Worldstudio

Read about Worldstudio partner Mark Randall’s fascination with Apis mellifera – the honey bee – on the Felt & Wire website.

Andréa Pellegrino has joined the Board of Directors of Hope Floats Initiative, a team of doctors, architects and designers that works with – not for – underserved communities in partnership, helping them take ownership of a sustainable future through basic healthcare, permanent housing, education and job training.

Mark Randall has joined the advisory board of desigNYC, whose mission is to improve the lives of New Yorkers by connecting nonprofits and civic groups serving the public good with passionate, professional pro bono design services.

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Jason McDaniel is used to printing killer letterpress invitations and cards. And it’s not that he doesn’t love his work at Dallas’ trendy Miss Q Press, but when McDaniel was invited to participate in The Feedback Loop project, he thought it would be fun to challenge himself to do something outside of his normal routine.

So he letterpress-printed a journal, something he’d never before tried, the sales of which will benefit kids all over the country.

Mohawk Fine Papers and Design Ignites Change teamed up recently to create The Feedback Loop, a project using the new Mohawk Loop grade as a catalyst for change. In exchange for free Loop paper from Mohawk, twenty-five leading letterpress printers, including Missing Q, were asked to create fifty unique notebooks. These limited editions books are now being sold in a special storefront on the Felt & Wire Shop. 100% of the proceeds will go to Design Ignites Change to support the youth mentorship program School: By Design.

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Sixteen students from around the world are converging on New York City to explore how to apply design thinking – the combination of unleashed creativity and executable actions – to pressing social problems. The participants, from as far away as Brazil, Australia and Portugal represent a variety of disciplines and range in experience from graduate level students to seasoned professionals.

The sold out, six week program at the School of Visual Arts will run on two parallel tracks: the first will educate students on how to conceive and execute their own projects for social change with a  focus on funding projects that are not client-based. Along with a personal project, students will participate in the development of a team project that addresses a pressing need for a local non-profit organization. On this track, participants will roll up their sleeves to take the program out of the realm of theoretical thinking and extend it into the real world.

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Impact! Design for Social Change
A six week intensive workshop
July 12 – August 20, 2010

Worldstudio and the School of Visual Arts in New York City are launching an exciting six week summer intensive called Impact! Design for Social Change.

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University of Baltimore MFA student, David Hardy, interviewed Mark Randall for his thesis project Mapping Praxis about how he got his start in design. Watch the video to learn more about Worldstudio and visit www.mappingpraxis.com to see a preview of the Mapping Praxis book and other interviews with Paula Scher, Joshua Davis, Rob Carter, Inna Alesina and Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo.

With the first in a series of planned executions of The Urban Forest Project recently launching in Albuquerque, Fast Company explores the history, genesis and future of the initiative. Focusing on Worldstudio’s expertise in creating and implementing socially-responsible projects and programs for corporations and non-profits, the article uses The Urban Forest Project as a case study to follow Worldstudio’s process in helping their clients connect to key constituencies in lasting and meaningful ways. The article, written by Alissa Walker, was published as part of The Designers Accord case study series.

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Worldstudio is delighted to announce that the 2010 Design Ignites Change mentoring initiative will be developed and implemented in partnership with The Designers Accord, a global coalition of designers, educators and business leaders working together to create positive environmental and social impact.

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Pick up the latest issue of Communication Arts on newsstands now or download this PDF to read Mark Randall’s design issues article about design as social educator. Learn how designers can go beyond the traditional approaches to social responsibility in their work and become entrepreneurs, developing and executing their own solutions to social problems.

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Current pride flag and new flag designs by Nina Mettler (middle) and Tom Koken (right).

The rainbow flag was designed in 1978 for a gay parade in San Francisco and over the last 30 years it has become the global symbol for gay pride. If the flag were designed in 2009, how would it look? Kurt Andersen of Studio 360 invited Worldstudio (as well as listeners) to come up with a 21st-century pride flag.

Studio 360 recorded the entire design process from a brainstorming session to interviewing people on the street to the final design presentation for their weekly radio show. Click below to listen to Kurt Andersen interview Mark Randall as they discuss the project and new flag designs, from modifications on the existing rainbow to DIY concepts.

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