Social students |  An oar to wash clothes

The students' answer to the danger of piranhas in Brazil

PADOVA.  2011/2012 Sociology of Consumption course, students: Rogerio Boschetto, Carlo Caranese, Piero Franco and Stefania Guzzo. Their project brought them to Brazil. What problem they focused on? Which solution did they suggest?

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The need

First of all, the four students carried out a research on Brazil, in particular in terms of socio-economic perspective. The poverty of those who live in the favelas emerged, it’s the better known reality of this country. Going further, new problems came out: in particular ribeirinhos’ (“people of the river”) one, a population living along the rivers, surrounded by nature and its dangers.
One of these dangers lives in the rivers: piranhas.

Ribeirinhos meet these animals during the everyday life: women while washing clothes, fishermen while cleaning the fish, children who don’t realize the danger.
The four students talked with don Olindo, a missionary in Manaus, in the middle of the Amazon.

I’m very happy to reply you with my direct experience! (...) First, piranhas attack only when you stir the water with hands and feet, because they cause communicative waves which recall them. (...) Browsing the rio Lapi-Lapi (photo 1) I saw, on the shores, barriers built and plunged into the water by women, in order to defend themselves from piranhas. Many of them lost their phalanges. (...) I wanted to see up close the devastation caused in the hands of these women. (...) Concerning those who live on the rivers by the city, the piranha’s bite must be quickly treated, because in their teeth there’s a bacteria that could develop gangrene.

The answer

We thought to some solutions, and then we decided to develop a basket to carry and wash clothes safely. We evolved it in a product which allows the user not to enter the water with the body. We decided to modify the shape of the product with a form they know in everyday life: the oar.

Women can now wash clothes safely without disrupting the movements they did previously.
The main body of the product is made of wood, the hard chain-link net is the container for clothes.
It can be easily produced thanks to the concentration of industries in these sectors.

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Social students |  3 solutions for a better India

Help to develop is the aim of the project “Ideas for the World”

PADOVA.  A new article about our students’ products. Today we meet Emiliano Aiardi, Arianna Basso, Ilaria Paccagnella and Vanni Scapin, who present their project developed during 2011/2012 course in Sociology of Consumptions. We’re going to India with them.

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The need

We wanted to look far aside of our house, and think a bit about those people that nobody sees. We discovered for the first time a different world, made of despair, poverty, loneliness but also courage, hope, commitment, lust for life.

From this consideration, the working group chose India as their focus, a country with two faces: on the one hand, the cultural heritage, traditions, colors, religions; on the other hand the great poverty of the majority of the population.

Everything is offered to the personal religion, they forget the children, left to run and play within unacceptable living conditions. There you must fight for survival every day, against hunger, thirst, religious conflicts, corrupt cops and works that lead to death...

In India there are three different contexts where students could focus:

• the city, where social contrasts are more evident, but where people responsible for the development of the whole India live. The main issues include: public safety, health services and human rights;
• the slum, made up of huts surrounded by mud. In these places hygiene and humanity are missing, especially if we talk about children, and often result in humiliation;
• the country, place of farmers and fishermen, where people begin to work soon. Schools are missing, but also the shoes to go to. In general, there is a lack of facilities, which increasingly forces people to migrate to the large cities.

The answer

The four students focused on the most popular issues: shoes, waste and transportation.

Waste and shoes are linked to each other, because we can recycle landfill materials to provide a pair of shoes, however rudimentary, to the Indian population. They just need a tire, an inner tube and some fabric (photo 3).

We designed a product involving, during its life cycle, certain people related more or less directly.
In addition to the producers, there will be some interlocutors, who will explain how to make the shoes, the ones who will make them and the end users.

Regarding the transportation, the students thought to Stay Safe (photo 4), a metal grid to be affixed to the sides and the rear of the bus, reducing the possibility of falling for people who usually cling to public transports.

The grates Stay Safe want to improve habits without change them, involving the commitment of the government, transport companies and the population.

Finally, we also decided to develop a platform for every nation, not only India. It doesn’t pretend to teach anything, it’s just a place where to share ideas born and made all over the world. We want to give back confidence to underestimated people and to those of want to improve the world easily, by believing in and spreading their ideas.

The final project is the web platform “Ideas for the World” (photos 5 and 6), where anyone can find the projects implemented in the developing countries, in order to be taken from other less fortunate realities. The transmitted value? Humanity, hope, dignity, courage, empathy, community, sharing.

• Read last “Social students”: Designing for homeless
  

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Social students |  Designing for homeless

Paper-way, a concept by our creative design students

PADOVA.  Let’s talk again about the social projects developed by the students of the three-year Study Plan in Creative Design. Today’s topic is about homeless: which answers to which questions can be given by a designer in this area? The project is by Paolo Demel, Valentina Romani, Jennyfer Sorgato.

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The need

The goal is to analyze the problems that these people face every day, in relation to the society and the outside world, and to come up with solutions improving their lifestyle by satisfying their needs.

A first strong problem concerns the registered residence. The students explain it very clearly:

The registered residence is a prerequisite for anybody, not just for homeless, because if you don’t have it you don’t exists.
Common people negligently reflect on this problem. Without an official residence, you can’t work, to can’t open a VAT number, you’re not entitled to the National Health Service (except for emergency care), you can’t participate in a call to get a house, you can’t vote.

The problems of the homeless can be divided following the bands of the day:

• waking up in the morning is because of traffic, cold, hunger or ill-treatment by other people;
• in the afternoon the problem is the search for food, hoping to find a soup kitchen;
• in the evening they have to seek shelter for the night, hoping to find a dormitory;
• the night is the most difficult part of the day, because in addition to the external conditions there is the risk of being attacked by other people.

The answer

Starting from the problems encountered in the analysis phase, the students proposed some product concepts, and then deepened one in particular:

It’s a multi-functional clothing, a jacket (padded with insulating paper) which can be “transformed” into a sleeping bag for the night; it’s a functional product because it has high usability.
The product has been designed with the purpose of reusing waste materials.

It’s called Paper-Way. What are its main features?

• The upper part is a multi-layer k-way: externally is made of reused nylon; inside there’s a padding of coated paper obtained from magazines, which acts as a thermal insulator.
• The lower part, achieved through a tear in the end of the k-way, is a sleeping bag for the night. It’s like any other common sleeping bag, with zipper closure along the longest side. On the outside there is an extra pocket where the homeless can put his own items.
• The choice of dark colors helps the homeless not to be noticed at night while sleeping, or just while trying to hide himself to stay in peace. Paper-Way is also equipped with reflectors to be exposed to view to be safer at night.

• Read last “Social students”: Mama’s Canteen against young obesity

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Social students |  Mama's Canteen against young obesity

The project signed last year by four SID students

PADOVA.  Today’s project, designed by the students of 2011/2012 course of Sociology of Consumptions, brings us into the food area, in order to solve a problem even more diffused in western countries: youth obesity. This work is signed by Dominik Cergna, Paola Del Forno, Francesca Turetta and Isabella Zane.

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The need

The reference frame of the problem is within both the district and suburbs areas of North America and the primary school canteens. What can we see?

The main problem is to see little kids to be feed with fast foods and their steep calorie count.

A first answer has been introduced by the American Government, mainly concerning the food served in the school canteens: the goal is to offer everybody a healthy lunch. The Agriculture Department should give the standards that every school must respect concerning food supply, in particular they must forbid junk food.

Who are the involved actors?

• international fast-food chains: children love them, but it’s clear their responsibilities in the weight-increase that damage young people health;
• schools: it’s the place where children spend the most of their time but they don’t get healthy food;
• mass media, society, food manufacturers;
• parents, the first responsible for children’s nutrition;
• children, the mirror of the society where they live.

As we can see, a good food education and available healthy food for everybody are needed. The basis are a wrong method of thinking and a wrong society philosophy: they need a radical change.

The answer

We want to educate mothers and sons to a healthy food, making them understand how to cook and how we can change our food routine. We need to start from the schools, the places most attended by the children, in order to make it effective.

The students propose “Mama’s Canteen”, which takes into account the location and the actors of the issue. Non by chance, the radical change can’t focus on just one aspect. In fact, the project has been developed on several areas:

1) Suburbs: get the mothers involved in the school canteens. Each school will provide the needed food for meal preparation and the mother will become cooks. They can also have lunch in the cafeteria every time they’re serving and take home for dinner any leftover food.
This way we can solve different problems: cooked food will be fresh and healthy, unemployed mothers who want to serve can earn a hot meal every time they work, in addition they can stay close to their children and earn a small salary at the end of the month.

2) Communication: a blog aimed to be a space for exchange of views, but also an organizational basis for the “mama’s canteen”. Within this virtual space we can find every school registered to the program and every mother can submit and book her turn to “cook” in the concerned school. Before enrolling she must attend a learning path based on healthy and natural food culture.

3) Illusion: the proposal intends to encourage younger people to eat healthy food in the canteen by serving them in a playful and colorful pack.

• The previous concept: Al-color

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Social students |  A new idea of breathalyzer: Al-color

Laura Marcon and Maddalena Tonin explain their concept

PADOVA.  The travel among the projects of the course of Sociology of Consumptions 2011/2012 continues today through the work by Laura Marcon and Mattalena Tonin. Its name is Al-color. Let’s see what it is.

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The need

Today we speak a lot about the diseases of young people. Newspapers and TVs talk everyday about them (bullying, anorexia, alcohol and drugs addiction...) and deepened analysis try to discover the paradigms of this unease and the new challenges that the young people have to face.

Education becomes fundamental in young people behaviors. It’s not a didactical kind of education, but an education in worth, which can grow progressively thanks to the society.

The target of the two students are young Italian people, who attend pubs, discos, happy hours, often looking for new experiences in order to win the so-called monotony.
Their analysis focused on a specific issue: the ones who drive when drunk.

What we’d want to create is not another kind of alcohol test, but a gadget which can meet young people and change someway their vision of the product: in fact, we understood that they see it as a menace and not as a prevention tool.

The answer

We designed Al-color, a ring made of plastic compounded by two main parts: the outside and the inside. The outside is micro-perforated in the part which will contact the finger.
The inside instead is another smaller ring made of micro-perforated transparent plastic; it contains some salts as silica gel, iodine salt and potassium.

When you wear the ring at the end of the night, the sweat produced by the hands contains ethanol. This substance will react once it meets the salts, making them change color depending on the quantity of alcohol in the sweat.

How to communicate the product?

We choose an advertising campaign which can attract the young people and make them curious in a provocative way by using one of the most known gesture of the world: “the middle finger”.
We don’t mean to communicate a negative action, but to stress the ring, putted on the medium finger. In addition, we underline the ironic attitude to “send to hell” the troubles deriving from the alcohol abuse.
For the packaging, we think is funnier to get inspired by the condom packaging, because you can always bring it with you and, somehow, it helps to prevent “holes”.

• The previous concept: Freewe

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Social students |  Freewe, the urban mobility app

We show you our students' social design projects

PADOVA.  A few days ago we talked about sharing and new relationships. This is the opportunity to start a new column about social design topics. We’re doing it by showing some of the projects made by second year students 2011/2012. They developed them within the course of sociology of consumption, held by prof. Andrea Busato.

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The need

We open today with the project developed by the group of students Alessio Bellato, Laura Corazzin, Laura Lorenzin, Eleonora Moggio and Marco Ricci. Their presentation let us introduce within their work:

“The design theme we chose is the disabled in the urban area, a problematic context regarding his mobility and individual’s sociality. The eyes of citizens often rest on great hardships belonging to all humanity, but they don’t see the little daily problems of this category. The analysis of the working group focused on the Italian situation, to be facilitated in both research of data and their actual feedback.
The development of the design theme deliberately decided to support the improvement of the mobility of the disabled within the urban area, with the study and creation of a network which makes the people connect and interact.
This network allows the sharing of information, thus creating a small careful community, that is the goal of our service.”

Therefore, the focus is on the condition of people with physical disabilities who are self-sufficient with external support. The students, in their research phase, investigated the needs related to various social context: the urban one, the family, the workplace, the school context and the hospital.

The answer

“The proposed service is the creation of an mobile application and a related website. By consulting a map you can identify the easier and more accessible path in the city. The software is targeted to disabled people, but also to mother with strollers and elderly (design for all).
The interaction between will be a key point for the success and the survival of the project: the users will update the information on the condition of the roads in their city.
Maintenance costs of the site will be supported by ad hoc publicity. The accessible shops can join the project and get a sticker with the logo of the app, to be placed in the window. It will be a positive advertisement for the shop, but also an indirect adv for our service.”

The students designed Freewe (photo 3), which means “we are free” but it’s also the conjunction of the words free and wheel: the topic of independance and mobility must necessarily determine the naming of the service. The service consists in the creation of an app (photo 4) and a website (photo 5), whose operation is clearly explained by the storyboard (photos 6-7) of the working group.

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Ideas That Matter, the 2012 winning designers

They'll get a grant for their social projects

BOSTON, USA.  Ideas That Matter is a project launched by Sappi, a company which works on sustainable wood-fibre based solution, mainly paper. Sappi promotes a funding program to recognize and support designers who dedicate their time and talent for social activities.

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Ideas That Matter was founded in 1999 and since that year has supported more than 500 programs that have changed our lives, our communities and, ultimately, our planet. The mission is simple: together, we can create a positive change for a better future.

Looking forward to learn more about the selected projects, Sappi announced the designers who have won the grant for 2012. Here are their names, where they come from and the name of their projects:

• Maria Moon (Designmatters at Art Center College of Design): The Los Angeles School District
• Michael Osborne & Katy McCauley (Joey’s Corner): Wellspring
• Celia Poirier (University of Connecticut): Windham Harm Reduction Coalition, Inc
• Tim Ferguson Sauder (Return Design): Kestrel Educational Adventures
• Marc Moscato (The Dill Pickle Club): The Dill Pickle Club
• Robert Sedlack & Andrea Pellegrino (Sedlack Design Associates & Pellegrino Collaborative): University of Notre Dame, Kgosi Neighborhood Foundation and Pellegrino Collaborative
• Douglas Barrett & Matt Leavell (University of Alabama at Birmingham and Alabama Innovation Engine): Cahaba River Society
• Tony Ong (Fantagraphics Books): 826Seattle
• David Rager (David Rager Studio): The Ecology Center
• Anna Rubbo, Megan Bullock, and Matthias Neumann (Global Studio, Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University): Global Studio
• The IDEO.org team (IDEO.org): IDEO.org
• Kenneth Botts (Visual Marketing Associates, Inc.): The Wright Family Foundation of The Dayton Foundation
• Esther Chak & Mary-Jo Valentino (Imaginary Office): New Urban Arts

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Cardboard bicycle? Yes, we can!

Izhar Gafni's idea is now reality and costs just 9 euro

TEL AVIV, ISRAEL.  Last year we often talk about recycle, reuse and environmental protection. This topic is not out of fashion, and therefore we propose a new work: a running bike which cost only 9 euro!

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Some students last year carried out some pieces of furniture made with cardboard. Izhar Gafni went further, making a cardboard bicycle. The project was born three years ago and pursued with consistency and patience. Izhar is a mechanical engineer and multi-disciplinary system developer.

Here are the steps of the work in the relative video... with the final test!

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David Kelley: Our lives are better if we're creative

The inspiring conference held at TED

LONG BEACH, USA.  Creativity is the ability to see things differently and come up with new breakthroughs: it’s not a God-given gift to be enjoyed by the lucky few, but a natural part of human behavior. Unfortunately, sometimes creativity gets blocked and we lose confidence in our own ability to create.

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David Kelley, founder the global design and innovation firm IDEO, said that during a recent conference held at TED. How to find the lost creativity? Kelly explains that a series of small successes can help people develop creative confidence. By this way, creativity can turn the world around. Why?

Let’s watch and listen to his speech.

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Design in innovating public services

Philip Colligan's (from Nesta) words

London, UK.  Colligan is the executive director of Nesta’s Public Service Lab. Nesta is an innovation foundation operating in the UK. It aims to help people and organisations to bring their great ideas to life, through investments, research, networks and skills.

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The Public Services Lab is working to find innovative ways of delivering public services. Their philosophy is that more effective solutions at cheaper cost will only come through ingenuity.

Very often Philip, talking with local governments, explains the importance of design in creating future public serices, but some people ask him: “Wait a moment Colligan: what do you mean for design?”

And Colligan, who didn’t study as a designer, tells how he understand that radical innovation are needed in order to meet the challenges, in particular in local communities. And that is possible thanks to design thinking and techniques.

1. The neutral design doesn’t exist: everybody, everyday, takes decisions that affect the social life even if we don’t know. For example? The way to present the food in a school canteen affects what the children choose to eat. Also, the way a driving license application form is written is related to the number of people who choose or not to donate their organs. In short, if we were all designers, perhaps we’ll be aware of all these meanings.
   
   
2. Design in polocymaking means actively involving people: users, citizens, professionals... So, starting from the individual is crucial: the secret is not to provide too many services, but to reach the individual citizen’s need.
   
   
3. Innovation cannot be improvised: it’s always the result of a scheduled path. It’s not easy to find the way to solve all problems. Obama sounds almost heroic in saying “Yes we can” instead of “Yes we’ll try”. What can we learn? That there are low-cost and low-risk innovations which derive from design techniques applied to social challenges, fore example by introducing innovative prototypes. Local administrators can learn these techniques, should be a priority.
   

• Adapted from the full article on the Guardian website

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