Apr
19
IDEAS
PHOTO BY: JOE LEWIS
I found the following passage, taken from Jeremy Denk’s writing on Bach, to be particularly thought provoking. My background as a violinist continuously seems to infiltrate my ideas about life in indirect ways, therefore I can appreciate Denk’s thoughts. This passage is an interesting insight into the sometimes ignored nuances of music that are yet profound.
At the beginning of the measure, all three parts are in beautiful E-flat major. By the downbeat of the next measure, the E-flat has been “re-thought” as a part of C minor.
But I like the beat in-between: when the E-flat doesn’t know yet that it has been rethought. Where the melody’s and harmony’s tendencies clash, where the parts diverge, you get a kind of blurred double image of past and future. If you agree with me that Bach is a particularly profound essayist in the nature of time, you might agree with this leap of association: that dissonant beat is the present.
It is neither here nor there. In its in-between-ness, it is the most beautiful, tastable moment of all. Why is it always the moment you want to hold onto, that is passing by?
Read full article at Think Denk »
(discovered via Bobulate)
Apr
12
ACTION
At a time when the world is faced with rapid and dramatic changes in the economy, technology, and global communication, design can be a powerful agent for positive change.
The SEGD Annual Conference and Expo will be taking place June 2-5, 2010. This year’s theme is Designing Change/Changing Design, which will aim to encourage and inspire a movement of design for social change, as well as shift the approach of the design community towards global problems. Learn more about the conference »
New design approaches must be sustainable both economically and environmentally, must embrace our cultural and economic diversity, and must be accessible to all.
Jan
19
ACTION / IDEAS
The leading innovation firm Ideo has put together this informational how-to guide (118 pages) and hands-on workbook (40 pages) outlining their ideas and insight into designing for social impact. I found these materials both interesting and informative on how to develop meaningful projects, re-strategize my process, and lead my intentions into successful outcomes.
The guide begins by describing ‘What is Design for Social Impact?’ and is then divided into the following three sections:
- Design Principles
- Modes of Engagement
- Inspiration
The workbook is intended to be used along with the guide as a general framework to help define one’s own process in creating design for change. It is divided into:
These materials contain a vast amount of ideas and exercises, and certainly not all of it is applicable to every design firm or project, however it is a great source of inspiration to get ideas flowing towards design for positive social impact.
Download here:
Nov
24
ACTION
ThinkSocial is a new non-profit initiative dedicated to advancing the use of social media in the public interest. They recently announced the three winners of the new ThinkSocial awards, “recognizing three outstanding examples of innovation, featuring – an individual, an initiative and a collaboration between institutions, which together represent powerful models for how social media can be used to address global problems.” –ThinkSocial
The winners are:
- Kiva.org: a peer-to-peer micro-lending web site, enabling entrepreneurs in developing countries to receive loans from lenders around the world.
- SocialVibe: helping brands direct a portion of their advertising budget into branded activities on social media platforms.
- The March 18th Movement: Mideast Youth seeks to expand the world’s understanding of bloggers as de facto journalists, and extend the protections normally accorded to journalists to all those who share information and stories of repression and corruption online.
A special commendation award is also being presented to:
Amanda Rose: the founder of Twestival Global and Local, which is a concurrent series of offline events for charity, organized by volunteers in cities around the world via Twitter.
Learn more about ThinkSocial »
Nov
23
IDEAS
An illustrated guide for designing things that matter.
Design Mind (by Frog Design) displays this interesting infographical look at what it means to create meaningful design. I am often asking the question of what makes design meaningful, therefore its interesting to see the visual thoughts of others regarding this topic.
