Design for Sustainable Change

Anne Chick’s book, Design for Sustainable Change (2011) claims that design can help solve societal problems. She discusses how design thinking is evolving and being applied to a much wider spectrum of social and environmental issues. Therefore, design can be used as a tool for activism. She describes design activism as “ characterized both by its clear intent and the often radical nature of its practice” (p.59).

They key aspect of design activism is to propose a solution, and therefore design must be a collective process, done in conjunction with the communities it wishes to help (Chick, 2011). Design activism is a communication job, as all relevant stakeholders must collaborate and the designer (communicator) is in charge of communicating a well thought solution, with catchy and sticky design. This creates a whole new landscape for designers and communicators.

Design activism can become stronger when done in partnership with organizations that share the dream of changing the status quo, such as nonprofit organizations.  Such is the case of Provokateur, a design agency whose mission is to change the world. This is a new niche within the design and ad agency world, as they primarily focus on nonprofits, and sometimes also work with private companies that they themselves like. In their website, they state that communications shape attitudes, ideas, and behaviors.

They provide a variety of services, ranging from marketing, branding, print, digital, and motion advertising. This  is an example of their campaign for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (left).

What makes these guys even more unique is their “ enterprise” section, where they self-fund design projects. One of these projects is called Project:Tap. This project aims to educate the public on the reality behind bottled water, and how it is essentially the same as drinking tap water. They created an integrated marketing campaign for this initiative and they  won the Best Integrated Campaign at the Green Awards.

The design and communication landscape is exciting for those interested in the nonprofit sector. The role of the communicator is tremendous in creating social change, which is why it is so important to study how to create emotional an emotional connection with our audiences. Niche agencies like Provokateur present an exciting landscape for those designers and communicators interested in changing the world.

References

Chick, A. & Micklethwaite, P. (2011). Design for Sustainable Change. Switzerland: AVA Publishing.

Provokateaur (2012). Who We Are. Retrieved from,

http://provokateur.com/