I spent a lot of time and energy worrying about money last year. Being a freelancer/business owner in a recession is not exactly a bucket of fun. But this simple little website certainly puts things into perspective… check it out if you feel like a reality check.
| I’m loaded. It’s official. I’m the 777,605,703 richest person on earth! |
‘On a random weekend evening, my wife and I decided to sit down and write some lines about environmental stewardship. They turned into personal pledge cards for a community organization I got myself involved with in Lincoln, Nebraska, called Lincoln Green by Design. The cards were designed in an eco-friendly way, made out of paper scraps from past print runs. The messages were both sustainable and witty. One of my personal favorites was “I will eat local. Food not people.” Right up there with “I will stop (using plastic sacks) in the name of love.”’
The opening paragraph to The Volunteer Design Chronicles, great little article over at Design Observer today.
“Many talented young designers today have abandoned their roles as improvers of the general visual environment. Many only want to work on cultural work, or not-for-profit work, or on projects they perceive as “good-for-society” which may have a high profile within the design milieu, but don’t really reach ordinary people. These designers are afraid to get involved in mainstream packaging, promotion or corporate work. They forget that these are the products and messages that most people really encounter in their daily lives, that these products and services are at the heart of the American condition, and that there is responsibility for us as designers, always, to raise the expectation of what design can be. We are responsible for that daily experience. These “ivory tower designers” leave the job to others (ad agencies, schlock shops, etc.) who are simply doing it for the money, and are often cynical about the outcome.”
Pr*tty Sh*tty interviews Paula Scher. This woman is one of my design heroes, and this interview pretty much sums up why. Her TED talk is also very much worth watching.
“We largely educate our students according to a medical-model of practice, in which designers mostly work with individual clients, as doctors do with individual patients, to develop custom solutions to site-specific problems. As we have seen in the emergency medical response in Haiti, that approach works best when dealing with people in need of intensive and immediate care; but medical doctors have much less to offer the broader population, whose long-term needs involve sanitation, clean water, and safe and secure shelter… A prevention-oriented model of design practice would involve a more entrepreneurial way of operating, in which architects would not wait for commissions to come to them, but would instead proactively approaches communities or even entire countries with appropriate and affordable ideas of how to avoid the next likely disaster.”
Excerpted from a fascinating article over at Design Observer… it’s worth the time to read the whole piece.
Ok, I know this link has been making the rounds of every design blog the last few days… but this laptop case is hella sexy.
Found this group on Facebook:
“Uniting Designers in Disaster is an open forum for designers of all disciplines to come together with ideas and initiatives to help address the current crisis in Haiti.”
It’s set up and maintained by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design but is open to designers of all forms. I look forward to reading through the posts, and hopefully finding some good projects to work on or get inspired by.
CBC Radio 3 has posted a list of trusted NGOs operating in Haiti, as released by the Department of Foreign Affairs. If you’re looking for a place to donate, there’s a great place to start.
I’ve found myself strck dumb but the recent horror and catastrophe in Haiti. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories of the struggles to recover from a deadly earthquake in an already impoverished nation is overwhelming. And it’s left me wondering what I, as a designer, can do. I want to (and will) send money, but I also want to do something that will, hopefully, make a difference in the long term. So how can a graphic designer in Canada affect the lives of people in Haiti? I don’t know yet.
Matt Ward over at Echo Enduring has started an auction of his services to raise money. If you want to bid, you can follow the link, all the information is there. I think this is a great starting place, and I’m considering doing the same thing.
And Design Informer has a nice long list of design projects that various designers are working on to help Haiti. There’s some nice eye-candy bits of inspiration in there.
Check the sky for airborne porcine, because… we’ve finally updated the website! Shocking, but true. Projects have been broken down into sections for easier viewing and referencing, and new work has been added.
Notice a type or something not working quite right? Let us know!
It seems to be all posters all the time here at ATR, and that’s OK with me! This time we had the opportunity to work on a poster campaign for the Victoria Community Health Cooperative. We had the opportunity, once again, to work with Corinne Mah, production artist and copywriter extraordinaire. I’m pleased with the result, and can’t wait to see the posters around town. And if you’re looking for a more holistic, integrative approach to healthcare for you and your family, be sure to check out the VCHC website!
