by Lindsey Berdan, Immediate Past Chapter Chair of IDSA Northwest and 2010 Design Debate Moderator

The answer is yes, design can save the world, but perhaps not in the way you think.  Design is a tool.  Design is a verb.  A product, process or service may result from using this tool.  But what if the end product was actually teaching someone how to use the tool?  What if saving the world means educating the world in how to use the design process?

As the moderator of the IDSA Northwest 2010 Design Debate my goal was to understand how the practice of  what is known as Design for the Majority, Design for the Other 90%, Design for the Base of the Pyramid and Humanitarian Design could ever be a viable and sustainable venture.  I had the chance to interview the design debate panel members, both one on one and in front of a live audience.  Many of the questions from the audience mirrored those of my own:

-         What is the basis for believing that designers from the Western world are qualified to design for people in Africa or India?

-         Why does the emphasis appear to be on issues in developing nations?  What about solving local problems?

-         How important is it for the products/solutions to be manufactured close to where they will be used, by the people who will use them?

-         What if the consequences of a design intervention are negative?  How can this be prevented?

My conclusion is that the term “Design for the Majority” is a misnomer.  Jason, Michael, Kevin, Kara and Sergio never described their work as designing something “for” the people of Uganda, India, or Rwanda, rather they described their process of designing WITH the culture and people of these nations.  Each debate panel member emphasized the importance of doing local, immersive research into the lives and cultures they are trying to serve.

According to panel member Kara Pecknold, Design Researcher/Design Entrepreneur at Olivelife Creative, developing nations do not have design in their education systems.  Based on her experience working with women in Rwanda she came to the realization that the next step for her is to bring the skills and training in design, rather than designers themselves, to Rwandans.

When ask about the appropriateness of people from the Western world intervening in the problems of the developing world, panel member Sergio Paleroni, Professor of Architecture at Portland State University,  stated that sensitivity is required and the approach of culture-centered design must be used in addition to traditional design thinking in order to make connections.  Panel member Michael Cetaruk, Associate Creative Director at frog design, described the scenario as one of design research rather than actual design.  From his perspective the fun part is getting to know a culture and debunking his preconceptions.

When asked “Isn’t your work promoting a culture of aid and hand-outs instead of encouraging local or native solutions?” Mr.Cetaruk commented that his perspective is that his job is to bring the tools of design thinking and design research to developing nations, and Mr. Palleroni agreed that it is about education. Panel member Jason Morris, Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Western Washington University, found that he had to work against the endemic culture of aid in his experience in Uganda.  The Ugandans he was working with were less interested in the bicycle he was designing for them and more interested in the potential relationship with Western Washington University.  The community had been conditioned to prefer and even expect hand outs.  Because he didn’t choose his life, he sees his advantages as a gift and doesn’t view aid as a bad thing as long as it is done right.  From Ms. Pecknold’s perspective it’s about understanding what someone’s purchasing power is; understanding the difference between when aid is needed and when empowerment is needed.  In her experience, understanding someone’s purchasing power allows one to determine “when it’s time to be charitable, kind and generous” in the form of aid.

In response the audiences question “Where are products manufactured and how important is it that they be manufactured locally?” panel member Kevin Flick, Program Officer with the Safe Water project at PATH, stated that it depends on the product.  There isn’t anything inherently bad about a local manufacturing model versus a remote manufacturing model.  The PATH Safe Water project is designing a home water filtration system that will be very low cost to meet the exceptionally low price point, necessary for its adoption in India.  This means that the manufacturing will take place in China, for the cheapest mass production possible.  Mr. Morris’s response to this question is that the goal of his project was to do local manufacturing of the bicycles but found that there were too many barriers to accomplishing this (no electricity for arc welding for example).

When asked “What about local problems; helping the disadvantaged in America?” Ms. Pecknold

agreed that solving local problems is important and described work by Emily Carr students to address AIDS issues in Vancouver B.C.

Lastly, when asked “What would happen if you or we don’t do it?”, attempt to save the world, that is, Mr. Cetaruk’s response was that the world is becoming increasingly smaller, and if we don’t solve these problems, they will persist and grow in scale.  Ms. Pecknold’s motto is “To whom much is given, much will be required.”  The act of relating to other human beings by helping them allows us to learn things about ourselves, and this is what makes the world what it is.

This month the design leader Bruce Nussbaum posted an article on Fast Company magazine’s design forum titled “Is Humanitarian Design the New Imperialism?”. It sparked a debate about the merits of designing for the majority.  Responses included this from Kara Pecknold: “For the Love of Labels.” And this response from frog design (one of the design debate sponsors) designer Jon Kolko: “The Puzzle of Bruce’s Zeitgeist.”

It would appear that the debate of design’s efficacy in addressing the problems of the world is divided into two camps: the Old School and the New School.  The debate is on!

Visit debate sponsor Blink Interactive’s site to watch the IDSA Northwest 2010 Design Debate.

Thanks again to IDSA Northwest’s Sponsors and Partners in this event: AIA Seattle, AIGA Seattle, Blink Interactive, Objet/Keemera, DGTL/NVJO design, General Assembly, frog design, Teague, Produxs and 56seven8 design.

Check out more event photos at the IDSA Northwest Facebook wall!

The IDSA Northwest Chapter and Design for the Majority section present the 2010 Design Debate: “Can Design Save the World?” on Thursday, June 17^th at 7:00 pm at the Seattle Art Museum Olympic Sculpture Park Pavilion.  This moderated panel discussion will include an interdisciplinary panel of design professionals from the fields of industrial design, architecture, graphic design, interaction design and user research.  The panel will discuss and debate issues related to designing sustainable products, structures and businesses for the 5.3 billion people living in less developed regions of the world.

Details:

Thursday, June 17^th, 2010

7:00 pm – Doors open

7:00 to 7:30 – Hors d’ouevre and drinks.

7:30 – Design Debate begins

Cash bar open following the debate.

SAM Olympic Sculpture Park Pavilion Building, 2901 Western Avenue, Seattle, WA 98121

Registration Online: (Closes June 11^th)

IDSA, AIA, AIGA Members = $15
General Public = $30
Students = $10

Registration at the Door:

IDSA, AIA, AIGA Members = $25
General Public = 45
Students = $15

Panelist Biographies:

Sergio Palleroni, Professor and Fellow of the new Center for Sustainable Processes and Practices at Portland State University , and was a Professor at the University of Texas, Austin, and the University of Washington for 18 years where he  founded the Basic Initiative (www.basicinitiative.org) , a multidisciplinary fieldwork program which each year challenges students from US and schools worldwide into apply their education in the field in service of the problems facing marginalized communities throughout the world. He has worked on sustainable architecture and community design in the developing world since the early1980’s both for not-for-profit agencies and governmental and international agencies such as UNESCO, World Bank, and the governments of China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Taiwan. His work with students has received numerous national and international awards, including the 1997 American Institute of Architects/ Association of Collegiate Schools of  Architecture National Education Award, the 2003 and 2006 NCARB Prize for Creative Integration of Practice and Education, the 2005 US  National Design Award given annually by the Smithsonian, and the first Global Impact Award from the Global Convention on Architecture in 2010, as well as  international  design awards from  Mexico, Colombia, Japan, Taiwan, Greece, Spain, and the US for his work making sustainability accessible to the traditionally underserved. The work of the BASIC Initiative has been most recently been documented in Studio At Large: Architecture in Service of Global Communities (2004), Building a Strawbale House (2005), and Architecture Like You Give a Damn (2006),  Teaching Sustainability in Asia (2007), Expanding Architecture: Design as Activism (2009), as well several television programs, including, “Green for All” a segment in the PBS series Design e2  (2006), all  which explore the BASIC Initiatives efforts to improve, and make sustainable, the lives of the globes poorest citizens.

Jason Morris is an associate professor of industrial design at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.  Prior to his career switch to academia, he was a principal of the consulting product design firm tool. in Marblehead, Massachusetts.  Jason earned his Master’s of Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.  He is currently working on producing the first biographical documentary film about the pioneering industrial designer, Walter Dorwin Teague. Beginning in 2005 Jason began working collaboratively with bicycle couriers in Uganda to design a  new bicycle specifically for their unique use.  The prototype of this design was brought to Uganda in 2007 to be tested and critiqued by the Ugandans.  Although the bicycle design had it’s successes and failures, the process of this design project had significant positive impact on the lives of all involved.

Kara Pecknold has a graduate degree in Design and her research is presented as a case study in IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Toolkit. She is a graduate member of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada and has joined the Designer’s Accord. Kara currently teaches design at Emily Carr University while also working as a design research consultant with their research office. In this role, she has been focused on design and health care solutions for international communities. This summer, she is partnering with a local university to focus on design strategies that will impact food fortification systems in Rwanda. Under the name of Olivelife Creative, she has worked on freelance projects in design, writing and photography. Kara has had various experiences working as a designer in Rwanda and is interested in how to design when language and technology are not shared. Her graduate research considered how to design with rural communities and the impact of communication design on those who may not have access to technology or information. As we live in a world that is inherently cross-cultural, Kara suggests that these experiences are not just about designing in Rwanda but rather one example of what it now means to work in a global economy.

Michael Cetaruk is an Associate Creative Director at frog design. Michael Cetaruk joined frog in 2003. He leads interaction design projects ranging from iphone app to web applications for enterprise. His client list includes Movirtu, CA, Huawei, Sprint, Cisco, AMD, Microsoft, PeopleSoft, GE, Blockbuster, Vodafone, and Hawaiian Airlines among many others. Originally from Boston, MA, — now in Austin, TX, Michael has traveled widely personally and professionally, living and working in Asia and Africa, often having the opportunity to engage in local cultures in the developing world. Most recently, he has conducted a design collaboration with Movirtu to bring mobile communications sharing applications to those who cannot afford their own individual mobile handset, SIM, or monthly subscription.

Kevin Flick is a program officer with the Safe Water Project. As the Consumer Product Officer, Kevin is responsible for ensuring that our safe water product offerings meet the needs of our eventual consumers—those in the developing world making between $1 and $5 per day, or “bottom of pyramid” consumers. He works at the strategic level to ensure our research is taking us in the right direction and also manages our tactical usability research. Prior to joining PATH in 2009, Kevin spent four years on the hardware team at the Microsoft Corporation, leading user research for categories such as PC gaming hardware and new input/output devices for the PC. He has worked in prosthetic leg research and development, on musculoskeletal dynamics of insect flight, and in education as a high school teacher and teacher educator. He has a PhD in Zoology from the University of Washington, and a BA in Biology from Boston University.  At PATH, we believe that poor health and poverty do not need to go hand-in-hand.  Within that context, Kevin works to ensure that PATH Safe Water Project products meet the cultural, functional, aesthetic, and economic needs of the people we’re trying to serve.

Thursday, February 25 / 6-9pm
@ the Swedish Cultural Center (svea room)

$30 IDSA members / $40 non-members
Covers the class, and a multimeter
and a small parts bin for you to keep.

To register visit http://bit.ly/aOpVe3
(limited to 30 students)

Morgan Redfield, Instructor + EE + DIY hacker
Morgan Redfield has a degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington. He has been working with electronics for eight years, and has designed and built USB devices, an EEG detector, and a modem.

IDSA NW would like to invite you and your colleagues to our annual Winter Social. The event is set for Thursday, December 3rd from 7-11 at BoConcepts at 901 Western Ave. in Seattle.

This event is a good opportunity for designers to catch up with friends and past co-workers as well as network and mingle. It is also a good opportunity for design students to interact with design professionals. We look forward to seeing you there!

PLEASE REGISTER HERE:

http://bit.ly/8SvPsn

“Production”, a product themed photography exhibit and art auction benefiting the WWU IDSA Student Chapter will be on display at Mindport Exhibits in Bellingham, WA starting November 23rd. The exhibit will culminate in a fundraiser on Friday, December 4th @ 7pm with all the displayed photographs being auctioned off to raise money.

Please join us for snacks, drinks, photography, and samples of WWU ID student work. Questions? Check out wwuidsa.blogspot.com or contact Ben Peterson at benpeterson2@gmail.com

1. fancy and JOIN present:

‘SCRAP’

Limited edition design objects in scrap wood from Seattle designers & artists.
Friday November 13, 2009
6-9pm

Featuring:

grain
Iacoli & McAllister
Ladies & Gentlemen Studio
Loc Trinh
Laura Yeats
Trey Jones for urbancase
Fortyfive09 and &c.
fancy

1914 2nd Ave
Downtown Seattle
Btwn Stewart & Virginia
206-956-2945
more info: http://www.joindesignseattle.com/scrap.html

2. ‘Design Shoppe’

One night pop-up featuring design objects by artists and independent designers from the Pacific Northwest.  Silent auction to benefit JOIN & Nest Seattle.

Saturday November 28, 2009
7-11pm Design Object Sale
7-9pm Silent Auction
9:15pm Auction Winners Announced
**Sale & Auction is Cash Only

Vermilion Wine + Art
1508 11th Ave
Between Pike & Pine
Capitol Hill – Seattle

more info: http://www.joindesignseattle.com/designShoppe.html

Nest is a nonprofit organization that empowers female artists and artisans around the world. Using a unique combination of interest-free microfinance loans, mentoring from established designers, as well as a market in which to sell their crafts, Nest helps its loan recipients create successful small businesses. Nest instills pride of ownership, preserves ancient artistic traditions and successfully moves women from poverty to self-sufficiency.

www.buildanest.com

JOIN: Design Seattle promotes emerging independent American design by providing designers a forum to show work, get feedback, and share resources. By organizing design shows and events and hosting an online calendar, we strive to be the adhesive that binds a thriving, but fragmented, furniture and product design community in Seattle.