Designism: The revolution continues

Submitted by GlimmerGuy on 11/13/2009 – 9:30 amAdd comment

On November 18, the Art Director’s Club in New York City hosts the fourth meeting of the growing Designism group. As I wrote about in Glimmer, Designism is a grass-roots level design activism movement organized by Brian Collins a few years back, with some help from Milton Glaser who came up with the Designism name and logo.

“It just seemed to me that with all that was going on, there was little dialogue about using design to make the world a better place,” says Collins. In prior years, “all you heard about were celebrity designers or the ‘starchitect’ of the month.” The Designism movement focuses on applying design solutions to big social issues.

At the Nov. 18 meeting, the group will explore business models that drive social change—effectively providing careers and incomes while changing the world. The guest panel features Blake Mycoskie, CEO, Toms Shoes; Bill Drenttel, Partner, Winterhouse Studio and Design Observer; Paula Scher, Partner, Pentagram; and Mark Randall, Principal, World Studio. If you’re in town and want to attend ($35 at the door), go here to sign up.

If you can’t make it to the meeting and you’re a creative type who is hankering to donate some of your skills towards a good cause, check out the Designism Connects website, whose mantra is “Causes and Creatives for Social Change.” The site offers scores of volunteer opportunities complete with a match-making search bar, where nonprofits can search for a creative by topic, and vice versa. Interested in helping Mayan farmers with your web design skills? You have a match. You’re the Coral Reef Alliance and need a new logo? Logo pros abound. This is a low-risk, high-impact way to engage with the world beyond your desk and iMac.