Using design to make the world a better place

What I got from these designers was that no single person can really define design, and it means something different to everyone.  Different things inspire different people, and each person interviewed brought something different to the table.  There was also a lot of talk on how design could do more than create good aesthetics.

What struck me about these designers was the fact that they were all thinking about how to help improve the world through design, and that s not the first thing that comes to mind when I think about the possibilities of design, mostly because I am immersed in school at the moment I suppose.  But nearly every conversation I viewed the designers were concerned with bettering the world through design.

When thinking of design I do not really think of things to help save the world.  The ‘lifestraw’ (where people who do not have access to clean drinking water drink through a straw that purifies the water) was a really great way to think about how design could do more than making things look better. Having clean water is a hige issue to people in other countries and the fact that designers are spending their time thinking about these things is great.  There are endless possibilities for helping others if that is the way we think about design.

Each of the designers was conscientious about what more they could do to better the world.  I was actually very surprised about some of their focuses on the greater world around them, rather than just focusing on things that are close to their sensibilities.  I expected the conversations to be more geared toward the process of design, and I was pleasantly surprised.