11 July 2007

Designing for the other 90%

I started out the year thinking about some of the changes in who designers are targeting and how they try to change their world. But things are ramping up as the Cooper Hewitt recognizes this movement with an exciting exhibit on "Designing for the other 90%". The LA Times explores what it will take for this movement to take off:
The main question "Design for the Other 90%" raises, then, is whether the humanitarian design movement can reach its full potential without stars — without media darlings who can attract attention and money as former Vice President Al Gore has done with global warming and Microsoft chief Bill Gates has with malaria. I hope it can: The new ethos of responsibility often seems to have seeped so completely into the design schools, and many young designers seem to wear its mantle so easily, that the profession — and the planet — may change simply as a result of a massive philosophical shift.
If you can't visit the museum and you don't want to buy the book, you could watch this 24 minute video of Cameron Sinclair who is the leader of the group Architects for Humanity.

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