Question context Approach to practice of
communication design The future of communi-cation design Perspective on engagement & publics Eric benson
american designer co-founder of www.Renourish.Com, green graph- ic design researcher, university of illinois.
“… The idea that nature itself works in a system of seasons, life and death… there’s this idea of return- ing to the earth as part of that system, that’s always in the front of my mind. Other things i’ve looked at the idea of closed loop systems, something goes in and something goes out. That’s something i’m interested in terms of my paper making.”
“In the current system [of capitalism] it is really difficult to do the things we are doing now going forward.”
“…To get the service designer thinking about all the different parts that a sustainable designer might be using or a humanitar- ian designer might be thinking about, the designer needs to think about all those things, not them in isolation from one another.”
John bielenberg
German graphic designer founder www.Projectmlab.Com recog- nized for innovative research and practice to understand design and leadership in the “design for good” movement.
“The thinking “wrong piece” is that, if you think of the status quo as thinking ‘right’ there are all these orthodoxies and ways of working, ways of doing design and architec- ture, all of that, that is the status quo and it seems fixed. If you think that all that stuff was invented at some point, all those humans structures and systems and that means that new things can be created, there’s a possi- bility, and there’s where designers play, envisioning a different future and then figuring out the plan and execution on how to get there. To do that you sort of have to disrupt the normal pathways of work- ing otherwise you’re just following the same things and maybe not connecting things in new ways.”
“I had been teaching design in one way or another for 25 years. At the beginning students were very focused on their ca- reers, on their portfolios … i think there’s been a shift in motivation… young people are more anxious about the future then they used to be …want to actu- ally engage in something that has an impact that feels its important.”
“If we start with something interesting and fun that the group cares about then we can always figure out how to make it connect to the problem to be solved. But if we start with the problem things never become fun and interesting. Its easy to go one direction but hard to go the other. You can have pie and solve deep social issues.”
Arlene britt
dutch designer,
visual storyteller, information de- signer, public art on sustainability www.Backgroundstories.Com
“A lot of my work is more creating icons or infographics in trying to simplify and stylise the process in a way that everyday people can un- derstand what’s going on”
“Within my own courses that i teach it’s more about visual communication and what i'm doing right now is on information design so also incorporates data visualisation which is defi- nitely a hot topic now”
“I think just getting more with communications as a whole i’d say getting more visual and incorporating things that are not just, not necessarily pho- tographs but that help people understand what is meant by sustainability. I think we’re al- ready heading in that direction”
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Thomas kolster
Danish expert in sustainable com- munication and founder of the goodvertising agency, author of the book “goodvertising”, founder where good grows the world’s first best-practice sharing platform for sustainable initiatives.
“Should be a part of any communication exercise even if you do commu- nications in developing world but trying to involve the people that who’s life you’re affecting as much as possible really”
“I think we’re moving towards a point in history where it’s more about delivering real value rather than just marketed value.”
“We’re bombarded with messaging asking us to buy stuff instead of asking us to love more, smile more, be more happy, things are building up a community we want. I don’t want to be a consumer, i want to be a citizen.”
Tracy sutton
British designer, packaging design and sustainability consultant working with brands and designers to reveal purposeful, profitable brands.
Www.Root-innovation.Com
“The big areas of design that i cover are brand iden- tity, packaging, product design and those things also spread out to exhi- bitions and store fronts shopping environment…. To me communication de- sign encompasses graphic design product design packaging design those are the key areas i work in.”
“Some of the work id like to do more of, is to help business embed sustain- ability into their actual business strategy, the product portfolio they offer using sustainability as a driver in the design stage or in the product development stages.”
“When i think about communi- cation design does that include marketing in terms of social media? Is a form of communica- tion but not necessarily visual… i suppose packaging is one of the main tools people use to try communicate…. I don’t think it should be the vehicle to com- municate the good things they are doing there are more effec- tive ways like videos and social media, there’s more potential for change and change of a bigger scale or influence.”