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.
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!
On Tuesday 3rd February, creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson will take to the stage at BMI IMAX in London, to give a lecture on “The Element”, the title of his forthcoming book on creativity, education and human talent.
“Sir Ken will draw on personal stories from a wide range of people – from ex-Beatle Paul McCartney to renowned physicist Richard Feynman – showing how all of them came to recognise and utilise their unique talents. Sir Ken will outline how every one of us can find our element, connecting with our true talents and fulfilling our creative potential. He will give you a detailed account of how you can instil this practice into your organisation, making sure that the right people are in the right jobs, and with maximum motivation.”
All guests will receive a complimentary copy of The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything by Sir Ken Robinson, published by Allen Lane (RRP £16.99). To book your ticket visit the London Business Forum and find out who else is going on Facebook.
In preparation for The Real Work Experience workshops later this month, last Thursday nine graduate and undergraduate designers took part in an engaging afternoon of workshop training!
Arriving at the thinkpublic studio from Bristol, Brighton, Bournemouth, Glasgow, London, Kent and Leeds our leading designers are each running workshops on Friday 21st November to explore what young designers need to enable them to use their skills for social causes. Read the rest of this entry »
The latest video from the UK Design Council has wonderfully captured the essence of design. Ambitiously entitled ‘What is Design?’ the video illustrates the simplicity required to explain the nature (and power) of design to the masses.
On Wednesday 8th October, I arrived at London College of Communication for the first day of my Masters degree. Led by Professor Teal Triggs, Anna Gerber and Dr Ian Horton, the brand new MA in Design Writing Criticism has set out to uncover the new roles for professional design writing and criticism.
Following a morning coffee, I sat down alongside my fellow post-graduate colleagues. Following hand in of our preliminary task, to write 250 words in response to the question ‘Why Do I Write?’ our attention turned to our second exercise; to choose and bring in one artifact (object, visual or textual) that we considered to be part of a/the ‘Design Canon’. Read the rest of this entry »
On Friday 21st November, final year and graduate designers will run simultaneous workshops up and down the country, in an exciting stage two of The Real Work Experience.
Exploring how designers can play a role in social improvement, we are asking young designers to consider what “The Real Work Experience” could do for them? Could it be an online network that bridges the gap between education and seeking (socially engaged) work? Could it be a mentoring program, or a regular series of events that discuss design’s wider potential? What do designers and graduates need, to be able to use their skills to tackle social issues? What does a movement toward socially responsible design look like to you? Read the rest of this entry »
On Friday evening, as part of the magnificent Greengaged hub of sustainability events (at London’s Design Council), a series of leading speakers will debate; “Should we believe the hype? Green Marketing, spin and substance.”
In 2007, 70% of the US’s GDP was generated from consumption. UK household waste has been growing by 2% – 3% per cent a year. The average shopper in the developed world shopper adds 3 tonnes of CO2 to their carbon footprint by simply buying stuff. Products and services are clicking on to the big sell of green. In the climate of economic down turn how can we create behaviour change in consumers who are bombarded by advertising and bored of green wash.
Chaired by Lucy Siegle from The Observer, the speakers include: Ed Gillespie (Futerra), Sophie Thomas (thomas.matthews), Stewart Rassier (Saatchi & Saatchi S), Richard George (Plane Stupid), Chris Sherwin (Forum for the Future), John Grant (author of The Green Marketing Manifesto).
To join the debate visit Greengaged.com and book your place! Kick off is at 6.30pm.
With the 2008 London Design Festival only a matter of days away, it is with great respect to read ‘Scenes of Graphic London’, an editorial piece written by Teal Triggs (Professor of Graphic Design, University of the Arts London). Highlighting the importance of Graphic Design to the UK capital, Triggs beautifully captures a timeline of the UK’s most iconic work, and intelligently pays respect to the changing faces of its future. You can download the full article from the London Design Festival website.
Over the past week, I had the pleasure of meeting and working alongside the multi-talented Graphic Designer Alex Ostrowski. Alex, a 2008 UK Graphic Design graduate from Bristol’s University of West England, recently won the RSA and NESTA’s competition ‘Engage!’.
Tagged to “catalyse social change through design-led citizen participation”, the Engage! project, aimed to encourage social responsibility in young designers. The 2008 RSA Design Directions brief asked student designers to consider how they could best use design to bring about positive change within a community and instigate a project solution of this nature.
Graphic designers work with clients, institutions, users, and communities to make things happen in the world. Yet education often focuses on the individual voice. How are we preparing students for a lifetime of working with and for other people? How are our students connecting to the world? Come participate in a relaxed and stimulating weekend of lively discussions, hands-on workshops, and informal activities.
With the intention to host “dozens of presentations and workshops led by designers, educators, and graduate students”, this looks to be a thoroughly engaging event that is currently calling for speakers!
Last night I came across a magnificent online resource and initiative dedicated to socially conscious design, its name Creative For A Cause. Founded and set up by Denver based Graphic Designer Heidi Cies, Creative For A Cause (A Resource for Visual Communications Educators) aims to assist teaching social responsibility in design education.
“While social responsibility is being discussed more and more frequently within the Visual Communications industry and among educators today, no standards or guidelines currently exist to aid in the implementation of these concepts into the higher education curriculum. Where social responsibility is not already part of a Visual Communications program, and there is little or no administrative support for inclusion, it is left to individual instructors to decide how to best integrate this topic into their syllabi.
This site is a collaborative resource for educators of Visual Communications who wish to instruct their students on the importance of adopting a social and ethical approach to their work. If you know of additional resources that you feel would be of value, please contact us.” (Heidi Cies, Creative For A Cause).
Heidi, well done – this is a fantastic project that is certainly going to prove useful. I look forward to our future conversations.
When I was first asked to contribute a piece on design ethics to Design Sessions: Notes on Design, I wondered how I could credibly comment on such a complex and highly academic topic. Whilst sitting at the early stages of my creative career, I wondered how many of us really understand what it means to be a “good” designer, and asked myself, if and how, I am a “good” (socially-responsible) designer?
Design Ethics
Throughout every stage of my creative training, I have echoed the belief that design is “quintessentially an ethical process” (Devon and Poel 2002). I strongly believe that Communication Design has a positive and negative ability to affect social change, but recognize that its influential power should be treated with respect and careful consideration, of its use, from all its designers.
London College of Communication are hosting the New Views 2 Symposium and Exhibition this coming July, entitled “Conversations and Dialogue in Graphic Design”. Although the call for papers is now closed, the conference registration is online and a call for poster submissions is underway.
“By facilitating large and smaller more focused groups of delegates, New Views 2, aims to identify the challenges we are currently facing in graphic design, but more importantly proposing potential ways forward.”
The suggested themes that New Views 2 may cover:
Problems of defining terminology: visual communication, communication design, graphic design, information environments.
the role of graphic design for the ‘real world’.
graphic design and interdisciplinarity
graphic design and research methods
design writing/criticism and repositioning the debate
practice-led PhD research in the field of graphic design
responsive curriculums and shifting paradigms
research, innovation and new critical thinking
New Views 2 has asked for poster submissions that “through the use of graphic language, address the issues and the core themes of the conference and demonstrate the use of graphic design as a means to critique and reflect upon its future.” Individuals or groups, Design students, Design Faculty and Professional Design Studio submissions were all welcome (more details on the website) and the selected works will be included in the traveling exhibition and/or the digital exhibition. I look forward to seeing the online exhibition later in the year.
Symposium:
July 9 – 11, 2008
London College of Communication
University of the Arts London, UK
Exhibition:
9 – 21 July 2008
Opens in London and then travels to RMIT, Australia.
A digital exhibition will also be presented through the conference website.
Forever an inspiration voice, John Thackara is a symposiarch who designs events, projects, and organizations. Director of Doors of Perception (Doors), and author of the awe-inspiring publication, In the Bubble, John has for the last two years lead the Design of the Times (dott 07) project in North East England.
“If you attend certain events, read certain books or policy papers it is possible at the minute, to formulate a world view whereby design is the panacea of all ills.” Wodcast.
Recorded at Intersections07, Wodcast recently caught up with John to discuss the dott 07 project, design and social change, sustainability, and design education. Thackara explains how designers should not see themselves as the cause of social problems, or pretend to have all the answers to solve them. The interview is short but definately worth listening to.
Having recently immersed myself into Oliver James’ book Affluenza, this is a wonderfully topical discussion, which I have also been discussing with colleagues and students. Affluenza (which at most criticizes and abruptly awakens its readers to a money-grabbing, consumer “must-have” society), ultimately questions if success can be gained in any competitive industry and within any consumer-focused society. For example: Can a single ambition ever be experienced? As one success, ambition or goal is reached another one is created, superceding its previous. Therefore, I agree that a consistent “raising of the bar” (Jared Lantzman), certainly plays a part of being a “successful” designer. Why this is the case, however, is an entirely different discussion.
Success is subjective to personal ambition and at its core is defined by each individual. The problem I see however, is that success is taught initially by a grading matrix and later by an overly powerful “celebrity” culture (especially in the Design Industry). I believe being a successful Designer entails the creative ability to evolve and grow at the same pace that the industry does, yet whilst remaining unique in ones own ability and passion.
For me, my creative and professional success will be determined by any socially conscious contribution I make to the world around us, via the medium of Visual Communication; a combination of Design Methodology and Creative Intelligence. Making a difference is far more “successful” than merely making an impact and should the former be achieved, the latter tends to follow.
After Jody Boehnert forwarded me a link to Rick Poynor’s recent critic of Design Conferences, for Creative Review, I have thought a lot about their impact/importance and relevance.
The celebrity culture that has developed in the design industry is not something I have followed since being a student, however I was quite shocked at the monochrome nature of responses to this article, which it would seem illustrates a dichotomy of current day designers.
Response made to Rick Poynor’s feature:
Many conferences are simply an exhibition of famous works, but as Rajesh comments, students will forever love the opportunity to meet/see/admire their favourite designers (and there is nothing wrong with admiring your inspirations). As we develop into professionals however, there is more to learn and think about than “new tricks and computer skills”. If everyone just learns how to recreate the same thing, designers will evolve into nothing but another form of technology.
We should be asking for a new kind of design event that gets its audience off the seats and use their talents to challenge current day social problems. I therefore agree that smaller interactive debates, discussions and workshops that consider social change will assist the Communication industry to evolve positively into the future, and perhaps eradicate the risk of stagnating its designers into aesthetically orientated tech-savvy talent.
I have just listened to an interesting interview with Think Public’s Deborah Szebeko, via Wodcast.
Szebeko opens the discussion to talk through her definition of “Public Service Design”. She continues to discuss Think Public’s recent project “The Real Work Experience” – which I am ever more inspired by having (like many of those involved) left my BA degree in Graphic Design a bit lost at how to vehicle my work/skills/education toward positive change, rather than choosing a career path toward the more typical designer routes of advertising, for example. Szebeko further explains her motivation for starting Think Public and the Real Work Experience to have been driven from a frustration that designers have so little awareness as to where they can use their communication skills to design for greater good. Worth taking 12 mins to listen to the interview, if you haven’t come across Szebeko’s work yet.
Truthfully, I was particularly taken by the inside front cover [of all things] – which captures an extensive collection of books and CDs, that [I can only imagine] are a selection of resources Roberts used as research for the discussion. Admittedly, to me, this image was the most personal visual used in the book - an authors touch that visually frames an introduction to the complex subject that is design ethics and [creative] social responsibility.
Starting at the beginning of ’Early Civilisation’ (p.21), Roberts takes the discussion through History, Philosophy (p.34), Law (p.44) and Politics (p.58), to a series of discussions with a collection of credible designers (p.113-192) – ultimately questioning what it means to be a “good designer”. I was taken by Paula Scher’s response, to which she responded: “I don’t understand how the word good is used here. Am I a well-behaved Graphic Designer? Am I socially conscious designer?”
For all designers interested in their work being more ethically or socially responsible, this introductory text offers plentiful food for thought over what is really takes to be a “good designer”. The text is a great introduction to design ethics, that I feel, should be mandatory reading for todays designers and undergraduates alike. On the topic of designer ethics, I came across an interesting article entitled In Search of Ethics in Graphic Design [2004] by Paul Nini, which I would also recommend reading.
DesignLondon will develop, research and deliver radically new practices, tools and processes to transform the way businesses innovate, and translate their creativity into commercial success.
This new venture combines creativity and expertise in design from the Royal College of Art, engineering from Imperial College’s Faculty of Engineering and the business of innovation from Imperial College’s Tanaka Business School. It was established following the Cox Review: Creativity in Business that highlighted the need to stir together the scientific, engineering, business and creative design communities to enhance business and public sector innovation. Read the rest of this entry »
GOOD 50×70 is back for 2008! Good 50×70, the initiative that ‘promotes awareness amongst the creative community of the power they have to be a force for good,’ is back for its second year.
Entrants are asked to design posters (on as many briefs as they wish) and the best submissions will be selected by a jury of graphic design luminaries [listed below] and given to the supporting seven charities to use for global campaigns. For 2008, seven briefs fall under the themes of: Child Mortality, Global Warming, Human Rights Violation, Hunting, STDs, War Victims and Water Scarcity. Read the rest of this entry »
Singapore’s Design Management Institute present Design|Value, a unique international conference that aims to demonstrate how to use design and design thinking to solve business objectives. On 13-14 March 2008, at Grand Hyatt in Singapore, a panel of international experts, will communicate how to create value through design, based on the triple bottom line: economic, social/cultural, and environmental value. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
In 2006, a pilot of the collaborative projects possible through the INDIGO: International Indigenous Design Network was demonstrated when Monash University (Australia) and the University of Hartford (United States) created MIX06. MIX06 was a cultural exchange project that explored the relationship between indigenous and non-indigenous culture within the context of national identity. Workshops, research, and collaborative teamwork took place in both countries and included indigenous participation. The workshop results can be found under the title: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward, an Icograda endorsed website. Inspiring results! Read the rest of this entry »
Communication design graduates, certainly have the creative ability to make significant change to social and public service, and yet I question why this is not sold to designers as a credible route to take post Graduation. Pitching the fact that only 23.2% of design graduates will find jobs in the creative industry itself, London based [public sector] design agency ThinkPublic, introduce The Real Work Experience. This is one of the most inspiring initiatives I have seen for a long time. The situation so many design graduates find themselves in is frightening, and yet there are so many possible avenues for us to vehicle our talents toward.
The real work experience aims to open design graduates’ eyes to the opportunities of using their skills beyond the usual design roles and the possibility of working in the public sector. Concurrently, the programme aims to educate public sector bodies on the skills and value designers can bring to their organisations.
Having recently commented about the pressures facing Undergraduate Graphic Designers in my response to Meredith Davis’ article The Cult of The ASAP, I have been assisting some research into anxiety and design education this past month. Quite timely, I received another concerned email this morning, from a UK design student. This is not the first time I have been contacted for help, and by no means shocks me at the level of fear and concern for future success. I would like to share the student voice with a wider collective this morning:
hello,
I really enjoy your graphic design and typography group and have found it really useful. You probably get this a lot but im in a bit of an un-nerving situation.I’m months away from graduating from De Montfort University. I have no actual work experience (except for about 10 designs ive done for bands/gigs) and I’m really worried about how to get my first foot in the graphic design ‘door’. Your job section of the group has been really helpful and has shown me there is plenty out there, but I’m not sure what to do as I’m worried they’ll all be snapped up by other people graduating. Read the rest of this entry »
Sir Ken Robinson is author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative (2001) and a leading expert on creativity, innovation and human resources. In 2006, at the TEDtalk “Do schools kill creativity?” he made an entertaining [and profoundly moving] case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize – much less cultivate – the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity” he explains, “If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original… We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather we get educated out of it.”
Ken has been one of my all time inspirations for many years, and having had the pleasure of meeting him at the Education Schow Conference “Creativity vs. Curriculum” in 2005, I never fail to be inspired by his humour and passion for this overly obvious problem with our education system.
If you are able to please help me, by donating to my work, I can continue working for many social projects and young creatives, and help the real value of design evolve. You can donate fees via PayPal. Thank you.
On Tuesday 3rd February, creativity expert 
