Happy 10th DfSI!

Happy 10th Anniversary to Design for Social Impact! DfSI is an inspiring socially conscious design firm in Philly that has been doing great works for the past decade and I had the good fortune of attending their anniversary celebration a few weeks back. One of the high points of which was the highly informative Activist Trolley Tour (pictured at left).

Spotted in Brooklyn: Superhero Supply Co.

A few weeks back I finally got a chance to visit the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. A simple storefront on a small neighborhood shopping street that just happens to offer Hero Quality Capes, Sidekick Placement Services, and Hideout Maps among other things. The inviting and entertaining staff will not only let you explore and shop to your heart's content, but they'll also show you the secret lair behind a false wall that contains...a writing/tutoring program for local kids. The store is a front for 826NYC which is a non-profit that is part of a national group of 826's which originated with the Pirate Store at 826 Valencia in San Francisco which was founded in part by writer Dave Eggers. There are now other 826 locations as well!

Cheat To Win

The Onion is selling parody awareness bracelets.

Can blogs affect the election?

...MoveOn.org thinks so. If you have 15 minutes to spare they'd like you to sign up to do some phonebanking from your home and mobilize voters in key races across the country.

Spotted in Paris part III: Fabrica

These striking images are currently on display at the Centre Pompidou as part of the Fabrica: Les Yeux Ouverts [open eyes] exhibition.

Fabrica is an experimental international communications studio started by the often controversial clothing company Benetton. So can this work be considered effective social activism or is it just more corporate greenwashing?

Spotted in Paris part II: Gray Area

This exhibition of grayscale world flags was on display in the Tuileries gardens just before the entrance to the Louvre. I haven't been able to find out anything else about it yet.

Spotted in Paris part I: Homo Modernus

These posters are part of a the Objectif Respect campaign by RATP, the company that runs the Paris public transportation. It encourages people to act like "Homo Modernus" (rather than one of our earlier relatives) when it comes to respecting the rules and fellow users of the system.

Their site is chock full of entertaining (even for folks who don't speak French) videos, cartoons, and interactive elements.

Who owns your media?

The Center for Public Integrity has recently relaunched their Media Tracker, a zipcode searcable database of media ownership in the U.S. The Tracker scans 5 million pieces of information from a variety or sources and creates maps of the areas that are searched to show exact locations of television and radio broadcasters as well as provide links to information about the corporations behind them.

Micro-credit Macro-kudos.

Congratulations to Grameen Bank for being awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize. The organization is dedicated to providing microcredit loans to poor people in Bangladesh without collateral, which has been shown to be an effective way to spur socio-economic development in poor communities.

Shameless Self Promotion

So I have been quiet on the blog front for a little while but I am finally able to announce the launch of LickityClik's first product - About My League. About My League is a league management site for those lucky individuals who are in charge of having to schedule and manage a sports league. It allows you to share the load of managing the league with other members of the league like coaches and managers. You can easily post games, report scores, post announcements, and the system will automatically calculate the league standings.

Wahoo!

Wal*Mart and sustainability?

Hmm, can Wal*Mart do sustainability? Seems like a few holes in their plan posted here. However, little changes by such a big player can make a big impact. I guess something is better than nothing as long as it really is something.

On vacation

FYI ALR Design is going on vacation today.
I'll be away until next Wednesday and back to blogging shortly thereafter.

Better Living Through Technology

Two new guides to using current technology for activist purposes are now available online:

MobileActive.org has just released their Strategy Guide which examines successful ways that organizations have used cell phones in elctoral and voter registration campaigns.

and

M+R Strategic Services has posted an article called the Ten Commandments of MySpace Advocacy (PDF), which gives the ins and outs of social marketing through the popular networking portal.

Thanks Margot!

Socially Conscious Lesotho

The textile industry in the African country of Lesotho was failing after Chinese imports started flooding the market, but the industry has made a turn around by focusing on "ethical clothing". From the Christian Science Monitor article:

Lesotho's textile business began in the early 1980s, when South African companies set up factories here to avoid apartheid-era sanctions. In recent years, the industry boomed because of international incentives and subsidies - in particular the World Trade Organization's Multi-Fibre Arrangement's quotas on China and other countries, and the US African Growth and Opportunity Act. By the early 2000s, Lesotho's economy was dependent on its textile industry, which at its height employed 53,000 workers, around 85 percent of whom are women. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, textiles account for about 40 percent of Lesotho's GDP.

Then, at the beginning of 2005, the Multi-Fibre Arrangement's quotas expired. Analysts from around the world predicted the demise of textile industries in countries such as Lesotho since brands could make all of their clothes in cheaper, more productive Chinese factories. And true to those predictions, in 2005, a number of brands closed or reduced their operations in Lesotho. Textile employment dipped to around 40,000. That's when Tsoeu lost her job.

But at the same time, an alliance of companies, NGOs, government representatives, and others were trying to find ways to protect the country's industry. Already, some brands had improved working conditions in Lesotho to answer concerns about sweatshop labor. The group realized that if Lesotho could start aggressively marketing itself as an ethical source of clothing, it could retain and even grow business.

Read the entire article here.

Do the Climate Mash!

The Climate Mash is a holiday themed anti-global warming Flash movie from the folks at Clear The Air, which features the song stylings of the original Monster Masher Bobby Pickett!

Thanks Scott!

Standard Form of Agreement

The AIGA provids a free downloadable PDF of their new Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services (A.K.A. contract). Rather than just give a fill in the blank document, they've focused on providing modular terms and conditions which can be attached to a custom proposal. If you aren't using contracts with your clients yet, you should start right away. If you are, you might want to consider upgrading your terms.

Thanks Phil!

Your Name Here

It's not the first time naming rights have been offered to the highest bidder, but Marine Cody Baker says he's not in it just for the profit. He's offering to change his name so he can build a life outside of the military (plus help children in a Thai orphanage):

I have volunteered to serve the American people in this military capacity. Thus, I am not complaining in any way. However, the two people of the U.S. that are the most important to me are the two that must suffer the greatest for my service to others. Therefore, I have formulated a plan that I may transition from military service onto another path in life; in hopes that I might be able to devote as much time to my family as my country has expected of me.

Read the details here.

via Adfreak

Me neither.

via Boing Boing

Rethinking schools online

People are always fond of shooting holes in the American educational process (especially geographical knowledge). Check out this online visual quiz and you might think twice.

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The Red Flag Campaign

I'm proud to announce that The Red Flag Campaign, a project my company, along with Dupont Circle Communications, has been working on for the last several months, has just gone live. The campaign is a statewide domestic violence prevention program from the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance that focuses on college students in Virginia. The pilot program began last week on 10 campuses and features six two-sided posters . A teaser campagin featuring actual red flags is being tested as well. The full program will roll out to 30 campuses in August 2007.

The Art of Resistance

Once again, folks in the New York area get a treat thanks to the Impact Festival:
On October 10th Chris Stain, Josh MacPhee, and Billy Mode will share their street art
depicting the history of radical movements as part of the UnfinishedWorks series. There will also be performances by Broadcast Live and Taína Asili.

Details: 6:30-9pm at The Culture Project: 45 Bleecker Street @ Lafayette in NYC.

What is Designism?

A recent Art Directors' Club event featured Milton Glaser, Jessica Helfand, James Victore and other well known designers talking about using advertising and for social and political change. The term coined to encompass this work: Designism. It sounds like a less focused version of what we've been calling Socially Conscious Design for a while, but you can decide for yourself by listening to a podcast of the event here.

Also worth checking out is a response by the folks at Be A Design Group who aren't quite ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Thanks Lauren!