It’s encouraging to see the project has immediately identified its intention to harness the power of social media. Eagerly wanting to find out more, I’m off to the launch event in London this evening with Duane Melius :)
Speakers tonight include: project founders Ty Goddard and Ian Fordham, Stephen Bayley (author, cultural commentator and architecture & design correspondent, The Observer), Baroness Morris of Yardley (former secretary of state for education) and Steve Moore (Director, Policy Unplugged & advisor to Channel 4 Education).
You can follow the event happenings on twitter via #cfsd or @cfsd
Last year, Simon Waterfall, former Creative Director and Founding Partner of Poke London, spoke about his creative journey and the importance of a cross-disciplinary approach in creating successful, cohesive design and communication solutions. Commenting on how he got his position as D&AD’s first ever ‘Digital President’ and the bridging role of ‘digital’, he offers further insight of communities, collaboration and human creativity.
“How you get your messages out these days colours the importance, the order and how you react to them, and I think you can use that in your design. The web doesn’t work in isolation. That’s because people don’t watch and retrieve information, in isolation. People watch the TV, they’ve got the phone in their pocket and they are on their computers chatting to their mates. People do things in a multidisciplinary way now and expect branding and communications to join up. It would be considered lazy if an advert was out of sync with its website, which was out of sync with its twitter.”
At his Stanford University commencement speech in 2005, Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple and Pixar, tells a heart-warming tale of some of pivotal moments in his life. Told in three stories – the first about connecting the dots, second on love and loss and the third on death itself, Steve urges us to pursue our dreams and see the opportunities in life’s setbacks. Steve Jobs was not someone I thought I would resonate with until I heard this story, so after posting over on Mindapples last night wanted to share it here too.
“I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”
With almost half of all 11-19 year olds saying they find school boring or irrelevant, how can we be more creative educators? How can we re-engage with our young people to ensure they enjoy learning and reach their full potential? What do we want our children to grow up to be?
On Tuesday 9th February, I am hosting a free screening of the feature film on education ‘We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For’, which will be followed by an informal discussion. We have invited teachers from across North London to join us for the event, but places are open to anyone interested in seeing the film and joining the conversation.
Organised by Dr. Morgan Philips and Limina, the screening will be held at the Arcola Theatre in North London, from 4.30-6.30p.m. Free tea and cakes will be served! :)
As the practice and discipline of service design continues to explode, Marc Stickdorn and a team of Service Designers have set out to synthesize best practice and catalogue methodologies. To be published later this year, his new book, This is Service Design Thinking intends to explore “basics, tools and cases” and find a concise approach to recap the concept of ’service design thinking’.
The book will feature contributions from Simon Clatworthy, Ralf Beuker, Satu Miettinen, Mikko Koivisto, Fergus Bisset, Lauren Currie, myself and others. You can follow the books progress on twitter @This_Is_SDT and find out more at This is Service Design Thinking.
Having spent over four years exploring the results of our flawed and non-creative education system, and subsequently inspired by the work and voice of Sir Ken Robinson, Lord Puttnam, Richard Gerver and others, I was excited to hear last week via Ken Robinson of a new film documentary that premiered in London last night, We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For.
This landmark independent documentary, inspired and guided by Lord Puttnam and Sir Michael Barber, explores the education system in the UK and asks whether the current system provides young people with the opportunity to develop their talents. High-profile figures sharing their personal experiences and views include Sir Richard Branson, Germaine Greer, Henry Winkler, Bill Bryson, Sir Ken Robinson and a wide range of education experts from around the world.
This thought-provoking film offers unique insight across generations and nations, and reveals a very inconvenient truth about education. The world is changing rapidly but our education system is not keeping pace.
Interestingly, only last month we heard Thomas Friedman offer his opinion as to the need to understand today’s education challenge and a new era of, what he describes as, ‘The New Untouchables’.
I do hope this film reaches everyone and not only asks if the current system is providing young people with the right opportunities (we know the answer to this one), but I hope it actually instigates the revolution we so desperately need. “We don’t need to reform education, we need to transform it”, explains Sir Ken Robinson.
The Cineforum on Climate Change: The Road to Ecotopia is offering a unique chance to dive deep into the issues that will be defining the strategic choices of businesses, policy-makers, innovators and citizens over the coming years. Read the rest of this entry »
Responding to current economic, social and environmental crises, London’s NEF (New Economics Foundation) are this month running “The Bigger Picture”, a series of creative activities and events, exploring the possibilities of ‘a new kind of economy’, an economy which is low in carbon and high in well-being.
The event series culminates in a large-scale, public “Festival of Interdependence” in central London on 24 October 2009 when an interactive, living exhibition will be staged in the dramatic post-industrial setting of the Bargehouse on London’s South Bank. Read the rest of this entry »
Are you a design student or graduate finding it hard to access or find your place in industry? Well, with over 185,500 [1] design practitioners in the UK alone that’s not surprising!
“For the designer to become a producer, she must have the skills to begin directing content, by critically navigating the social, aesthetic, and technological systems across which communications flow.” - Ellen Lupton, 1998. The Designer as Producer. [2]
Earlier this week I stumbled on By/Association, the latest in a line of social innovation projects from alldaybuffet.
“Innovation is an emergent phenomenon that happens when a person or organization fosters interaction between different kinds of people and disparate forms of knowledge.” — Murray Gell-Mann
‘By/Association seeks to reinvent the traditional notion of “networking” by enabling substantive interactions and long-term relationships. By/Association is for people who want to make their lives, ideas, and networks richer by meeting other remarkable people. It’s not about getting help with your current need or project. It’s about connecting to people that make you better — to inspire more action, better ideas, and new ways of seeing the world.’
For all information about memberships, visit ByAssoc.com
Pitched to be this year’s most talked-about climate change film, The Age of Stupid is a new movie from director Franny Armstrong (of McLibel) and producer John Battsek (of One Day In September). In this epic tale, Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
On Sunday 28 June 2009 at London’s Conway Hall, Alice Rawsthorn (design critic of the International Herald Tribune, columnist for the New York Times and a leading authority on contemporary design) will host a ’sermon’ at The School of Life entitled “Alice Rawsthorn on Good Design”.
Founded by More Associates Director Luke Nicholson, Kept is a new movement celebrating the “stuff” that can be kept in the world, stuff that isn’t rubbish. “Together we will help the people who still design and sell rubbish to embrace the change”, he explains.
Of course, we are in the throes of a worldwide recession, and we also face the urgent global crisis of climate change. Most of the new materials we take out of the ground to drive our economy are rubbish just one month later. This makes a huge contribution to both problems. If we’re going to ’spend our way out’, we shouldn’t be buying products that are designed to go into landfill.
Most of the stuff we can buy today is rubbish, and it was designed to be rubbish. Literally. Now, that’s not easy for us to say; we invented some of it, designed some of it, photographed it, advertised it, wrote about it, composed music for it and in the end we went out and bought it. Kept has been started as a way to make things better. Companies have to make products and services that meet our needs without extracting virgin materials from the ground, and without creating systems that routinely bury products that still have life in them. This will help them – by using fewer materials and less energy in clever ways, they can actually become more financially successful.
Kept represents anyone who wants to have great stuff in their lives, and who wants stuff to be better. Kept will be working with companies who care about the stuff they make, and wouldn’t want it to do harm. And will help government to understand what they can do (or not do) to bring about the improvements we all want.
To get involved, Kept is asking you to tell your stories and share what “things” you value and cherish. Submit your stories about the things you have kept, big or small, by visiting www.kept.it or if you use twitter just add #kept to your tweet!
You can follow the project news @keptintheloop and please join the project the Kept Facebook Group where we will be raising questions and sharing news, insights and debate.
Asking how technology, globalisation and sustainability will impact the creative sector? And, further, how they impact the education sector? Ravensbourne College of Design & Communication presents the 2009 Cumulus Conference: ‘Confronting Challenge with Change’ at the O2, on 27 – 30 May 2009. Key note speakers include Lord David Puttnam, Dr Angela Dumas, Sir Ken Robinson, Prof. Robin Baker OBE and many other industry and education leaders.
After being diagnosed with a life threatening disease, Washington based artist and illustrator Eric Smith set up We Live Now, a project consisting of a growing collection of quotes, thoughts, stories, lyrics, creations and other various mediums that pursue the idea of living now and inspiring each of us to grow, live meaningful lives and be happy! “Our lives are only in the moments right in front of us.”
The Age of Stupid is a 90-minute film about climate change, set in the future, which will have its world premiere in London on March 15th 2009 and then be released in UK cinemas on March 20th 2009, followed by other countries. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devasted world of 2055, looking back at archive footage from 2007 and asking: why didnt we stop climate change when we had the chance?
On April 30th, in the heart of London, four students from London’s Ravensbourne College of Design will present Blank Canvas, a silent auction of customised design work by the likes of Milton Glaser, Ken Garland, Non-Format, Jonathan Barnbrook, Si Scott, Julien Vallee, James Goggin, Graphic Thought Facility and many more!
Blank Canvas is an event organised by the students on the BA (hons) Design for Moving Image and Graphic Design course to raise funds for their graduation show. They will be sending a list of top designers and illustrators random items, found in various jumble sales and charity shops across London (anything from an old teapot, to a rusty cog, to a vintage suitcase). They will then be asked to customise these items to then be collected and put to auction on April 30th at the Vibe Bar on London’s Brick Lane.
Brilliant idea guys, I’m looking forward to seeing some old stuff made new!
Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman speaks on the MIT campus in a talk entitled The World is Flat 3.0, where he discusses the 2007 update to his bestseller The World is Flat and provides a preview of his latest book, Hot, Flat, and Crowded.
As many of you will know, for over a year now, I have spent a great deal of time mentoring graduate designers and creatives, offering them advice, connections and often helping them to gain working placements. Today, one 2008 graduate forwarded me news of a new social enterprise that’s been launched in North London. Consurgo is an initiative that gives exciting opportunities to design students and graduates through a range of pioneering schemes such as portfolio reviews and remote placements. Brilliant, schemes like this are vital.
In this short video Dr Deepak Chopra, renowned physician and best-selling author, suggests how the environmental crisis stems from humanity’s flawed perception of reality. “The earth is your body, the air is your breath… There is a single reality”, he comments. See the full video at Big Picture TV.
‘Dance’, the latest Saatchi & Saatchi commercial for T-Mobile, was filmed at 11am on Thursday 15th January 2009 at London’s Liverpool Street station and aired less than 48 hours later. Although (to us savvy users of Web 2.0) flashmobs may not be a new concept, when I saw the smile on my fathers face as he saw this ad on friday night, I realised how such a simple act of community collaboration (and dance!!) can add a little bit of happiness to the daily routine of the commuter. Wonderful – I love how the elderly lady joins in at the end too!
Having founded the company Adaptive Eyecare in 1996, British inventor Joshua Silver has embarked on an ambitious quest – to offer glasses to a billion of the world’s poorest people by 2020. Full news report at the Guardian.
Whilst learning about David Berman and his new book ‘Do Good Design‘ I came across this speech, which he gave at the 2006 Icograda Design Week in Hong Kong.
