The Centre for School Design

The Centre for School Design is a new independent think tank being launched today by Ty Goddard and Ian Fordham. Hosted by The British Council for School Environments its mission is set “to lead thinking and shape policy and practice in education, design and the built environment.”

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

Filed under: On Education, On Events, cfsd, Design, Education, Ian Fordham, london, School Design, Steve Moore, The Centre for School Design, Ty Goddard

Because Studio Updates

Loz Ives, of the brilliant Because Studio, has updated his website this week! Lots of new socially-minded projects to flick through, including client work for Carbon Co-op, Communities for Change and The New Economics Foundation. Congratulations Loz on the beautiful work!

Filed under: On Community, On Graphic Design, On Social Design, Because Studio, Branding, Graphic Design, Loz Ives, Social, Society

Waterfall on Digital Communications

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.”

Via. Steve Price: Pillars of Inspiration.

Filed under: On Social Design, Collaboration, communication, Cross-disciplinary, D&AD, Design, Digital Communications, digital media, poke, Simon Waterfall

Steve Jobs on ‘Connecting the Dots’

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.”

Thank you Angela for the link.

Filed under: On Education, On People, Connecting Dots, Inspiration, Stanford University, Steve Jobs

‘We Are The People’ Screening

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! :)

To book a place, please email rsvp@limina.org.uk

Filed under: On Education, On Events, Arcola Theatre, Creativity, Education, Limina, Teaching, We Are The People We’ve Been Waiting For

This is Service Design Thinking

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.

Filed under: On Social Design, Marc Stickdorn, Service Design, Service Design Thinking, This is Service Design Thinking