“It’s really incredible what the next generation is already building and shaping for our future,” says Senior UI Designer, Doris Yee.
Doris, along with Doug (Chief Technical Officer) and Ben (Lead Developer), volunteered last week at the L.A. Youth Hack Jam, an effort to engage kids, between the ages of 5-18, in the world of programming.
We can do better than good. Together, we can be great. As Martin Luther King, Jr. put it, “Everybody can be great, because anybody can serve.” In honor of MLK Day and President Obama’s National Day of Service, we’re challenging you to commit yourself to service. Spend 1 percent of your work hours this year (that’s 20 hours) changing a small corner of your world for the better. However you choose to give back, this year you can be great. Click “Do It” below to take the pledge, and let’s dig in!
Last month, we pledged to commit 1% (20hrs) of our time to service. And some folks here at GOOD HQ have already started by doing pro bono design work and reading to kids on the weekend.
Every year, Americans throw out 70 million tons of packaging. We can do better. Email or tweet at your favorite brand and ask them to consider one of these solutions to make packaging disappear.
Let’s say you’re stuck on the F train, trying to ignore the person coughing on you, a screaming baby, and a someone staring creepily. (No, I’m not describing my morning). Wish you hadn’t forgotten a book? Here’s an interesting idea from a group of design students: using tech to bring you the first 10 pages of a popular book on your phone, and then telling you the nearest public library where you can go pick up the actual book. Nice way to possibly get more people back in libraries.
This weekend, the Treasury Department announced that it won’t mint the coin. But we started to wonder what the coin would have looked like if it had existed. That’s where you come in.
The process has been a designer’s dream: translating a sketchy idea into something with a life of its own, just waking up to the almost unlimited potential influence we have, through what we learn and teach, the clients and projects we take on, and the graduates who leave to exert their own influence in corporations, non-profits, governments and as entrepreneurs around the world.
After last year’s Social Impact Design Summit, we began to work on one popular request: to compile a glossary of social impact design terminology. In the emerging field of social impact design, we’ve seen important discussions and efforts hamstrung, sidetracked, or misunderstood due to the lack of a unifying vocabulary. This glossary sheds light on the redundancy of certain words and phrases, and we hope it also sheds light on the fact that many leaders and practitioners are using different terms to describe almost identical processes and approaches. Despite arguments over “correct” terminology, we are all speaking the same language.
We’re eager to improve and expand this glossary, and welcome any and all corrections, edits, and additions. In particular, we ask for your help in identifying entities and individuals associated with each term as part of our larger effort to map the field. Please email glossary@publicinterestdesign.org. The glossary can also be viewed at publicinterestdesign.org/glossary.
The (Re)design Issue tells a DIO (do-it-ourselves) design story that not only chronicles the ways in which design thinking is being deployed all over the world, but also calls you, the GOOD community, to take part in its deployment.
That DIO story is a thread that winds itself throughout the issue. It runs through Chelsea Roff’s story about how you can redesign your well-being; it runs through our roundtable with GOOD’s first-ever Global Exchange Fellows who are redesigning the way we think about neighborhoods; you hear it in Ralph Nader’s recollections of the doomed Chevy Corvair on its 50th anniversary; you see it in Bethlehem Shoals’ essay on the championship legacy of the NBA coaching collaboration of Phil Jackson and Tex Winter, who effectively redesigned teamwork; and we hope you will take part in it as you explore our 14-page feature on half-baked solutions.
For the designers among you, we expect you’ll notice the (Re)design Issue pushing against the boundaries of what constitutes a “design problem.” Our hope is that all of you begin thinking a little bit more like designers. We think our planet needs it.
We want your help documenting the awesomeness that is Neighborday. We’ll be issuing four video challenges leading up to the big event, in an effort to chronicle all the cool ways you’re gearing up for April 27th. Then, once we’ve collected all the footage, we’ll use it for a documentary we’re releasing in May about Neighbordays across the globe that you can share with your friends and neighbors.
Capture yourself going to invite a neighbor to Neighborday. Okay, we know, this one might be a little awkward, but Neighborday is all about getting out of your comfort zone. We want to see your nervousness, your excitement, and some authentic moments of you interacting with your neighbors. Brainstorm some activities, plan a menu, or compare playlists with that guy who you’ve seen a million times but never had the nerve to say hello to!
When you’re done, remember to Go HERE to submit your video!