Charity and Design

My entire life I've had a distinct level of empathy and an acute sense of the inequalities of the world. As a college freshman in 1996 I was full of enthusiasm and a desire to change the world, to narrow some of the inequalities that I recognized within it. This drive lead me to major in Spanish and International Studies, with concentrations in Latin America and International Gender Issues. My intent was to work in social service work, specifically with Latina women. However, months before graduation, volunteer work in the field taught me that I would not be able to handle a 40 hour or more work week. On an emotional level, it seemed that my empathy became a bit of a weakness. Over ten years later, I've identified another passion in life for me--design.

What would be a more perfect union for me but one that combined social issues with design? What could be better than to utilize my creativity to narrow the gap of inequalities in this world? Charity Water is a charity that does just that. I appreciate Charity Water's innovation and heavy use of design while keeping their personnel at a minimum, nearly 30 percent of which is designers. I appreciate that they have assessed what has historically been a weakness in non-profit work (often a significant percentage of revenue utilized for administrative costs) and found a way to pass through 100 percent of their revenue to the cause for which they work. Instead of being yet another good organization from the developed world swooping in to fix the undeveloped world, they include the communities they seek to help in helping themselves. Even more so, I value that once their projects are complete, they organize committees of community members to oversee the projects moving forward, recognizing that one of the biggest inequalities in these developing nations is that between men and women and as a result placing women as fifty percent of the committee members. Charity Water's recognition that in order to improve the lives of women we must empower them is significant.

It seems that most design is geared towards the sale of goods--either because the design is what is being sold or because the design is used to sell a good. Successful design often means efficient, effective communication. Charity Water's decision to employ a significant percentage of designers to communicate their message has been a valuable one. Utilization of design in the non-profit sector encourages the sale of a different kind of good, one that in the case of Charity Water has attracted a particular market, a market that has the funds to help them reach their goals. By employing people who specialize in efficient, effective communication by way of good design, Charity Water is able to reach a level of innovation and agility that most charities can't.

Charity Water has created a scenario where they are designing for both the five percent of the world’s population that most design is intended for and the other 90 percent which is often left unnoticed. They have created a model and team that is both sustainable and agile, an ideal combination to continue a successful awareness and funding campaign based in design.

Responses to Digital Postcard Email

While I'm not sure I've gotten a lot of bites at donating, I feel that my mass email has been successful in raising awareness about Charity : Water. Below are some of the responses I've gotten.

Anne, this is awesome! I’ve nominated charity : water for Blu Skye’s 1% 2008 donation. (Similar to Patagonia and several other companies, Blu Skye donates 1% of our profits each year to a non-profit org doing great work). I’ll let you know when the decision is made.

And your chandelier is gorgeous and the digital postcard is fantastic!

Hey Anne,

I love it. Keep 'em coming. I especially love these because so many
people only associate HIV/AIDS & civil war with Africa when really things
like f-ing wells make the world of difference.

This is super cool Anne. Great project. I'll check out the website.
moe : )

That's awesome Anne! Love the recycled chandelier. Such cool projects that you get to do. I can't wait to see what you end up doing after your done with this program.

Great work Anne! Thanks for sharing. Very interesting.

Digital Postcard Sent....Check!

Below is a copy of the email I sent to everyone in my address book this evening. Hopefully it will have positive results!

Hi Everyone,
I think most of you know that I've been enrolled in Portland State University's Graphic Design program for the past two years. After taking a few terms off, I started back up this (fall) term. The class is Introduction to Communication Design and it is quite possibly the best art class I've ever taken.

Our final project was a fundraiser for Charity : Water, a nonprofit in NYC that builds wells in Africa. Charity : Water utilizes great design for their campaign--they tell stories very well, give 100% of the money to building wells (it takes $20,000 to build one well) and they show that fund-raising is possible (which is part of the reason they were selected for this assignment). I'm sure you can see how a project like this would be a perfect one for me, a combination of design and social issues.

The purpose of the project was to see how graphic design can work towards a sustainable world while building awareness and, hopefully, raising money for this fantastic organization.

Attached you will find a digital postcard I designed as part of my work on this project (sending you this email was part of the project too). I have also attached pictures of a chandelier I helped design and create, built out of a recycled bicycle wheel, re-purposed plastic water bottles and LED lights.

I realize now is not necessarily an ideal time to donate money. However, if you feel so inclined, please follow the link below to donate to Charity : Water. And feel free to forward this on to anyone you think would be interested!

Donate Here

Thanks,
Anne

Recycled Chandeliers

Well, tonight is our final class and I purchased picture wire this afternoon to hang our chandelier. I'm really, really pleased with how it turned out. So much so that I think I might make another one for my house, perhaps my deck out back. Here is a link to Lisa's blog (one of my teammates in creating our chandelier) that documents our process.

Chandelier Process

Charity : Water Project

I'm really excited about this project as it is combining my two biggest passions--art and design with social change. It's a shame we have such a short amount of time to get things accomplished as I think this could be a really amazing, larger-scale project. I appreciate that we're looking at design in the realm of working for social change and that we're applying our skills and learnings to the real world. I have started out with three compositions for the postcard portion of this project. I like the simplicity of the design, especially when you consider the simplicity of getting water to people who need it.

Oscar Wilde and Barnaby

When we started the Oscar Wilde project, I was really at a loss. While in class and brainstorming the concept for our class book I felt energized and full of creativity surrounding the project, when I would get home I couldn't seem to foster the same energy that the class discussions had evoked. Originally, I thought black and white photography would or could be wonderful. But as I remained frozen in my design process, unable to produce anything, I watched others put one beautiful black and white photograph up after another. It became apparent that my creativity block or procrastination had kept me from the possibility of doing black and white photography. In the end, I think that worked out for the best.

The class before our final compositions were due, it came to me. There were so many incredibly beautiful black and white photographs and so much of it was happy...yet so much of what we had discussed in those invigorating discussions had been dark and anything but beautiful. What I had been waiting for was something to inspire me to create and the combination of running out of time and the repeated beautiful and sweet images did just that.

My step-father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in June of 2007. At the time of his diagnosis, he was told that he had "no time" and there was "nothing that could be done". The diagnosis was a complete blow and we were sure he wouldn't make it to the holidays. However, Barnaby was brave and he fought hard, living maybe the best of his life in the final and most painful year of his life. I spent 13 wonderful and heartbreaking months with Barnaby after his diagnosis, embracing every experience and day I got to spend with him...and inevitably watching him completely deteriorate in front of my eyes. What a terrible thing cancer is. He didn't die, he was killed. This project is in loving memory of Barnaby. Even in death, you are an inspiration, B!

Cubism and Contemporary Design

For me, true inspiration from art comes from the most basic principles of the Cubism movement. Started in 1906 by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, the movement was inspired by the simplicity and power of art found in Africa, Micronesia and amongst Native Americans. It emphasized flat, two dimensional surfaces, rejecting the traditional techniques of previous movements and refuting the theories of art as an imitation of nature. Objects in Cubism compositions are broken up, analyzed and then re-assembled abstractly. What makes Cubism even more interesting is the notion that instead of seeing the object from one perspective, as had been done by artists previous to this movement, the abstract object is seen from multiple perspectives at once.

I have always been impressed by someone’s ability to take an object that is real and recreate it in an abstract way. While I respect the abilities of artists to recreate an object in a realistic way, to me it so often seems more like a demonstration of their technical skills than a creative way of seeing the world. And while I recognize that realism can be just as beautiful as abstract art, I have always been more attracted to that which is abstract. It is this reason that I’m so inspired by the Cubism movement, the ability of the artists to take what is in nature and recreate it in a completely simplified and ambiguous way. Perhaps it is that I so often see the world around me as a series of shapes and colors and, therefore, appreciate when someone can beautifully depict how my mind views the world.

Cubism breaks the surface of a composition into small multi-faceted areas while simplifying the natural forms which it’s depicting in the shape of cylinders, spheres and cones. The repetition in shapes as well as the use of simplistic forms is intriguing and beautiful. Underneath it all, I find myself attracted to beautiful patterns. And while the compositions are abstract and not pattern-like in the least, the use of repetition and simplistic shapes somehow gives the illusion of an abstract pattern, so to speak. I appreciate that the objects depicted in the compositions are broken down into a series of shapes as to demonstrate one’s ability to look at the pieces to a larger object in its most simple forms rather than a more global, broad view of the object. However, it’s interesting that by using multiple dimensions of an object, as Cubism does, the viewer ends up looking at the form from an even more global perspective, albeit abstractly, because of the multiple viewpoints.

I appreciate the Cubism movement’s use of minimal color, typically in monochromatic shades. The movement put more emphasis on the shapes in and of themselves rather than the use of color. While I love color, I feel that the amount of color used ideally complements the simplistic forms in these compositions.

Many of the key elements of the Cubism movement show up repeatedly in contemporary design. Design often utilizes the most simplistic forms of an object, frequently that which exists in nature depicted in an abstract form that is barely recognizable in its recreated state, to communicate to the viewer while utilizing a minimalist or monochromatic color scheme. It seems that much of what the Cubism movement created, defining objects in simple shapes and on a single plane from multiple perspectives and use of monochromatic or minimalist color, is alive and well in today’s contemporary design. I believe that most of the time, less is more. I think Cubism’s popularity today stems from the human being’s desire to see and experience things in their simplest form. The combination of simplistic, abstract forms and color seems to be a consistent element throughout contemporary design today. Because this approach at contemporary design is often my favorite, it’s not surprising that I find the Cubism movement so inspiring.