project X is all about designing for good and being a social designer leading onto the idea of system thinking. I want to become a designer that’s all about design for good, meaning that I design work to help people, and change the world not just a pretty poster or a Mac monkey, design is more than that and some people do not understand that. With graphic design we can help the planet through our designs and through both the projects NHS and creative conscious I thought about ways we could do that.

How to save the planet through graphic design?

Graphic design is about making awareness and promoting or advertising aspects. It sometimes can have. negative impact, as companies portray the false interpretation of things. However, the purpose of design for good is designing for a positive impact and actually creating a final outcome that changes the world and goes against the norm, otherwise you are just adding to the issues already out there and not actually changing it. What I love about graphic design, is its your chance to add your own twist onto design and actually make a difference in the world. An example for design for good, is making people aware of bad situations in the world being homelessness, nHS issues etc, and changing it to make a difference and put an impact into society where it can actually make a difference. A lot of graphic designers are just Mac monkeys and do not plan their designs in order to create something that could be a design for good and its something I cherish from learning through my university days at the uni of Kent.

defintion: Design for Good is an ethos to use problem-solving and design thinking towards social change. … Design for Good sustains designers playing a catalytic role through community projects that create positive social impact.

For me, every project I make sure I think for designing for the good, making issues and awareness of issues that the world faces and using my skills and love to make a difference, its almost like your saving people in your own little way. I love it!

Examples of design for good: pROJECTS I HAVE DONE

throughout my graphic design journey, I have cerated a variety of designs that fit into the category of designing for good. When I was in level 3 this was not the case it was the final project of something ‘pretty’ when starting HND only then did I think and Strat to consider design for good and the development my work took since achieving that.

Within HND2 and BA I created a lot of work based on design for good. Such as…

• Homelessness campaign – This was a campaign and a comply I created to prevent the increase in teenage homelessness.
• Poverty UK – Making awareness for family poverty in the uK with personal stories and the ways in the UK can begin to help to decrease poverty for families.
• LFB – Currently making a project to make awareness of the daily life of fire fighters in London for schools to promote their daily live and what it takes to be a fire fighter.

All these have in common are making awareness of a subject and coming up with a solution to fix it and this is the best thing about graphic design! Making a difference not just a pretty poster! (and this is the most cherish thing I have learnt within my years of studying)

System thinking:

defintion: Systems thinking is an approach to understand, design, systemize the flow of value from various aspects of the organization across the value chain to ensure synchronicity, consistency, integration, and maximization between people, activities, processes, policies, places and resources

HOW I PLAN TO DESIGN FOR GOOD WITHIN THIS PROJECT AND FURTHER PROJECTS:

As the years have gone on within graphic design the man thing I have gained so much knowledge on has been designing for good and making designs benefit for people instead of adding to the issues. Therefore with the NHS project I thought the entire way through how I could potentially benefit people and design for the best which I did feel some people did not understand. When thinking as a group we had to think of ways to make designs better and the system better and fix issues surrounding the NHS.