AIGA 2012 Leadership Retreat

Breakout Session :: Design For Good

May 31, 2012 :: 2:30-3:15 PM

Let’s start off with a quote...

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life

selling sugared water, or do you want

a chance to change the world?”

A quote from the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson.

Delivered by Steve during the Spring of 1983 to lure

John Sculley, then President of PepsiCo, into becoming

the new President of Apple.

Design For Good is that chance to change the world.

Just like Apple used great design to revolutionize personal

computing, define, and then redefine existing industries:

music players, smart phones, tablets & whatever is next...

Design For Good uses great design to ignite, accelerate

and amplify design-driven social change.

Like Apple, Design For Good can revolutionize

relationships between designers, our design industry,

our communities and our design businesses.

The ideas and practices have been around for awhile, but

AIGA officially launched Design for Good in Oct 2011.

A perfect Design For Good example...

AIGA’s own Doug Powell, his family, and their incredible

journey of improving Type 1 Diabetes and general

healthcare informative materials through great solutions,

great thoughts, great awareness & great design.

The Powell’s self-initiated outcome was the core of

Design For Good’s position - combine resources,

networks, experiences and narrative in a collaborative

way to promote positive social change.

The Powell’s approach reminds me of a

great quote from Debbie Millman’s book,

Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits.

Debbie Millman and Brian Collins, Chairman & Chief

Creative Officer of COLLINS in NYC, were discussing the

common description that designers are “problem solvers.”

Brian Collins offered up this quote, which I think ties in

well with Design For Good philosophies, and that is...

“Our sensibilities, as well as our sensitivities, give us

great pattern-recognition skills. We should go into

situations, communities, organizations, industries,

companies, and start looking for problems.”

Let’s step back to the Alabama Design Summit for a

moment, which took place in July 2011.

Stepping back will allow us to lay

the framework for what would become the

AIGA Charlotte Design For Good Poster Initiative.

Rachel Martin, our VP of Sustainability, attended, along

with Doug Powell, and 50 other designers participated.

There were 3 days, 4 teams of 5 designers, 5 community /

organization leaders and 1 moderator per team.

They conducted working sessions to tackle, discuss,

brainstorm and collaborate on solutions that could

benefit Birmingham’s community.

Rachel, and all other participants, were moved,

energized and compelled to do more.

Rachel Martin came back to Charlotte inspired...

Rachel wanted to do something on the

ground in Charlotte to engage designers

in the area to work with nonprofits and

create positive change in our own backyard.

Rachel worked with the AIGA Charlotte Board to assess,

design, architect & administer what would become our

AIGA Charlotte Design For Good Poster Initiative.

The 7 key planning steps for our AIGA Charlotte

Design For Good Poster Initiative...

1st Step:

Assess what type of event format could

be supported properly in Charlotte.

A design summit was the original goal, but

there were concerns about a lack of adequate resources,

involvement and resources to execute it effectively.

To host an actual Design Summit, and getting city leaders

and a cause/nonprofit to work with, seemed a daunting

task and perhaps a bit too large scale to dive into just yet,

based on the culture of our creative community.

2nd Step:

Define what event format

could be executed in Charlotte.

What type of event could Charlotte effectively support?

Instead, we took a small step toward this goal and

developed the Design for Good Poster Show Initiative.

We based the approach on local Charlotte

Designers working with Nonprofits and Social

Entrepreneurial Businesses, which would engage

sustainability and social responsibility.

3rd Step:

Assess validity of event format idea.

Why a poster show initiative?

We harnessed the momentum and great success we had

from our first ever #TweetMarket event in June 2011.

Over 35 designers submitted posters based on funny,

sarcastic tweets (using 140 characters or less.)

The event was well designed and received by the

community. It was a successful event in that we had

designers coming out of the woodwork to participate.

4th Step:

Define all of the steps through the life of the event.

What sectors of the community can be pulled together?

We targeted AIGA Members, Non-member creatives,

venue business owners, supporting resource partners,

Nonprofit organizations, Social Entrepreneurial

Businesses, and the general public.

Can people participate, if they can’t attend?

We provided Creative Briefs in person, in digital format

and made it as easy as possible for participants. We

provided all necessary input, along with suggestions for

topics and a list of organizations and causes.

How can everyone’s submissions look consistent and

showcase the purpose of the event effectively?

We controlled submission visuals by limiting dimensions

to a common size and orientation. This also maximized

efficiencies for supporting our resource printing partner.

We provided a cohesive visual experience for gallery

show attendees by presenting all environmental

posters in one color only and all social responsibility

posters in another one color only.

How can event materials and posters be produced in

an environmentally consciousness manner?

We provided as much information digitally as possible.

We printed all posters using recycled paper and

environmental friendly printing processes.

5th Step:

Plan beyond the initial Kick-Off event and Gallery Show

event to leverage usage and exposure.

What life beyond the Gallery Show event can

these posters experience?

We clearly informed participants that poster submissions

would become the property of AIGA Charlotte.

A website was created for the AIGA Charlotte Design For

Good Poster Initiative ( designforgoodposters.com ) and

the posters were displayed within an online gallery.

Posters were then loaned on exhibit to the Art Institute

of Charlotte for 2.5 months in Mar / May 2012.

Beyond the general public exhibition, Art Institute of

Charlotte faculty used the poster exhibit for teaching and

generating project assignments for their students.

Beyond exhibitions and online gallery displays, can the

posters be re-used in another fashion?

We have plans to exhibit during the DNC in Sep 2012 to

educate visitors & policy makers about our local nonprofit

community and designers creating positive change.

We also have plans to sell them at future

AIGA Charlotte events to raise funds.

Beyond sales, we have plans to chop, recycle and

screenprint over posters for usage as future

communication materials to AIGA Charlotte members.

6th Step:

Decide how to promote this event.

We decided the poster model would be a perfect

fit and launched our AIGA Charlotte

Design for Good Poster Initiative in Sep 2011.

We challenged designers to create a poster that would

inform Charlotte area citizens about environmental and

social issues and inspire the community to create positive

change in our growing city.

Description?

“What if #TweetMarket & Eat Your Greens had a baby...

You’d have tweeters hugging trees? Umm... No. You’d

have the Design for Good Poster Initiative! Yay!”

7th Step:

Plan the event logistic details.

How will this event work?

1. ATTEND OUR AIGA CHARLOTTE DESIGN FOR

GOOD POSTER INITIATIVE KICK-OFF

EVENT & SIGN UP TO DESIGN A POSTER

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

from 6:30 - 8:30p

Common Market South End

Featuring: $5 organic wine tasting

Join your fellow design community for happy hour,

mingling, tasty libations, and (most importantly)

sign up to receive an AIGA Charlotte Design For Good

Poster Initiative Creative Brief.

2. DESIGN A POSTER

Design a poster, relating to the Creative Brief you received

at the Design For Good Poster Initiative Kick-Off Event.

The poster can be a type treatment, illustration,

photograph, collage, watercolor, etc. Posters made non-

digitally must be submitted as scans in the proper format.

Dimensions: 18” x 24” trim size

Color: Monochromatic (one color or shades of one color)

PMS 320 Uncoated (Aqua) for Environmental

PMS 185 Uncoated (Red) for Social Responsibility

Format: Press Ready PDF, under 10 MB, 300ppi

3. SUBMIT BY OCTOBER 21

All monochromatic Press Ready PDF posters must be

submitted on or before FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2011

BY 5:00PM to be included in the AIGA Charlotte Design

For Good Poster Initative Gallery Show.

Posters will be displayed on AIGA Charlotte’s online

gallery and be printed for the AIGA Charlotte Design

For Good Poster Iniatative Gallery Exhibit Show

on Friday, November 4, 2011.

4. ATTEND THE AIGA CHARLOTTE DESIGN FOR

GOOD POSTER INITIATIVE GALLERY SHOW

Friday, November 4, 2011

from 6:30 - 8:30p

Dialect Design

We tied in the general public by conducting the Gallery

Show Event during a NoDa Gallery Crawl night.

Join your closest friends and colleagues to honor

your hard work for Design for Good and view all

of the submissions.

We’ll be inviting the local nonprofit community where you

can meet the dedicated folks behind these environmental

and socially responsible organizations. And, if you wish,

share your poster with them for a future campaign to help

raise awareness for their cause.

5. SPREAD THE WORD

Use hashtag #d4g_posters to share updates, ask questions

and discuss the Design for Good Poster Initiative! Yay!

6. CAN’T MAKE IT?

If you would like to participate in the poster show,

but are unable to attend the AIGA Charlotte

Design For Good Poster Initiative Kick-Off Event,

please email Rachel Martin (rmartin@aigacharlotte.org) to

receive your Creative Brief.

Open to AIGA Charlotte Members, Non-Members,

Students through Professionals, and anyone

who wants to be involved and participate.

Results...

Kick-Off Event: 100+ attendees

89 designers signed up to design a poster

52 designers participated and submitted a poster design

Gallery Show Event: 150+ attendees

Challenges...

Numbers were strong for Charlotte, but we would have

liked more participation - a concern from the beginning.

We invited several nonprofit organizations and

policy leaders, some did attend the gallery show, but

we would have liked more - again, an original concern.

It was a challenge to educate designers, nonprofits and the

general public about the value of design and Design For

Good - each individual case was viewed as a success.

We worked hard to facilitate designer and nonprofit

organization relationships - initially concerned if it would

happen, but a few did, and each is considered a success.

Effectiveness...

We used The Living Principles as the framework for our

AIGA Charlotte Design For Good Poster Initiative, as it

relates to environmental and social responsibility.

Economy, People, Enviornment, Culture.

Economy

Some posters were more successful than others, but they

created awareness for certain nonprofits, which ultimately

helped with fundraising efforts. And...

The Design For Good Poster Initiative also fostered new

relationships with designers and nonprofits that in turn

evolved into some pro-bono and actual paid work.

People

We used the AIGA Charlotte website, many local blogs

and event calendars, along with our Twitter and Facebook

feeds, as our platform for information.

This helped to introduce the general public to local

causes / nonprofits; introduce nonprofits to designers,

and introduce designers to local causes. And...

It also helped create a deeper relationship with designers

to the city they live in, along with inspired Charlotteans to

create positive change and to do service for good!

Environment

The posters themselves were printed by an

environmentally friendly and small family-owned

Charlotte local printer. And...

The Creative Briefs had straight forward Objectives: Keep

it positive, and design a poster to inspire and encourage

environmental awareness and social responsibility.

Culture

This event brought morale and empowerment to

designers, the general public and nonprofits to be doing

more good and taking action. And...

It created excitement for the public, as well as, designers

and nonprofits who worked together for a common goal.

Let’s end with a quote...

“At the end of your career, are you really going to wish

that you would have designed one more logo?”

A quote from Charlotte’s own Keith Greenstein,

ACD at BooneOakley and recently seen on The Pitch.

We are paraphrasing from an AIGA Charlotte BuzZ

event that Keith spoke at recently, which was about cause

marketing and Design For Good initiatives.

Presented by Kevin Brindley (@KevinBrindley), President

of AIGA Charlotte, for a Breakout Session during the

2012 AIGA Leadership Retreat on May 31, 2012.

Reference Links (In order of presentation):

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/steve-jobs/

id431617578?mt=11

AIGA Design For Good:

http://www.aiga.org/about-design-for-good/

AIGA Design For Good Video:

http://www.aiga.org/video-design-for-good/

Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits

by Debbie Millman:

http://debbiemillman.com/brandthinking/

AIGA Charlotte:

http://www.aigacharlotte.org/

AIGA Charlotte Design For Good Poster Inititative:

http://designforgoodposters.com/

The Living Principles:

http://www.livingprinciples.org/

Keith Greenstein:

http://www.keithgreenstein.com/keith_greenstein/

home.html

Thank you.