Final Crit and Goodbyes!

Well, the first ever RISD Design for Social Entrepreneurship advanced studio has officially come to a close. We finished off with great presentations and a party at Krisa's place! During the critique, we got to see the latest developments in everyone's projects with numerous guest critics. You can check out the project on our project page here.  After the presentations, we had a great group discussion on the role of industrial design in today's society. 

Stay tuned for videos! And see below for pictures.

Thank you to our Guest Critics and Visitors! 

Guest Critics: 

Jenny Kinnard- Procter & Gamble, Designer

Alex Tee- Altitude Inc, Engineer and Strategist

Peter Hawking- Office of Public Engagement, RISD, Director

Claudia Ford- International Affairs, RISD Director

Yuriko Saito- HPSS Professor- Ecological Responsibility for Artists and Designers

Damian White- HPSS Prossor- The Sociology of Ecology

Alan Harlem- Brown Swearer Center, Director

Visitors: 

Deborah Kanston- Multicultural Affairs Office

Becky Bermont- Media + Partners

Danielle Mancuso- Media + Partners

December 11th- Final Crit!

Below is the schedule program for the final crit, including brief summaries of all the projects and some questions, quotes and words to ponder at the end that we used for our discussion at the end. 

DeSE: Final Crit Program

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: final risd)

Human Rights Day

Just in time for our final crit tomorrow...

“Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December.

The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights. The commemoration was established in 1950, when the General Assembly invited all states and interested organizations to celebrate the day as they saw fit.”

Top 3 Sustainability Trends for 2009

In the face of a weak dollar, mass layoffs, and the world's corporate giants floundering, what are the corporate sustainability efforts we can realistically expect from businesses in 2009?

Read Fast Company's article here. 

Designmatters- Human Rights Posters

Check out Designmatters recent project of their human rights poster project in partnership with UNESCO.

Design B-Boys

Design competitions in the Public's eye: 

Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament Series 2007 from Cut&Paste on Vimeo.

Is there an equivalent for industrial design?

Public/Private Ventures

Just came across this amazing sounding organization- Public/Private Ventures.  Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) is a nonprofit organization that describes itself as "a national leader in creating and strengthening programs that improve lives in low-income communities."

One of their initiatives is: The Women's Reentry Initiative which was, "designed to provide women returning from incarceration with individually tailored, comprehensive and integrated services in areas believed to be crucial to successful reentry."

Thought this was an interesting use of the word, "design." 

Nonprofit Partnership Reflection

Due: Tuesday December 9th
In preparation for our group discussion the day of the final, please write about 1 page reflecting on your nonprofit partnership- considering the following:

What was it like to partner w/ a nonprofit and work with a community/culture new to you?

How did you introduce the idea of doing a design project with them?
What were some of the main challenges in thinking about/ designing for your market?
What tactics did you use to allow the community to become comfortable with you?
Was it more or less difficult designing with others than say from your own designer desk?

+ whatever other insight and thoughts you have.

Thanksgiving Homework

1. Update your blog with recent project information.

To include your presentations, please post them on slideshare.net, and then you can embed the show into your blog.

2. Write a blog article about your Thanksgiving break and dinner.

3. Continue developing and furthering your projects. 

You will present to the class on December 4th with ppt. as preparation for the final. This will be your opportunity to get feedback on both content of your project, what you need to push or change, and presentation style.

Happy Turkey Day!

Acumen Fund TED Talk

Founder and CEO of the Acumen Fund, Jacqueline Novogratz, gives an inspiring talk about overcoming global poverty.

Mid-Crit Deliverables

Thursday November 20th

Mid-Crit

10-15 minute Powerpoint Presentation

Deliverables: 

Briefly: (about 3 minutes or less) 

-What Organization have you been working with? 

-Summarize their mission

-What type of work have you been doing with them?

-What are some of the barriers you have identified as opportunities? (if you narrowed in on one , just focus on this one barrier and do not discuss the other points)

In Depth: (about 10 minutes)

-Prototype(s) of your design idea(s) (If you have narrowed in on one design, just discuss this one design and the different components of it)

Briefly: (about 2 minutes)

-Outline your timeline for the rest of the semester and what you hope to achieve by the end.

DeSE on Nextbillion.Net

An article I recently wrote in reflection of the Better World by Design's social entrepreneurship panel is now posted on nextbillion.net here. DeSE is highlighted, with links to our new website.

Be sure to keep those blogs updated! I am going to add links to everyones' blogs under projects so people can follow along. 

DeSE has a website!

DeSE now has a website! 

www.de-se.com

Projects and information are still being uploaded. 

The header was one that came with the template. If anyone would like to make a DeSE header, please email it my way.

Thanks,

Sami

Systems Design Example- Tangible Steps for Tomorrow

IDEO in partnership with the Kellogg Foundation formulated a system to improve elementary education through holistic thinking and designing. 

Take a look at their illustrations and how IDEO uses story-telling to convey their ideas in a clear and visual way. 


Tangible steps toward tomorrow - Get more Creative Writing

Email In!

Email Sami all assignments from the first half of this semester in PDF format including: 

9 Page MDG Research Pages

TED Talk Research

Product Precedent

StoryBoard

ThemeBoard

Final Exercise 2 page layout

Due this Thursday

If your file exceeds 10 mb, you can use: www.Yousendit.com 

Human Centered Design

Human Centered Design

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: design ideo)

The HCD Toolkit abridged for DeSE

A Field Guide from IDEO

We will go over this toolkit Tuesday morning in class.

In collaboration with Gates Foundation and IDE, IDEO created and JUST released a Human Centered Design toolkit. This resource was created to help organizations working with smallholder farmers but can definitely be translated to the work we are doing in class!

For your upcoming interviews, read the Field Guide here. Some sage advice given includes:

During observations, look for:

» Things that prompt shifts in behavior
» Work-arounds and adaptations
» Body language
» Things people care about
» Anything that surprises you
» Anything that questions your assumptions about how the world works
» Anything that you find “irrational”

Thanks IDEO!

Videos Now Available!

For those of you who could not attend Thursday's lectures, they are now available on DeSE's YouTube Channel! Below is the first clip of Tanya Fields' profound lecture on the power of community activism for social change and what we as designers can do to make a difference. 

Stay tuned for more videos to come as we continue to upload from previous lectures!

Our Speakers Today

Thank you to our two wonderful speakers that joined us this afternoon. 

We had an engaging and inspiring experience. We will  be posting the videos of their presentations soon when they are up and ready. 

For more information on each organization and individual check out: 

Matt Grigsby- Ecolect

Tanya Fields- Blk Grl

Sustainable South Bronx. For more information on this amazing organization and how they started, watch Majora Carter's TED talk below. Majora is a mentor of Tanya's, a MacArthur Fellow, a human rights activist and my personal shero. 

Stay tuned for videos from the presentations! 

Design for Local Sustainability- Research

DUE Tuesday November 4th- (Election Day!)

As we continue to lay the foundation for the final project it is important to be very clear and familiar with our partner organizations and research similar projects and approaches. 

For this weekend's homework, please: 

IDENTIFY the problem and mission statement of your organization and post it on your blog. 

RESEARCH 5 other organizations within the US that are doing similar work. In Illustrator create a chart comparing and contrasting the organizations identifying the pros and cons of each organization's approach and impact. - Post this on your blog

PREPARE your interview questions as discussed below and if you are meeting with your organization before next Tuesday, conduct your interview within this time. * see post below. 

Interviews and Mind Maps

Due THURSDAY November 6th

In addition to becoming familiar with your organization through participation, as a designer it is important to do anthropological research to understand the ins and outs of your target market. For this, you will conduct an interview with someone who works within the organization. (If need be, you will have time in class on Tuesday afternoon to go and do this, so please try to schedule something now that fits in your schedule and prepare your interview before hand. If you have a scheduling conflict, please come talk to me.) For tips on conducting interviews, read this article here.  You want to uncover what they experience being a part of the organization-What do they like most, what would they change, what do they find most challenging. Come up with  5-10 questions and ask for about 30-40 minutes of their time. This is your time to practice listening, and ask open ended questions that let them expand- have a conversation. Do not ask yes or no questions.

At this point in time it is essential to collect as much information as possible about your organization, and the issues they are dealing with to best uncover your design opportunity. You must also determine whether your project will focus on the organization itself- i.e. its structure, space, tools and etc, or its benefactors. If you choose to work on a project for a benefactor, conduct an interview with them as well. 

Next week you will start designing so start thinking about what opportunities you want to pursue and do the research needed to move forward. 

Some sample questions include: 

What is your role within the organization?

What does your day look like, and what type of activities or tasks do you do? 

What do you find most challenging in your day and what do you enjoy most? 

How did you get involved in the organization?

Document your interview for your records either via note taking or audio recorder and post to your blog. However, if the person you interviewed shared personal information that they do not want made public, please respect their privacy and be sensitive to this and first ask them if they are comfortable with you sharing this information. 

After your interview, on your own- do a quick mind map (30 minutes) on a large piece of paper- (or you can get creative and make something). In the middle choose one word that sums up the issue your organization is dealing with. From the center, map out some of the main barriers the organization experiences to social impact. Mind you that every nonprofit will tell you that their main barrier is finances. This is typically a very big challenge for every organization, but as designers we must dig deeper to find an overlooked opportunity that can increase the organization's social impact. Scan in or photograph your map and post on your blog. 

In Honor of Tuesday

Is America Ready for a Black President?

FREE FOOD FOR THOUGHT: 

Monday November 3rd

6:30-8:00pm

space is limited/ rsvp required:

dkanston@risd.edu

401-277-4957

Homework- Building a Foundation

Design and the design process is very much about reflection, research, insight, and iteration. It is important to document this process along the way to use as a tool throughout the process. When we are constantly reminded of our foundation, it is easier to move forward and build on it. 

To start building the foundation for your final project, you are going to REFLECT and RESEARCH. 

REFLECT- After our discussions with Tony, write one blog article reflecting on your experiences thus far with your partnering organization. In what way have you been helpful, who have you interacted with, share any particularly interesting conversations or experiences.

RESEARCH- 

In Illustrator- create a map of your organization conveying the organizational structure. Who runs the organization (are they a one man team or a franchise) what services do they offer, and who do they offer them to? Also include a map of where the organization is located within Providence.

To find this information go to the website's staff page and programs page. Here you will find who leads the team, what are their titles, what programs they provide, and to who they provide them. In your map, you want to give a system overview. This is a simplified version of the organizational structure, and can be conveyed graphically with the only words being labels. 

Feel free to use ProvidencePlan as a resource.

Come in class prepared to share your findings and post both assignments on your blog. 

Elevator Pitch

In Class Activity-Morning

As an entrepreneur, it is important to be able to convey your idea quickly and concisely. Whether at a networking event, making a pitch to potential investors, or running into someone who you admire--you must capture the attention of your audience within the amount of time of an elevator ride, because you never know who you are going to run into and when. An elevator pitch, if successful, will often get you in the door for a more lengthy presentation or conversation.

You are going to practice this by looking at some existing organizations. Choose one of the organizations from below and take a look at their website, or some have videos as well.

See how they describe themselves, what their projects are and come up with a 30 second elevator pitch as to what this organization is and does.

Do not simply read off their existing mission statement for your pitch. You must tell us the story in your own words.
A successful pitch includes:
What problem do you solve?
How do you solve it?
What do you sell?
How do you sustain yourself?
Why are you the best person for the job?

You will have 30 minutes to read over the materials and prepare, and 30 seconds to give your pitch to the class (I have a timer!). Manage your time so you read what you need to in order to collect your thoughts- write out the pitch or make bullet points for your presentation. Practice first. 

Choose from the following Organizations:

Sustainable South Bronx

Sweat Equity Enterprises
826 Valencia
Website
Video

ACE- Alternative for Community & Environment

Virgance- Activism 2.0

World Changing

GreenBlue

Save the Bay

In the afternoon, we are going to have an engaging interactive workshop with Tony Johnson from the Office of Multicultural Affairs. We will meet in studio and walk to the Ewing house together.

After the workshop, we will return to studio.

Come prepared to pin up your two-page layout and give an elevator pitch of your design for development project. 

New School Sustainability: Majors Making a Difference

A recent article from WorldChanging discussing the shift in univerities' majors to fit the demand to learn about sustainability. Check it out here. 

...including the power of design! Once we have our two pagers together, we can add a comment directing them to the projects and share the message about how design can innovate the field of environmental and social sustainability!

Upcoming Competitions

Echoing Green Fellowship-up to $90k- 
Deadline: Dec 1

Global Water Crisis: AIGA + Index: 

Deadline: Dec

Clinton Global Initiative- University Conference Application

Deadline: Dec 12

Ideablob -$10k- 
Deadline: Monthly

Metropolis Magazine NExt Generation Competition -$10k- 
Deadline: Jan 30

Green Halloween Costume Contest- Inhabitat

October 31st

What Makes a Good Powerpoint

Death by PowerPoint

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: tips powerpoint)

What Makes a Good Presentation

A new BoP Social Network

BoP Source has recently come out with a social network which aims to directly connect consumers at the base of the pyramid with the companies that want to do business with them. Sign up today and join in on the conversation!

Jocelyn Wyatt- Design in the Developing World

A great recent post from IDEO's Jocelyn Wyatt discusses the approaches to designing for development, including systemic thinking and business approaches. Great to see in what ways our projects here at DeSE are resonating with the greater field!

Jocelyn Wyatt leads the Design for Social Impact initiative at IDEO . Prior to IDEO, Jocelyn worked as an Acumen Fund fellow in Kenya and served as Interim Country Director for VisionSpring in India. Jocelyn has an MBA from Thunderbird and a BA in Anthropology from Grinnell College. She blogs (periodically) on www.jocelynwyatt.com.

"Fully admitting my bias here, I did think the Design in the Developing World panel was an especially interesting conversation between a top-notch set of designers and practitioners. Caroline Balerin launched the panel with the question "What would it look like to design for the other 90%?" I fully expected the panelists, who have traditionally designed products, to respond with something about appropriately designed technologies. I was pleasantly surprised to hear each of them respond with the need to design not only the products, but the systems around them."

Read the full article on nextbillion.net here. 

D4D- FINAL Deliverables

Tuesday, October 21st = final presentation for the Design for Development exercises. 

Each student will have 20-30 minutes for their critique including a 10-15 minute Power Point presentation and 10-15 minutes of feedback. 

In your Power Point Presentation, it is suggested you  include the following information, not in this particular order: 

-Brief introduction to your chosen country and region

-Who your target market is (story board)

-What specific design opportunity you are targeting- clearly stating your "Problem Statement."

- Research and references to back up the context of your project.  

-Mission Statement

-Your Process:

Inspirational Art Piece (if applicable)

Theme board (if applicable)

Mind Map (if applicable)

Design Sketches/Prototypes/Sketch Models

-Final Design 

If it's a product- how does it fit into a larger system and map this out with a system overview.

If it's a system- represent the entirety while also focusing in on a particular component with more refined detail. 

-What the project might look like in the future, who are your potential partners and etc. 

--

You determine the order of these deliverable. The important thing is to tell the story of your project, and include only relevant information that conveys your point- from the larger system to the micro scale, lead us through your thinking, your research to backup your claims, and your final conclusions. 

You region- what the problem is- how you plan to address the problem - and what your proposed solution is. 

A Brief History of International Development- Video!

Videos now available of Claudia Ford's presentation on "A Brief History of International Development." Click here to view all the presentation's videos on the DeSE YouTube Channel!

Design with a Mission

Due Tuesday October 14th

1. Clearly define and write the problem statement of your design project. (2-4 sentences)

2. Clearly define and write the mission statement of your design project. (2-4 sentences)

3. Research and ask questions! 

Try to find an equivocal circumstance of your problem statement here in RI and talk to people associated with this issue. For example, if you are doing a medical device-go to the hospital, if you are looking at individuals with HIV- go talk to a nonprofit who works with HIV + patients, if you are looking at education- go talk to teachers. Document your research in a way that is helpful for you and enables you to share your findings. (Think video, photographs, recorder, notes, sketches)

4. Continue sketching your project ideas, iterate, and refine.

5. Post all assignments onto your blog. 

D4D-Sketches

Due Thursday October 9th.

After you have chosen your specific design opportunity, bring in sketches of product/service iterations to share with the class on Thursday morning. It's important at this phase to iterate rapidly. You do not yet need refined sketches, but rather a variety of concepts which you will then tailor down.  Feel free to make some sketch models as well if this helps you with your process. 

Come prepared to ask questions to our guest speakers in the afternoon: Timothy Prestoro and Emily Pilloton. The more you get done, the better questions you can ask, and the more you will get out of the experience. All are welcome to join us in the gallery for the presentations. 

Have fun!

Upcoming Events

If anyone is interested in going to any of these, let's try to coordinate!

*Oct 23-26th
Bioneers by the Bay
Keynotes: Majora Carter, Van Jones, Simran Sethi
New Bedford, MA
Registration
$225 for 3 days
$175- two days
$100- one day

Oct 28th 6-8:30pm
Boston, MA
Activating Sustainability: Is Corporate Greening for Real and Can it Stop Global Warming? A Trans-Atlantic Dialogue
Cost: Free to students but RSVP to lc@bc.edu.

October 29th
New York
Sustainable Business Success
Cost: $995

November 7-9th

Better World by Design

Brown/RISD

Cost: $40- students

November 8th

IDSA Green Conference

Boston

Cost: $10

*November 13-15th
Philadelphia
Net Impact- The Sustainable Advantage : Creating Social and Environmental Value
Cost:
Students: $350
Professionals: $440

*These conferences look especially interesting and are relatively affordable compared to other conferences.


Links to Event Resources:
Net Impact
CSRWire

Watch the Debates!

Extra credit to anyone that blogs about the Biden v Palin debate tonight!

D4D Deliverables- 1

Due Tuesday Oct 7: 

 

Regional Art Piece Inspiration
Arts and crafts are a window into a culture and community. It is important that your design be as culturally appropriate as possible. Research arts and crafts from your region and choose one piece in particular that will serve as your aesthetic inspiration for your product and/or service to start developing a design language. Post your art object on your blog.

Mind map

This mind map is a tool for you to think about and brainstorm the system of your design opportunity. Much of the larger context has already been discussed in your UN MDG system mapping, however, this is your chance to become more specific with the issue you have chosen.

On a large piece of paper or with stickies, map out the product and/or service at different scales. For example if it is one baby bottle, brainstorm- how will this bottle be distributed to a community, where would it potentially be manufactured, what does the end of the product's life cycle look like, how is it transported, how could it affect a family, a community, a country, and etc? This type of brainstorming is the foundation of systems design and is essential in order to holistically implement any design idea.  Photograph or scan your mind map and post it to your blog.

While brainstorming, you can start thinking about your design solutions! You will share your design concepts in the following assignment. 

Theme board 
How do you want the product and or/service to "feel"? Create a 8.5" x 14" Portrait page size layout that conveys the emotional side of your product and/or service. This can be drawn, collaged, photoshopped, illustrated or a combination there of. Post your theme board to your blog.

Design Exercise!

Design for Development

Due Date: October 21

Objective:

It's time to take all that research we've been doing and start designing a product and/or service!

Now that we understand that to touch one UN Millennium Development Goal, we must consider all, choose a specific design opportunity you found during the Systems Mapping project, a region within your studied country and a target market and develop a systemic approach to address the opportunity through a product and/or service.

Keep in mind how your product and/or service could be made as affordable as possible and potentially marketed to a high end user for subsidizing costs.

Solving Overlooked Problems

Some words of wisdom from Paul Graham found here.

Find (a) simple solutions (b) to overlooked problems (c) that actually need to be solved, and (d) deliver them as informally as possible, (e) starting with a very crude version 1, then (f) iterating rapidly.

9/25/08 Homework A: Systems Mapping

Due Thursday October 2.

The UN Millennium Goals all pertain to a different area of focus, yet, they are indubitably interconnected. To address one problem, one must consider all. Because of this, it is important that we understand the system in which these are in and how they all affect each other. 

The difference between a designer and a design entrepreneur is having the ability to look between the cracks and uncover overlooked problems. It is the aim of this brainstorm to dig into these cracks and discover your design opportunity. 

As a group, and based off of our brainstorm in class, diagram how the different systems of the UN MDGs relate to one another and different scales of issues, from political structure to baby bottles, in one large visually represented poster that will be used as a centerfold for the book.

9/25/08 Homework B: Story Boards- A day in the Life

Due Tuesday Sept 30

Depict a day in the life of an individual living in a particular region.

Type of people: rural poor farmer, a little girl, a little boy, a town's political figure, a pregnant mother, an HIV+ market vendor, a rural doctor, a rural teacher. (You will choose one of these in class.)

Location: Your story board will be using the same region you did your research on for the UN MDGs.

Do your best to convey what this person's day looks like from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep in 1 spread of legal size paper (i.e. two facing pages totalling 17" x 14"). . Post your spread to your blog.

Your story board can be drawn or collaged- then scanned in, photoshopped, done in illustrator, or a combination there of. Have fun! 

Claudia Ford on the History of Development

Claudia Ford, Director of RISD's International Affairs, speaks to RISD's Design for Social Entrepreneurship class to share her knowledge on the history of development and some of the criticisms of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

Below is her slideshow and stay tuned for the live video series!

Claudia Ford Presentation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: ford claudia)

Thank you Claudia for sharing your wealth of knowledge, experience, and grace with our class! 

Homework A: International Precedents

Due Thursday: September 25.

There are numerous organizations, products and services that are currently attempting to address the MDGs either directly or indirectly. It is important to be aware of existing precedents to build upon other’s experiences as to improve and not duplicate  what has already been done. We will look at several of these precedents as they  relate to the MDGs and consider what works and what doesn’t work with their  project or particular approach. 

Thanks to our friend Emily Pilloton at Project H, as well as Design for the Other 90%, we have an easy way of searching through the various products for Humanitarian Design. Below are just some examples of products out there, but be sure to check out all the products as listed on Project H and Cooper Hewitt's Design for the Other 90% exhibits. Stay tuned as the class will get to hear from Emily herself, along with Timothy Prestero of Design that Matters on October 9th, with a chance for students to discuss their own project ideas. 

Deliverable: Choose one of the products from the list below or another product you would like to investigate and create an 8.5" x 14" page layout depicting the product while considering the following questions: 

What problem statement does the product address?

Is the product affordable?

Is it culturally appropriate?

Does it use locally available materials and resources? 

Is it donated or bought?

If it is currently in the field, what type of impact is it having?

What are some of the criticisms of the product? (if none are published, think of some on your own)

Is this product subsidized by selling to a developed market at higher cost?

How does the product address the UN Millennium Development Goal(s)?

How does the product empower its user(s)?

Does the product fit into a larger systemized implementation strategy?

Come into class on Thursday prepared to present your research. 

KickStart
Hippo Water Roller
PlayPumps
DtM Infant Incubator
Kinkajou Microfilm Projector
OLPC
Life Straw

PermaNet

Acuset IV Flow Controller + Check out DtM for more project history.

WorldBike

ProteinForte

Freeplay Energy- wind up energy for access (choose one of the products listed)
Project-Impact-Hearing Aids
VisionSpring- eyewear business in a bag

Homework B: Brainstorm Sketches

Inspired from your research of an existing precedent, quickly sketch out about 10 product or service ideas that come to mind. These can be ways to improve the product, a variation, or a new product all together. 

Scan them in and post your sketches to your blog and come into class prepared to share your ideas. 

Day 2: Pyramids and Countries

Today in class we discussed the concept, "Bottom of the Pyramid," which refers to the 4 billion people in the world living off of $2/day or less, typically in developing countries. However, the pyramid concepts actually implies a hierarchy, which is a mentality we want to avoid. Another pyramid is Maslow's Hierarchy of needs. In this class we will be looking at products and or services that address the bottom of this pyramid, to move people up the latter to self-actualization. This is not to imply however, that this should lead to how people in the US and "developed" countries lead their lives with their rate of consumption, as I discuss here. 

Least Developed Countries (LDCs) were chosen from around the globe for students to research. Stay tuned to read their findings on their blogs. 

Homework Assignment A: Inspiration and Information

This week's homework assignment is meant to give us a greater understanding of what some people and organizations are currently doing today to address global concerns throughout the globe, and to give us greater understanding of the context of these situations. As well as inspire us to see some of the progressive thinkers of our day. 

The speakers we will watch vary from native peoples, social entrepreneurs, politicians, comedians, and beyond, all finding a way to use their skills for the greater good. Additionally, the approaches to development vary from speaker to speaker from government aid, to investing in education, to products to increase income and etc. Let us think about different forms of partnership, empowerment, and mutually beneficial investments. 

As you watch consider these questions: 

What global concern does the person discuss?

What is the main thesis and other important points and facts of their talk?

What country or region are they talking about?

What is the context?

Are there any specific numbers or statistics they discuss to convey their argument?

How does this person's talk or work relate to a UN MDG?

What type of emotion does the talk convey?

Develop one page 8 1/2" x 14" visually representing the talk and information discussed-as well as the emotional landscape. And be prepared to present your page and your thoughts on Tuesday. 

If there is a different speaker not listed here that you would like to research and present on, please contact me. Feel free to browse other TED talk and PopTech! speakers and explore as there are so many amazing ones to watch!

The suggested speakers below are more or less related to the following themes:  

Poverty:
Andrew Mwenda- Rethinking African Aid

Iqbal Quadir- How Cell-Phones are going to End Poverty. 

Jessica Flannery- Kiva.org

Education: 

Sugata Mitra- Can kids teach themselves?

Gender Equality: 

Eve Ensler- Finding happiness in body and soul

Child Mortality: 

Amy Smith- The Number one Cause of Infant Death

Maternal Health: 

At Highest Risk- YouTube

UN Millennium Campaign- YouTube

UNICEF- Child and Maternal Mortality

HIV/AIDS + Diseases: 

Emily Oster-  The Economics of AIDS in Africa

Zinny- Fighting HIV/AIDS in South Africa 

Bill Clinton- Clinton Global Initiative- Building Healthcare

Environmental Sustainability: 

The Story of Stuff- Annie Leonard

Al Gore- Averting Climate Crisis

Global Partnership: 

Patrick Awuah- training new leaders

Ray Avery- a social entrepreneur

Homework Assignment B: Compare and Contrast

Find two other astounding TED or PopTech! videos to watch that address an international concern. Compare the two, and how they relate and how the approaches to addressing the concern differ. Write about two paragraphs. To make the blog look more interesting, find an image or take a screenshot of the talk to add to your blog.

Come into class prepared to discuss your findings. 

Assignment C: Brainstorming and Blue Sky Ideation

Right after or while you watch your Talks, sketch out some blue sky ideas for products/services that relate to what the talk is about. This is your opportunity to be as out there as you want to be. Do about 10, or however many you want, scan them, and post them on your blog. (try to photoshop them a little bit first to adjust the levels so the drawing can be more clear and well presented.)

Bring in your sketches to share with the class and discuss. 

Have fun!

Assignment D: DeSE logo

In Illustrator, develop two new logo ideas to bring in next week and discuss. You can work individually or as a team. Consider some of the themes we discussed in class.

Below are some sketches from our first logo brainstorm we did in class.

Some things we liked and disliked: 

Like: simplicity, a unique form with the letter DeSE on the side, something that captures the emotion but doesn't have to be too literal. 

Dislike: Although we like the pyramid (and upside-down one too) idea it's hard to make a triangle look good. 

Day 2: Layout Parameter

Choosing a page layout for format consistency so we can put our research together for a collective book!

And the winner is: 

Page Size: 8.5" x 14"

Font: Arial

Margin: .5"

Day 2: DeSE Logo Brainstorm

UNMDG Research Questions

To view this week's research questions for homework, please click here.

All research from each goal must be visually represented using the format discussed in class, in a visually enticing way. Each student is responsible for researching the current situations in their chosen country in the context of each UN Millennium Development Goal. You will come into class on Thursday, Sept 18, with 9 printed pages, the first one being an overview of your chosen country including a map.

For links to factual information, please take a look at: WHO, World Bank, sourceOECD, CIA world Factbook, the Brown Library. You may use these as well as other sights on the internet. Please sight all your sources on a separate page for reference.

The material from this assignment will contribute to our class book, so please ensure there is visual clarity, as well as an enticing graphic style throughout your 9 pages of research. Please look below for information design inspiration.

Please post all pages of your research on your blog including an additional page siting your sources.

For information design inspiration please check out:

Edward Tufte books, Hans Rosling's TED talk, ManyEyes- IBM project, the Understanding book
and Read Write Web

Day 1: Things we Love and Hate about the Creative Process

Click to enlarge images.

Day 1- Conceptualizing Sustainability

Day 1: Homework

This weekend's homework is as follows:

1. Create your first blog entry describing why you signed up for the DeSE Studio, or if you did not originally sign up for it, but are deciding to stay, discuss why you have chosen to stay. In both cases, also discuss what you hope to get out of the class.

2. Take a look at some of the blogs and organizations on the DeSE sight, as well as the del.icio.us articles on the bottom. When you come across something of particular interest, create a blog article about it discussing what the subject matter is and what you find interesting about it.

3. As the first step to our final projects, each student is to become involved in a local organization here in Providence, and either observe what the organization does, or find a way to be helpful to the people in the group. This is an opportunity to put yourself in a new situation, and it will not always be completely comfortable. Consider these organizations as potential clients.

This assignment is meant as an opportunity to get outside of the RISD bubble and engaged in the community around us. Step outside of our comfort zones- this is what it means to be a designer. In the words of Peter Hawking, "Be present, be useful, spend time."

For a list of organizations looking for RISD partnerships, please click here.

For a list of all Rhode Island non-profits, please click here.

Please contact 3-5 organizations and be persistent. A lot of nonprofits are understaffed and may not have the resources to respond quickly. So try to make things easier on them by reaching out. Each student is expected to partner with an organization for a few hours each week. If the opportunity conflicts with studio time, we can work around the schedule, but please contact the professor directly.

Peter Hawking, from the Office of Public Engagement, has also offered to take students with him on his project to work with HIV+ individuals, to use the arts as a form of healing. They will meet 12-3 every Thursday starting at the end of September to end of October. If you are interested in this opportunity, please let me know.


For further questions, or to discuss what type of opportunity is right for you, please contact me at: sami.nerenberg (at) gmail.com

Day 1: In Class Assignments

The afternoon assignments consisted of several tech savvy maneuvers to get ready for the rest of the semester. They included:

Sign up for a gmail account if you do not already have one.

Create a blog using your gmail account information as your login. -each students' blog is going to be used as the central hub of their documentation of their research and design projects, as well as a marketing exercise to get people interested in their thoughts and ideas.

Access google analytics. Find the tracking code, and add a gadget on your blog to add the encoded html. -google analytics is a tracking tool to see how many people visit one's sight, what do they look at, and for how long. It's a great way to experiment and see what works and what doesn't to grab people's attention in the world wide web.

Download del.icio.us bookmarking tools. -del.icio.us is a great online tool to track and organize one's research. With all the research students will be doing this semester, it is important to not only be able to sort through the information quickly, but also be able to share our research with others.

And all students are to take the survey!

Day 1: DeSE Group

Introducing... the participants of RISD's Design for Social Entrepreneurship Studio! Each student pictured above is representing their initials with their hands, and with the help of a few other hands, so we can start learning names and avoid using paper to write on. Too bad we didn't know sign language, but this certainly got the job done too. We're off to a great start with the studio! Stay tuned for updates on our activities, and all assignments will be posted here as well so every one can follow along.

Survey Monkey

Linked here is a brief survey to gauge participants interests and understanding of studio topic. There are no right or wrong answers. Click Here to take survey.

Syllabus Now Available!

The semester is approaching soon! Next Tuesday, RISD ID Juniors and Seniors are encouraged to stop by the ID building to meet with professors to find out more about all the studios. For those of you who are not able to make it, click HERE to view the Design for Social Entrepreneurship course syllabus. And please feel free to contact me for further questions: sami.nerenberg (at) gmail.com