What is Social Design?

It has been some time coming but it is here, a comprehensive exploration into what is ‘Social Design’. This great video comes from the team at the SocialDesignSite.com.

The One Flag: A First Things First Project

From Adbusters:
“Design is at war with itself. We are taught that design is about finding solutions. But the success of these solutions is judged so narrowly – Did it ooze desire? Did it shift units? – that we find ourselves implicated in problems far greater than the ones we solve. The time has come for a radical shift in priorities. We are now faced with some of the most daunting global challenges in human history. These are real targets, worthy of our problem-solving skills, ripe for our intervention. Yet those who have the vision to rise above national and political boundaries still have no symbol to rally under. We invite you to create a flag – free from language and well-worn clichés – that embodies the idea of global citizenship. A symbol that triggers pride and cohesion, whether worn on a backpack, displayed on a door, or flown on a flagpole. A symbol for anyone to declare membership in a growing and vital human cooperative. We invite you to prove that design has a real role to play in the fate of our world.”

Get London reading

Great campaign from London where streetart and a interactive map are used to encourage Londoners to make more time for reading, and to celebrate London as an international centre for books. Stencil art is used on the streets of London to confrontate public with various book quotes and to people them aware of the dedicated website of the Booktrust: getlondonreading.co.uk.
The website contains a interactive map showing books set in the different neighborhoods.
The campaign was seen on the streets from Tuesday 25 March and ran throughout April. The campain also featured more than 20 library-based author events.

More pictures of the stencil art below and on Flickr.

Thanks John.

Design Conferences = Overblown and Conceptually Thin

UK design critic Rick Poynor makes a socially conscious critique of Design Conferences (for Creative Review) this month. This is a very topical critique and a highly recommended read.

May 10, 2008: Pangea Day

Pangea Day taps the power of film to strengthen tolerance and compassion while uniting millions of people to build a better future.
In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film.
On May 10, 2008 - Pangea Day - sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of films, speakers and music.

We All Walk in Different Shoes

We All Walk in Different Shoes is an interesting campaign from fashion house Kenneth Cole, which celebrates 25 years of non-uniform thinkers. “Appearance can be a defining characteristic for us all but it’s the ability to think differently that really makes a difference.”

The Messenger/Receiver House

The Messenger/Receiver House is a project by design students Chris Knox, Colm Keller and Bastian Bischoff, studying on the Master Programme in Design at HDK (The School of Design and Crafts at Göteborg University in Sweden). Conceived to collect and analyse public opinion about homelessness, the graphic and product design students created this eye-catching public exhibit. As MocoLoco reported, the future of the M/R House project looks to involve “smaller versions to be decorated by homeless people and well known creatives to be auctioned off to raise funds for organizations that deal with homelessness.”

Pondicherry International Yoga Festival

The Government of Puducherry has been conducting the International Yoga Festival since 1993. After seeing the response and enthusiasm shown by the participants from all over the world and from India, the Government of Puducherry has decided to conduct the festival regularly every year. This festival generally attracts Yogis and Yoginis around the world. The event consisted of practical Yoga classes and discussions on the various topics of Yoga.
The campaign shown here is from last month and is made by JWT India.
The tv-spot combined with ambient street activity achieved media headlines across local newspapers and resulted in a huge surplus of participants and health tourists from the targetted cities in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka & Kerala.

No Shop by Thomas Matthews

In 1997, sustainability design agency Thomas Matthews launched this temporary “No Shop” installation, devised to draw media attention to the launch of International No Shop day in the UK. Despite the launch being over 10 years ago [and only open for three days!] it is still shown around the world as an illustration of the movement against over consumption. The contemporary design treatment and concept will, I believe, allow these images to forever be revisited.

INDIGO: International Indigenous Design Network

The INDIGO: International Indigenous Design Network is a research initiative, which explores the role of indigenous visual culture within contemporary society and looks at its relationship to National identity. The issues and pressures facing indigenous cultures around the globe are similar. INDIGO’s aim is to encourage and promote constructive exchange between the worlds’ indigenous communities. The objective - to help to elevate the profile of indigenous design by encouraging contemporary interpretation of traditional techniques and themes.

Amnesty Film Festival

Really beautiful artwork for the Amnesty International Film Festival made by the Amsterdam based design studio Sazza. The artwork as seen on this poster is used for all communication for the film festival.
Each spring the Amnesty International Film Festival takes place in Amsterdam, and this year for the second time in The Hague. Since 1995 this film event is a platform for committed film productions about human rights and human dignity. The festival screens both documentaries and feature films. In discussions and talk shows surrounding the films, the film makers, human rights activists and audience have the opportunity to exchange ideas and views.

I wouldn’t steal

The Greens | European Free Alliance in the European Parliament made this video as a statement against the media industry who fights against illegal downloading and copying.
According to The Greens the media industry has failed to offer viable legal alternatives and they will fail to convince consumers that sharing equals stealing. The media industry have succeeded in another area – lobbying to adapt laws to criminalize sharing, turning consumers into criminals. The Greens say the industry argues that their laws are necessary to support artists, but in reality all they’re protecting is their own profits.
The Greens in Europe and worldwide has been opposing these laws. They believe that consumers are willing to pay if offered good quality at a fair price. They also believe that sharing is expanding culture – not killing it.
Dedicated website: I wouldn’t steal.

Triplet towers

Great new statement from Hayan Maani: Triplet Towers.

More work at Hayan Maani’s website.

50x70

Left: HI_v / Ioannis Fetanis / Greece
Right: Hitting the wrong target / Hakki Erol / Turkey

Tomorrow starts the exhibition of the Good 50x70 contest. 200 posters are shown out of 1659 entries. Good 50x70, based on an idea of Pasquale Volpe in collaboration with Tommaso Minnetti, is an ambitious project that wants to increase public opinion awareness of causes and people who fight day after day to improve the standard of living across the world.

El escondite

This great shortfilm, made by Pablo Olmos Arrayales, is a metaphor of the “el escondite” game (hide and seek) and the current situation about the hunger problem. Every year, 12 millions of children all over the world die of hunger. 

9/11 The Last Judgement

At april 8, Easter sunday, bishop Hurkmans blessed this new stained glass window in the St. Jan’s Cathedral Den Bosch, the Netherlands. Nothing special at first sight. 

The painting journalist

This is what you may call social conscious painting or as Ashley Cecil, the artists who make this, describes: the marriage of painting and social activism. 

Show your talent

Merriment

Next

Don’t speak with your mouth

The real thing

Speaking hands, hearing eyes

I had no plans for doing something special for christmas. December is non-profit fundraising month because it’s do-gooder time. That’s not Houtlust style. Every day of the year is do-gooder day.
But I just received this video from Schattensprache®. Silent night, holy night in sign-language.
That’s a good one for Christmas.

State of emergency

Nice artwork for État d’Urgence, a festival held in Montréal, Canada.
État d’Urgence is an interdisciplinary “manifestival” with and for street people organized since 1998 by the Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable, or ATSA. The 2006 edition has as its themes nomadism, promiscuity, and the scar seen as a promise of rebuilding.

Hikikomori

From the website of Francesco Jodice: The film explores some aspects of japanese young peolple social behaviours.
Feeling of unease and lack of communication lead to different kind of reaction (skaters; harajuku-kids) or no-action (Otaku; Hikikomori) or annihilation (suicide pact).

Ordinary is special enough

On the night of September the 20th 2006 a sign appeared on a building in the center of Viterbo, an ancient city in central Italy, not far from Rome. Apparently put by the City Council it has already caused quite a stir. The sign is in fact an art piece by controversial artist duo Eva and Franco Mattes (aka 0100101110101101.org). Looking as official as any other street sign, it reads:

Fort Asperen Ark: Flood warning

From the Fort Asperen Ark website: “The ice cap is melting, sea levels are rising and American experts have advised the business community against investing in Dutch companies because this low-lying country (the Netherlands) will be flooded within eight years.”
These are the words of English director Peter Greenaway, who wonders whether the Netherlands should build arks to ensure its survival. Peter Greenaway and his team are transforming Fort Asperen into Mount Ararat, the high and safe Biblical landing place of Noah’s Ark during the Flood.