The objective of mapping communication design works with a focus on messages of sustainability was part of secondary data analysis. The objective was not to develop an exhaustive review of this area but rather to gather a broad enough scope to demonstrate where in this practice landscape the research is specifically positioned. Importantly it also served to demonstrate how the thesis contributes with a new approach for communication design within social innovation and sustainability that can be valuable for both designers and non-designers (here among those involved with sustainable food initiatives). From a wide sample of communication design works with a focus on messages of sustainability a narrower selection was made by filtering down those that displayed a key quality of sustainability that directly relates to collaboration (a quality of sustainability described in section 2.4.1, p.39). The criteria for selection of sample works was:
• Works that engage the public whether by participating in the process, or by interacting with a
communication design object, interaction or a space;
• Works that aim to generate a discussion on themes or concerns of sustainability;
• Works that collectively the works examined reflect the definition of an expanded practice.
The samples of works collected were placed in a matrix where the axes represent two considerations (as shown in Figure 2-7, p.43). The horizontal axis describes how participative the works are and if these solicit the public to interact in order to grasp the message. The vertical axis represents how tangible the work of communication design is, ranging from tangible objects to interactive systems and processes. The key readings drawn from this mapping are as follows:
• Various multimodal approaches are used in participative works and including visual
communication, data graphics, communicative objects, communicative spaces, interactions and experiences (digital or physical)
• Participative communication design works that are temporary (for example Urban Picnic3 2012 ,
Interactive Dinners4 2010 )
• Works that solicit participation and through which the message is generated (for example Museum
of Water5 2014 , Before I die 20106 ).
3 Urban Picnic by designer Ju Yeun Kim, 2011-2012 is a social experiment of a mobile kitchen designed to foster a new type of urban community through food as a facilitator of communication. Available from: http://cargocollective.com/juyeunkim
4 Interactive Dinners by designer Marije Vogelzang 2010 focused on the verb ‘to eat’. A series of dinners where participants are invited to share eating tools and interact with each other in unexpected ways. Available from: www.marijevogelzang.nl/
5 Museum of Water by Amy Sharrocks, 2012-2014, is a collection of publicly donated water and accompanying stories of participants accumulated over two years worldwide. The participatory experience aims to engage the public in redefining worth of water.
6 Before I die by Candy Chang, 2010, is a participatory global project that invites participants to reflect on their personal aspirations and share these on public walls.
43 - DISCOVER STAGE: CONTExTUAL REVIEW
more participative less
participative
* agency ** studio *** independent designer
**Parti Poetique (2008) “le bank du miel”
Candy Chang 2010 “Before I Die” **
*Josefin Vargo (2014) “Lavande Arkivet” *Marc Hassenzahl (2013) “Fifty-Fifty-Cake”
*Marije Vogelzang (2010) “interactive dinners” *Amy Sharrocks (2014) “Museum of Water” *Oniria (2013) “Global Warming Menu”
** TBWA (2014) “Water cleaning Billboard”
*Douglas Gayeton (2014) “The Lexicon of Sustainability “
**Genomic Gastronomy Centre (2012) “The Smog Tasting project” *Theresa Dankovich (2014) “The Drinkable Book”
* Artúr van Balen (2011) “tools for action” *Casa do Zezinho/BBDO (2011) “half for hapinness”
*Joris van Tubergen (2014 )“3D printed petition” **Karlsson Wilker (2008) “1% Water & Our Future”
**Droog Design (2004) “Go Slow” *Astrid Stavro (2012 )“Ensaimadart”
*Angela Morelli (2012) “water we eat”
**The Agency of Design “The Climate Machine”
**Climate Reality Project (2013) “whatilove.org” Ju Yeun Kim (2012) “Urban Picnic” **
more tangible [object]
less tangible [process] Figure 2-7 Mapping different approaches to communication design in practice.
Examples of projects that require interaction/participation of public to diferent degrees. Mapped in relation to how public interacts, experiences and participates with the communication design artefact.
The key finding was the variety of different communication design modes used to solicit public participation. The upper right quadrant shows a number of works that trigger participation through interaction with design artefacts, for example, designer Joris van Tubergen “3D printed petition”7 (2014)
a campaign for World Animal Protection where a life size elephant comes to life through the input of participants’ digital signatures. The sample of works in the lower-right quadrant are references that support the approach of this research because they foster engagement of the public not just through designed object but between the public itself, in some cases resulting in acts of collaboration. This is relevant because in the literature review of emerging sustainability frameworks (described in section 2.4, p.38) collaboration was identified as a quality of sustainability. These works particularly (in the lower-right quadrants) apply collaborative processes to deliver the sustainability message. For example, designer Ju Yeun Kim8 communication design project Urban Picnic (2012) is a social experiment to
prompt community building through an unusual picnic scenario, and Droog Design9 project Go Slow
(2004) invited participants to re-iterate their understanding of spending time exploring slowness (both illustrated in Figure 2-8, p.44). These examples of practice were used as a baseline to define
communication design practice in the expanded field with a focus on sustainability and social innovation.
7 Van Tubergen (2014) 3D elephant petition | RooieJoris. Available from: http://www.rooiejoris.nl/3d-elephant-petition/ (Accessed 18 January 2017).
8 Kim (2012) Ju Yeun Kim. Available from: http://www.juyeunkim.co.uk (Accessed 18 January 2017).
9 Droog Design (2004) Go Slow | Droog − a different perspective on design. Available from: http://www.droog.com/project/go-slow (Accessed 18 January 2017).
The review evidenced an opportunity to develop a framework for communication design practice that amplifies the qualities of sustainability and that applies (or fosters) collaboration. This finding was supported by primary data gathered through conversational interviews with designers, as the next section explains.