[Design Indaba conf] Designing for change in the public realm

Zeitgeist from Design Indaba 2010 Day 1: Is it my imagination or is this the pivotal year, when Design Indaba content and case studies seem more attainable, not only for designing fun and games, but for the much needed shifts towards designing for education, designing for wellbeing, designing for the most number of people most effectively, designing new possibilities and new social responsibilities, and even designing new life forms? [view twitterfall]

Michael Beirut - The Library Initiative

Senior Pentagram partner and design superstar Michael Bierut showed the civic-mindedness, for which New York design is often known, in the opening session of the 2010 Design Indaba yesterday, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, detailing how collaboration between business benefactors, architects, artists and educators, has seen the libraries of 56 of New York's inner city schools transformed into the ultimate learner destinations.

Giant portraits of the kids themselves cleverly allow ownership of the spaces, which have so far benefited 43 000 children and which stand out as an er textbook example how design can positively influence educational futures. Read a verbatim account of the presentation and see some pictures at creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/february/design-indaba-michael-bierut" target="_blank"> Design Indaba: Michael Bierut.

Mokena Makeka - architect, urban thinker, design philosopher

More civic stuff from fellow Capetonian Mokena Makeka www.makekadesigns.com), whose expansive thinking is demonstrated via his sensitive handling of commissions such as police stations and taxi licensing offices, breaking from paranoid "facebrick" solutions in favour of proud, contemporary offerings.

Standout projects include his role as chief architect on the Cape Town station revamp, an organic "upturned protea" pitch for the Green Point Stadium, the Aga Khan award for a community centre in Khayalitsha and an invitation to participate in an experimental housing project in inner Mongolia!

With a deep understanding of what our interconnected, inclusive, bio-diverse urban environment might need to look like in the future, I'm hoping that if the proposed Cape Town Parliamentary precinct revamp ever gets the green light, Makeka will be in the house.

Manabu Mizuno - concept, context, design - a design philosophy copied from Mr Steve Jobs : )

The multi-awarded creative director of the Japanese Good Design Company, Mizuno likes to be referred to as a design Samurai, demonstrating self-confessed warrior qualities of a "tender heart and well-disciplined style". The campaign to make a desirable fashion brand out of organic cotton suppliers that do not use damaging agro chemicals proves a point.

A QR cord campaign for Adidas sees a host of small badges, adhered to construction billboards, being taken by passersby within 10 minutes. Anticipating that these would be photographed, a QR code read by the cellphone rewards with a nice pic of a Adidas sneaker.

Mizuno's mirror in the shape of a man is a highly covetable item, as he says, "I just omitted the area that people do not need to look at" : ).

His philosophy is that consumers are attracted to products that tell a story, that design is a vehicle to invigorate economy and that we are entering a new Age of Design where the possibilities of design will increase dramatically.

Troika - "tools for activists"

The design trio of Connie Freyer, Eva Rucki and Sebastian Noel has been voted among the 50 hottest names in UK design by the British Guardian newspaper and, judging by the response yesterday, they must be well up in the list.

Reinterpreting a world clock for BA Terminal 5, they have overcome the limitations of old hat block display numbers by using electromagnetic ink technology to enable curves and even a script font! They add to this their expanded world view - offering the time in places of natural wonder around the world such as The Great Barrier Reef or Abu Simbel instead of the reduction of world time to just New York, London, Paris, Tokyo : ) For more, go to All the time in the world.

Their "tool for activists", developed in response to a ban on rioting in front of the Houses of Parliament, now provides the option of SMSing your grievances from the comfort of your own home and having them publicly broadcast via ingenious pole-mounted megaphones - an idea that has been taken up by MTV.

They love fusing old technology with digital thinking and another BA Terminal 5 commission, to "make something for the atrium", gave rise to the flipdot cloud which sees them programming the 4638 discs of plastic which make up the "cloud" with magnificently symmetrical 3D digital animation and posing the question, "How does BA benefit from an art installation?" The answer perhaps that a Google search for the installation generates at least 86 400 search results with their name on it.

William Drenttel - designers are in the consequence business

Billed as William but introduced as Bill, founder of the acclaimed US-based Design Observer questions the possibilities that design can effect in the fields of teaching, healthcare and solar energy amongst others - collaborations with Teach for America, UNICEF, the Mayo Health Clinic and other enabling organisations validate design thinking.

He makes the point that students in business schools are still being taught the Coke vs Pepsi case studies, when they should be learning how to implement solar energy campaigns - such as the solar panel bag, which, with its reflective inner surface, is able to generate enough light for a child without electricity to read by, or to charge a cellphone, the production of which is being proposed in India.

Wooster Collective with Faith47 - the curious curators

Marc and Sara Schiller are like Mr and Mrs Street Art.com, having apparently covered over 2000 street- or graffiti artists worldwide - it's their passion - showing examples from New York's Banksy to the Brasilian Favelas. They are on first name terms with just about every street artist on the planet and all curated neatly for your enjoyment at www.woostercollective.com.

Street art is not about vandalism; it is mostly about making statements about the various degradations and alienations of urban life and, in many cases, enhancing it. Personally I was beside myself to meet my hero Faith47, whose tags I have admired for years, mostly from the safety of my car and on furtive walks down Salt River Main Road with a camera. Currently at work on a fine art collection for exhibition in Hamburg in August. See why she owns at www.word-of-art.co.za/urban-art/faith47- and www.faith47.com.

Marcelo Rosenbaum - + Bull terrier logo and lessons for the World Cup too late, translated from the Portuguese by Fernando : )

From his office in Sao Paulo, Marcelo handles the annual commission for the VIP hospitality lounge at the Rio Carnival. His solution - to do everything by hand, to involve local craftspeople not just as workers, but for their artisanship.

Initially a shock to client who was expecting something futuristic, his solutions see lyrical oversized "doilie" carpets, embroidered cloths and items or every conceivable colour and texture, selected from the full gamut of Brazilian cultural artifacts. His slum and favela housing renovations were crowd pleasers; though some found him patronising, I did not. For more, go to www.rosenbaum.com.br.

J Craig Venter - DNA warrior

A surprise simulcast from La Jolla, California, from the man purported to be the "rockstar of science", who, having mapped the human genome, has now progressed to the point where we are "very close to the creation of synthetic or digitally programmed DNA" in an unspoken racing against the biological clock of climate change, disease, extinction of species and proliferation of bacteria and viruses.

Will the Venter Institute produce the heroes who discover biological fuel, who regenerate or even replicate living cells, and what might the ethical implication of these discoveries be? Follow their mindblowing progress at www.jcvi.org.

Harry Pearce -- epitaph for Alan Fletcher

Pentagram partners acted as the brackets that opened and closed the day; this one from the London office, a close friend and protégé of the dear, late Design Indaba alumnus Alan Fletcher.

A typographer's typographer, here no letter is laid without intent and meaning, Pearce is known for his reductionist approach, CONUNDRUMS book and lifelong collaboration with Peter Gabriel's Witness, SEE IT, FILM IT, CHANGE IT initiative, whereby funding is obtained for cameras for people at risk of abuse (www.witness.org.

A Jungian afficianado with notebooks journaling six years of dreams to guide his creative processes, he closed the day with a quote from Alan Fletcher [that he thinks he nicked from Matisse], to the effect that:The world is full of flowers if you only know how to see it" and finished with a slide of a rainbow watercolour flower, drawn for him by Fletcher, in a fitting tribute to a legend and meaningful day of design thinking.