Introduction
The Origins of the AIGA Alabama Design Summit
»»changeobserver.com/aspen.html
The Alabama Design Summit is an important model for how Design for Good will engage designers which will inform how this innovative and ambitious program will materialize.
2
In November 2009, we both attended the Aspen Design Summit. Sponsored by AIGA and Winterhouse Institute with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aspen Summit was a participatory event where 64 attendees worked together to develop innovative contributions toward solving large-scale national and global problems. The summit included leaders from design, NGOs, business, foundations, and social institutions. Participants were divided into six studios, where each addressed a specific issue (rural healthcare delivery, international education, the needs of menstruating girls, rural poverty, healthy aging, and sustainable food and obesity). We both were members of different studios in Aspen and continue to work on the projects post-Aspen. Doug’s studio is working with the CDC’s Healthy Aging project to double the current number of adults 50 and over who have received a set of recommended preventive health services. This project is now called “5 over 50,” named for the five medical tests that should be taken for those over 50 years of age. Sam’s studio focuses on rural Alabama and, working with local leaders, examines how new resources and design services can spur local social innovation and community development projects across Alabama, in an effort to combat poverty. Named “AL Innovation Engine,” we hope to address the conditions faced by rural and urban poor by gathering national support for innovative local projects and organizing individual projects into local frameworks to create synergies that can increase benefits. In addition to our studio participation in Aspen, Ric Grefé and Bill Drenttel presented us with a second challenge: Could we bring the Aspen experience—using design thinking as a problem solving tool for social and environmental issues—to the AIGA chapters? And could this be a mechanism through which AIGA members—as individuals, small groups, or chapters—could participate in a meaningful way in social change initiatives within their own communities? In October, AIGA will launch Design for Good, an initiative to activate AIGA’s role as a catalyst, connector, convener, and amplifier in addressing social challenges by linking design and the community of designers to social impact work on a local, national, and global level. The Alabama Design Summit is an important model for how Design for Good will engage designers which will inform how this innovative and ambitious program will materialize.
AIGA Alabama Design Summit | aiga.org