Opinion: Maria Popova
Death to Design Awards

Awards are awful. Awards breed ego, create false meritocracies and ultimately stymie innovation at every step of the award-granting process — from entry to evaluation to owning the win.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (49)
Case Studies: Ernest Beck
Design and Social Enterprise: A New Model for Case Studies

Placing design within the larger context of real world projects and enterprises is critical for design thinking and solutions to evolve as a methodology and a means for social impact. In business schools, numerous case studies focus on social enterprise management and others on the role of design in business. But not many have considered the role of design in social enterprises. Yale School of Management, in collaboration with Winterhouse Institute, has created a new series of cases focusing on design and social enterprise, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (1)
Case Studies: Ernest Beck
SELCO: Case Study Synopsis & Teaching Objectives

This case study about SELCO, a solar energy company in India, provides an opportunity to examine the strategy of a business with a social purpose and a heavy reliance on innovative design. This is the first in a new series of cases focusing on design and social enterprise created by Yale School of Management in collaboration with Winterhouse Institute, funded by the Rockefeller Foundation.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (1)
Essay: Kate Howe
The Insignificance of a Logo (Even When Significant)

On the futility of designing the symbol for a controversial religious organization.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (28)
Essay: Ramsey Ford
What Social Entrepreneurship Can Teach Social Design

As a professor at the University of Cincinnati and a director of a nascent design nonprofit, Design Impact (DI), I'm often approached by young designers asking: What knowledge do I need to get into social design? What skills should I develop that I didn’t learn for my design degree? What social design opportunities are out there? How do I begin?
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (4)
Project: Phil Patton
Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Car

“Range anxiety” is the fear of running out of juice, and probably the chief obstacle to people's acceptance of electric cars. We don’t like to plan our journeys so carefully. But this pod-like electric car, which has been lurking in the shadows of the more highly publicized Chevrolet Volt and Nissan Leaf, may alleviate that concern.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (1)
Essay: Ashish Nangia
The Town That Corbusier Built

Respect for the design of Chandigarh, India, is growing, even as the modernist city is showing wear. But who will care, if access to its most impressive monuments is restricted?
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (10)
Opinion: Peter Wolf
Pet Projects

We’re killing 3 to 4 million dogs and cats each year in shelters. Although a wide variety of underserved populations have benefited from the recent design-for-social-change movement, the pet (over)population remains largely ignored.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (3)
Interview: Meena Kadri
Tinkers, Hackers, Farmers, Crafters

Emeka Okafor is a New York–based entrepreneur and blogger who curated the 2007 TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania. A reporter on innovations in African design, technology and industry, he aims to spread knowledge and foster partnerships that will lead to bottom-up growth on the African continent. One vehicle for accomplishing this is Okafor’s website Timbuktu Chronicles, which combines news of recent inventions with essays on African design and manufacturing. Another is Maker Faire Africa, an event he launched last year in Accra, Ghana. MFA brings interdisciplinary inventors and crafters together to share knowledge, resources and opportunities. This year's fair will take place in Nairobi, Kenya, August 27–28.
READ MORE |
COMMENTS (2)
Other Recent Posts
Yale School of Management:
SELCO: Product Design Philosophy Yale School of Management:
SELCO: Founder Harish Hande on SELCO's FutureWilliam Underhill:
Somali Documentary ProjectWilliam Drenttel:
Case Study Use: Teaching History and Notes for EducatorsErnest Beck:
Ripple Effect UpdateErnest Beck:
Bellagio Museum Symposium: AbstractWilliam Drenttel, Julie Lasky :
Reasons Not to Be Pretty: Symposium on Design, Social Change and the “Museum”Helen Walters:
Next: Innovation Tools & Trends Rockefeller Foundation's Push Toward Design and InnovationHelen Walters:
Inside the Design Thinking ProcessJen Roos:
Cup of HeroesMaria Popova:
The Language of Design ImperialismErnest Beck:
Camel Mobile Clinic Update William Underhill:
Map Kibera The Editors:
Neville Brody Wants YouVera Sacchetti:
Virtue Rewarded: Design and Social Innovation PrizesErnest Beck:
The World as Our Studio The Editors:
Humanitarian Design vs. Design Imperialism: Debate SummaryRobert Fabricant:
In Defense of Design ImperialismPhil Patton:
Murray T.25 City CarConstantin Boym:
Teaching in a Time of Uncertainty
Observed
AfriGadget's
coverage of
Maker Faire Africa 2010. Go
here for interview with MFA's founder, Emeka Okafor. [
JL]
Observed
The
finalists for the 2010
Curry Stone Design Prize have been announced:
Maya Pedal, which
makes machines from used bicycles that perform agricultural and household tasks without gas or electricity; Chilean design firm
Elemental, for
rethinking public housing in the developing world; and
Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), which addresses women's and girls' needs by, for instance,
developing feminine hygiene products from locally-sourced banana fiber in Rwanda. [
MB]
Observed
David Stairs
supports Bruce Nussbaum in ongoing
design imperialism controversy. [
JL]
Observed
The
Applied Brilliance conference, Oct 12-15 in
Ojai, CA, is dedicated to transforming ideas into events that serve people. This year’s theme is Revolution and Resilience. Speakers include corporate anthropologist
Karen Stephenson, video game designer
Jenova Chen, philosopher
Mark Kingwell and Griffith Observatory director
E.C. Krupp. Go
here for more info and to register. [
JL]
Gallery: Photo by Susannah Sayler/The Canary Project
Hot Mountain

Susannah Sayler, Glacial Icecap and Permafrost Melting: Cordillera Blanca, Peru, 2008.
>> Observed
The CoolClimate Art Contest "seeks to generate iconic images that address the impact of climate change and spur participation in the climate change debate." Submissions will be judged by
Agnes Gund,
David Ross,
Carrie Mae Weems,
Philippe Cousteau,
Van Jones,
Jackson Browne, and
Chevy Chase. Winners will be voted on by the public on
Huffington Post. Deadline: Sept. 6. Submit
here. [
JL]
Gallery: Photo by Greg Constantine
Nubians Then and Now

Greg Constantine, Nubian Homes in Kibera, July 2010.
>> Observed
Time managing editor Richard Stengel
defends a disturbing cover image. [
JL]
Observed
The Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona is offering a nine-month
masters degree program in sustainable emergency architecture. The program, which is taught in English, is "one of the very few in the world to specialize in post-disaster reconstruction and humanitarian projects." Faculty includes
Sergio Palleroni. [
JL]
Gallery: Photo by Pieter Hugo
Permanent Error

Pieter Hugo, Untitled, Agbogbloshie Market, Accra, Ghana 2010.
>> Observed
"Are your Nikes greener than your Adidas?" Phil Patton on the newly developed
Eco Index measuring the environmental and human-rights impact of apparel brands. [
JL]
Observed
Why you should be depressed (today) about global climate change. And
what you can do to lift the gloom. [
JL]
Gallery: Patrick Chappatte
Study in Contrasts

"Soccer Celebration in Africa," published in NZZ am Sonntag (Zurich), June 13, 2010.
>>Gallery: Mike Sinclair
Midway at the Oasis

Midway, Neshoba County Fair, Philadelphia, Mississippi, 1990.
>>Gallery: Julie Lasky
Protect Me from What I Want

In 2002, a slim Asian-Canadian New Yorker in his twenties, who often gave the impression of being the most negligible person in a room, approached the artist Jenny Holzer at a Manhattan gallery and asked her to inscribe a message on his forearm.
>>Gallery: Elizabeth Helman Minchilli, Annie Schlechter
Rome Sustainable Food Project

For over two decades, chef, author and founder of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters has been working tirelessly to change the way we eat in America. Four years ago, she sent chef Mona Talbott to put her words into action at the American Academy in Rome.
>>