.Provide new platforms where individuals and professional organisations can share best practices and create opportunities for designers to work together internationally; 10.Knock on doors that have never been opened.
Fig 8 - Shenzhen Graphic Design Association
Fig 9 - JAGDA Poster Grand Prize © Katsumi Asaba
References 1.Jorge Frascara, Amrik Kalsi, Peter Kneebone, “Graphic Design for Development”, Division of Cultural Development and Artistic Creation, UNESCO, Paris 1987. 2.Victor Papanek, “Design for the Real World”, Pantheon Books, 1971-1973, p. 257, 288. 3.Address by Peter Butonschon, President of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design during the ICSID 2003 Regional Meeting in Africa. 4.Jorge Perez de Cuellar, “Our Creative Diversity”, Introduction, the World Decade for Cultural Development 1988-1997. 5.Emily Campbell, Design and Architecture newsletter 2006, British Council, p. 3 6.Wally Olins, “Brand the Beloved Country”, Design Indaba Magazine, 2nd Quarter 2006, www.designindabamag.com/2006/2nd/brand_ the_beloved_country.htm
30
Help us spread the message
Please pass this magazine on to a fellow designer
Our future is in your hands.