Posts tagged education

The Social Innovator Series is the culmination of a major two year collaboration between the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) and The Young Foundation to develop a rich, practical resource for social innovators. It is a collection of publications and accompanying website that reveal the vast potential of a new social economy.

This emerging economy can be seen in many fields, including the environment, care, education, welfare, food and energy. This ’social economy’ goes beyond the state and the third sector, and includes social enterprises, co-operatives and social movements.

The Social Innovator Series surveys the methods used by innovators in this new social economy and presents a varied, vibrant picture of social innovation in practice. It features hundreds of examples, methods and tools from all over the world.

Though social innovation is a rapidly emerging practice, methods for developing this vital field remain relatively hidden. Having a better understanding of social innovation – the new ideas (products, services and models) that simultaneously meet social needs and create new social relationships or collaborations – is increasingly urgent as existing structures and policies struggle to make an impact on the most pressing issues of our time.

Download the books from the Social Innovator Series:
- Open Book of Social Innovation
- Danger and Opportunity: Crisis and the new social economy
- Social Venturing

Visit the Social Innovator website: www.socialinnovator.info

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Nothing beats a good design school education, but for the cash-strapped there is also an impressive amount of free educational materials online. A good case in point: Instructor Mario Malagrino of the Florence Design Academy has posted a free Studio Max illumination tutorial, intended for his students but available to all, on how to simulate photo studio lighting techniques for product design renders. (We discovered it while rooting around on their site in search of more of Sekhar Roy’s work.)

Even cooler, FDA’s got several galleries up showing the tutorial’s results in actual student projects. (Samples shown below by students Nenad Kostinov, W. Slob and E.R. Ortiz.)

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[image credit: John Sherman]

We’ve seen creatives generate inspiration from all manner of strangeness over the years, but this has to be a first: Professor Peter Robbie’s Design Thinking class at Dartmouth incorporates improv sessions. According to an article in Dartmouth Engineer, “I’ve always thought that the quickest and smartest folks at the brainstorming phase of design have been those who do standup and improv,” says the professor. “They never say no. They never miss a beat. Improv requires players to accept what they are given, build on the ideas of others, and encourage wild ideas.”

Robbie demystifies design by breaking it into systematic steps. “I believe it’s important to create classroom experiences that will increase students’ confidence in their own creative design abilities,” he says.

Using improv to get students comfortable with brainstorming is a case in point. “Everyone thinks that they know how to brainstorm, but in fact, brainstorming is usually plagued by problems like self-censoring, competitiveness, and ridicule,” says Robbie. “Improv is a great way for students to learn to defer judgment.”

Read more about Robbie’s process, philosophy and methodologies here.

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A presentation from Non-Format’s Jon Forss at Walker Art Center last month recently surfaced on youtube. It’s essential viewing for fans and inspirational for anyone questioning the reality of running a virtual office. Forss lives in Minneapolis and his business partner Kjell Ekhorn is based in Oslo, their accounts are managed in London and together they have worked for the past 10 years catering to an enviable list of global clients.

The presentation is just over an hour long and Ekhorn makes a commendable skype appearance at 3am local time during Q&A at the end.

Pictured above: Gatefold LP for Delphic (2010), and a book cover for Bram Stoker’s Dracula (2010).

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[Catalog image courtesy of Cardinal Aluminum Company]

Norway-based aluminum supplier Hydro is a good global citizen; last year they recycled over 200 million pounds of scrap aluminum, some of it post-consumer waste, the rest from industrial waste. By combining the recycled scrap with virgin aluminum, they can produce new billets with over 70% recycled content, resulting in identical strength and performance but with a fresh, green smell.

Hydro is now trying to spread awareness of their products through what we’ve come to learn is an admirable Scandinavian technique: Education. Hydro’s Extrusion Americas unit is holding 20 free-of-charge seminars targeting industrial designers, engineers and manufacturers. The seminars will:

…Provide practical instruction on the use of aluminum extrusion in product development, including the extrusion process itself, profile design and alloy selection. They will also focus on fabrication techniques, including welding, machining and bending. A product showcase will demonstrate innovative aluminum extrusion applications and techniques. Additionally, there will be designated time for attendees to bring in any plans to discuss one-on-one with Hydro engineers.

“Hydro’s Extrusion Academies present a unique opportunity for designers and manufacturers to explore how extrusion can solve manufacturing challenges by connecting directly with experts in the field,” said Lynn Brown, senior vice president, Extrusion Americas sales & marketing.

We love initiatives like this because they’re not hard-selling you anything, just hoping that after learning about their processes you’ll have a desire to partner with them–and if you don’t, no sweat, at least you walk away with a better understanding of aluminum and extrusions. We just hope that they don’t point out that we Americans are spelling it wrong–Hydro spells it, as the Brits who invented our language do, “aluminIum.”

Hit the jump for seminar locations and dates, or click here for more info from Hydro.

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SVA is taking applications for their summer program in Italy, where students will immerse themselves in design history, theory and practice in Venice and Rome–”the birthplace of Western typographic tradition.” Faculty include Louise Fili, Steven Heller, Lita Talarico, Dr. Darius Arya, Carlo Branzaglia, Giorgio Camuffo, Cristina Chiappini, James Clough, and Mauro Zennaro, and there will be opportunities for research, lectures, individual studies…and fieldtrips. (Sure to be one of the best parts!) The session runs from May 30th thru June 12th, so get your application in quick.

All information and application at the site.

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Design for public place, architecture and visual communication

Design Den Haag 2010-2018 researches the relation between Design and Government in Europe within an international context, from cultural, economic and social viewpoints. Starting summer 2010, Design Den Haag will organize a total of five public events biennially in the field of design, architecture and visual communication, with exhibitions, publications, lectures and debates, workshops and documentary films. Each edition will entail a collaboration between Den Haag and another European government Capital: Berlin (2010), Stockholm (2012), Paris (2014), London (2016) and Rome (2018). The project will conclude with recommendations concerning the betterment of relations between design and governance, and on governmental funds for the quality of design, architecture and visual communication.

Make sure to check the dot based musical interface on the home page (pictured above)!

(via invisigot)

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