INTRODUCTION

Some call it “design for the greater good.” Others call it “design for social change.” Most people skip a few syllables and call it “social design.” Whatever you want to call it, graphic designers flock to it. Some feel they have designed enough dog-food labels and perfume packages and crave a change, while others feel an affinity from the starts of their careers. All designers who are drawn to social design want to use their skills to help people live better lives. For my thesis, I tried to answer a single question: what strategies can help graphic designers become effective social designers?

Many beautiful graphic design books and blogs explore social design, but none emphasize strategies to help designers address complex social problems. So I am writing a book that will do this. Twenty social design case studies will make up the bulk of the book and a large section will be dedicated to these community-based design strategies. The book will be published in 2011 by Princeton Architectural Press

My thesis exhibition featured some of the visual research that emerged from my reading and writing throughout the year.