Design Meets Social Consciousness

A brief presentation for DesignMeets in Toronto on the theme of Social Consciousness. Originally presented June 15, 2011. Here are my notes for each slide:

1. Define my terms
– being aware;
– plugging into community to act; more engaged and active designer: social media

2. England
Twitter maintained a level of intimacy with people I already know & care about FIRST HOOK

3. SECOND HOOK: Toronto & using social media to connect with people I didn't know
disconnect between now & before; humanizing social media : bridge the gap
Social consciousness: you don't necessarily know all individuals but you care about them in terms of the group.

4. Caring about strangers lead to opportunities

Royce: "I think everything about your book is beautifully inspiring... I was moved to tears."

Robin: "The reason for my donation is that your story resonated with me. I'm also working on a book project that came from a childhood memory with my dad."

Opening up my work to other people has made me a better designer and certainly more engaged.

5. Big and small platforms : connecting over lofty ideas like environmentalism & socially responsible design, or on a smaller scale in your immediate communities.

For me, I found that smaller community in social media.

Janna Kinsman from Quite Strong, collective of women designers in Chicago: "The best way to give back to your community is to engage it."

Transcript