Design Systems Thinking Post 4
We learned earlier in our capstone readings on “Design Systems Thinking” that the process and methodology used enables a designer to go through a series of steps to insure that he or she has considered all the aspects of a problem to resolve it successfully. The first step is to decide what the designer wants to achieve. To accomplish this, the designer must put emphasis on the users of the designs to insure the design is more than just an advertisement. Instead, it should enrich the users’ lives. This is especially true when trying to effect social change because many people have established beliefs about social values and institutions.
The main page of the AIGA “Design for Good” website features numerous case studies. Student Trey Bates’s “Like This Box” project, which focuses on homeless people in Charlotte, North Carolina, followed the “Design Systems Thinking” process. His project brief stresses both project identification and research. His strategy and challenges led him to create “a billboard and a poster series highlighting the four in ten homeless that live in places not intended for people” (Case Studies). He also enriched readers’ lives by printing and distributing a free book of quotes from the residents of McCreesh Place, a Charlotte homeless shelter, through which readers could relate to homeless people as “just like you and me” (Bates).
Billboard highlighting that four in ten homeless that live in places not intended for people http://www.aiga.org/case-study-like-this-box/
Book of quotes from McCreesh Place enriches lives of readers and homeless
http://www.aiga.org/case-study-like-this-box/
AIGA’s “Design for Good” project also connects and empowers “designers through online networking tools, inspirational stories, chapter events, training, national advocacy and promotions” (“Why Design?”). The website lists resources for designers who want to effect social change through either non-profit organizations, including governmental agencies, or for-profit organizations. In addition, the site has a page for members to submit suggestions of other resources.
One organization in the “Design for Good” network, Advertisers Without Borders (created on the concept of Doctors Without Borders) , seeks “to add new advertising professionals and engage them as volunteers to donate at least a year to campaign for a social cause that improves the quality of life of the community.” Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus tweeted on the Advertisers Without Borders site, “We are used to struggle with peoples’ prejudice. If we use Advertising in a clever way we can change those prejudices very easily.”
http://www.awbnetwork.org/campaigns/item/154-help-now.html
This screenshot, from a promotional video, shows Superman tearing off his superhero clothes to reveal the suit and tie of an advertising executive, who flies to the rescue and prevents a disaster.
http://awbnetwork.org/campaigns/item/285-help-relief-efforts-in-nepal.html
The logo of Advertisers without Borders is located in the lower left corner of this ad to secure donations for the victims of the earthquake in Nepal.
Works Cited
Bates, Trey. “Case study: Like This Box.” AIGA. AIGA, 11 July 2013. Web. 16 May, 2015. <http://www.aiga.org/case-study-like-this-box/>
“Campaigns: Help Now.” Advertisers Without Borders. Advertisers Without Borders, 10 Oct 2011. Web. 16 May, 2015. <http://www.awbnetwork.org/campaigns/item/154-help-now.html>
“Campaigns: Help Relief Efforts in Nepal.” Advertisers Without Borders. Advertisers Without Borders, 27 Apr. 2015. Web. 16 May, 2015. <http://awbnetwork.org/campaigns/item/285-help-relief-efforts-in-nepal.html>
“Why Design?” AIGA. AIGA, n.d. Web. 16 May, 2015. <http://www.aiga.org/design-for-good/>
Visually Speaking 