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Design Practice
05.10.13: Center for an Urban Future
8 Ways to Grow New York’s Design SectorNew York City is home to more designers than any other U.S, city and a top location in the world for cutting-edge design. NYCxDESIGN — the city’s first citywide design festival, launching this week —builds on much of that activity to increase awareness about what design is and what it can do. But there is more the city can do to solidify New York’s claim as a capital of design.
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09.11.12: Scott Boylston
Designing Design into SocietyA report on the Design Ethos 2012 DO-ference.
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05.01.12: Andrew Shea
Flies in Urinals: The Value of Design DisruptionsHow a disruption in routine (potentially by design) can alter the environment.
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03.20.12: William Drenttel
Designing for Social ChangeDesigning for Social Change is a toolkit of strategies, case studies, and stories, offering new opportunities for approaching social design in our communities.
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12.08.11: The Editors
Designing an Educational BreakthroughA new initiative recruits young adults to create ways to promote adolescent literacy
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11.14.11: Laura Weiss
Better Service Through ConsultmanshipOn a neglected area of design education
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11.08.11: John Cary
Architecture's Internship Requirement Needs a RedesignAn argument for rethinking architecture's internship requirement
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10.27.11: Courtney Drake & Deirdre Cerminaro with William Drenttel
Design and the Social Sector: An Annotated BibliographyThis bibiography surveys the literature of social design — the spectrum from design process and thinking to the zones of social innovation.
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07.28.11: Laura Weiss
What We Can Learn from Project RunwayAs 'Project Runway' launches its 9th season, a designer muses on what she's learned.
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07.22.11: John Thackara
Ten Ways to Redesign Design CompetitionsHow to improve design competitions aimed at social good.
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02.07.11: Ernest Beck
Hester Street CollaborativeReport on Hester Street Collaborative's pro-bono design model.
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10.04.10: Phil Patton
The Meek Shall Inherit the MarketPhil Patton writes in praise of frugal engineering, and not just for developing markets.
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09.29.10: John Waters
Design Ethos: A Bugle of ChangeEssay endorsing a new definition of graphic design practice.
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08.31.10: Maria Popova
Death to Design AwardsEssay attacking design awards for stifling innovation
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07.29.10: Maria Popova
The Language of Design ImperialismEssay on the flawed language used to describe humanitarian design efforts and what it indicates.
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07.16.10: The Editors
Humanitarian Design vs. Design Imperialism: Debate SummaryBruce Nussbaum started a firestorm with the question "Is humanitarian design the new imperialism?" — and the conversation has spread through the blogosphere. Here, a digest of essays and related posts on this subject.
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07.12.10: Constantin Boym
Teaching in a Time of UncertaintyMeditation on the doubt creeping into today's design practice.
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06.10.10: Ernest Beck
Catapult Design: How to Run a Design Firm for Social ChangeCatapult Design’s nonprofit model offers a new way to think about how designers can engage social innovation projects.
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05.12.10: Allan Chochinov
Bellagio Design Symposium: Core77 ReportAllan Chochinov of Core77, sums up his experience at the Bellagio Design Symposium, the annual Salone Del Mobile Furniture Fair in Milan and being hostage to the whims of a volcano.
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05.06.10: William Drenttel
Design for Change ContestKiran Bir Sethi is a designer, teacher, principal, advocate and social entrepreneur. Now her “Design for Change Contest,” a recent initiative that swept India in 2009, is expanding globally.
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05.03.10: Roger Martin
Design Thinking Comes to the U.S. ArmyDesign is almost overnight the centerpiece of military doctrine and the U.S. Army has gotten design thinking quite right. The struggle to get design thinking ensconced in Army doctrine, though, is no easy feat.
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02.22.10: Justin Kemerling
The Volunteer Design Chronicles (Lincoln, NE)Community-focused pro-bono design activities in Lincoln, Nebraska.
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02.17.10: Jessica Helfand
Better Living Through ArtistrySEWA, a cooperative textile manufacturing company in Ahmedebad, India, is a network of self-employed women.
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02.01.10: Julie Lasky
DesigNYCDesigNYC is the latest grass-roots organization to match socially minded designers with nonprofits.
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01.20.10: Tony Whitfield
Prepared for HaitiTony Whitfield meditates on the assistance designers should give in Haiti following the earthquake, and in future catastrophes.
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11.24.09: Aspen Editors
Aspen Design Summit Report: Sustainable Food and Childhood ObesityAt the Aspen Design Summit November 11–14, 2009, sponsored by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, the Sustainable Food Project focused on accelerating the shift from a global, abstract food system to a regional, real food system via a robust portfolio of activities — including a grand challenge and a series of youth-engagement programs.
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11.23.09: Aspen Editors
Aspen Design Summit Report: CDC and Healthy AgingAt the Aspen Design Summit November 11–14, 2009, sponsored by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, the CDC Healthy Aging Project began with the initial premise to enhance the ability of public health entities to determine whether adults 50 and over have received recommended preventive health services. The Project developed a “5 over 50” concept and brand name, and a new goal: to double the current number of people who are “up to date” with these preventive measures.
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11.23.09: Aspen Editors
Aspen Design Summit Report: Hale County Rural Poverty ProjectAt the Aspen Design Summit November 11–14, 2009, sponsored by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, the Hale County Rural Poverty Project conceived of a socio-economic model of resource allocation through an online platform for accelerated regional development in the Black Belt counties of rural Alabama.
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11.23.09: Aspen Editors
Aspen Design Summit: ParticipantsThe Aspen Design Summit, November 11-14, 2009, sponsored by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute, involved 64 participants — designers, experts, researchers, educators, and representatives of NGOs, foundations and businesses. This the complete attendee list of participants.
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10.13.09: Andy Chen
The Value of EmpathyAndy Chen responds to the debate between David Stairs and Valerie Casey on the recent surge of social design activity.
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10.01.09: Moderated by Julie Lasky
The Kindness of StrangersDebate between graphic designer David Stairs and Designers Accord founder Valerie Casey about designers' roles and limits as social activists.
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09.23.09: John Thackara
Design & Development: Interview with 4baqJohn Thakra discusses sustainability, design and development with 4baq.
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05.27.09: John Thackara
Make Sense, Not StuffJohn Thackara presents a three-step plan to connect design schools to the green economy.
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07.15.07: John Thackara
Design for (Im)mobility: Interview with DomusJohn Thackera defines and explains the importance of ethnoecology.
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