AIGA Cause/Effect Recap

PSFK attended the second annual Cause/Effect; Design as Change Agent this past Saturday. The day long event presented by the New York chapter of the AIGA highlighted examples good design and social responsibility concerns uniting. As a whole, the the day was very inspiring. Several speakers including Seymour Chwast, Carin Goldberg, Phil Patton, and moderator Steven Heller delivered presentations charting the history of design activism through to the origins and current legal battle over the use of the Red Cross logo.

Our highlights of the day included a presentation by Bobby Martin Jr. on his design of the identity for the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church of Harlem. He started the project on his own as part of his MFA degree work at the School of Visual Arts. He pitched the project to the church, won their support and has since created it’s entire visual campaign. He also worked with the church on a project to acquire billboards in Harlem to replace the advertisements of liquor and tobacco with a photography campaign providing a positive message to the community.

We also were inspired by the work of Alan Jacobson, an award winning environmental graphic designer from Philadelphia who has worked to make a difference in Rwanda through the Rwanda Healing Project. The goal was to use introduce art and design into a village as and agent for healing and to strengthen the community. Alan worked with a group called the Barefoot Artists on a number of projects in the Cyanzarwe District which was decimated by the 1994 genocide. The artists assisted the village in design and construction of a memorial to mark the ten year anniversary. They also fostered a house painting program that drew in the entire community. Each of the houses were painted with colorful patterns and design to give the village a unique sense of place and pride. Alan’s presentation introduced us to many of the villagers he met there and formed a strong bond of friendship with. Part of the project is covered in this article published in the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers magazine.