Ecosign Design-Schule

A student from Ecosign Design-Schule in Germany is using my Sylexiad font for a magazine project. Ecosign has a philosophy similar to the sustainable principals of MA Design. It may be worth developing connections, their website is very interesting.

http://www.ecosign.net

RH

Wandering Gardens

I've been reading about 'Wandering Gardens' designed for people with Alzheimer's Disease. These gardens are designed on a returning-path system allowing people to wander freely without coming up against locked gates and doors and always returning them to where they started.
This article by Thinkpublic's Deborah Szebeko is a good quick introduction to designing healthcare environments. KS

Emergency Entrance at Berlin Metro Stations

On a recent visit to Berlin I spotted these 'Emergency Entrance' signs at ticket offices in metro stations. The local public transport provider BVG uses them to inform passengers that their staff will help protect them from racially motivated attacks by providing safe havens in their offices. While the idea is honourable and useful, it is rather sad to think that in a liberal country such as Germany there is still a need for these signs. GG

Teach your granny how to text.

I came across this book whilst doing some work around the RSA 'Action for Aging' brief. It's by We Are What We Do, a movement that aims to inspire us to change the world by our everyday actions. They have lists of suggested actions here and you can even track how many people have completed the same action. KS

Black Mountain College

When the MA Design course was validated in May 08, reference was made to the idealistic and radical pedagogic philosophy of the Black Mountain College. You may wish to check out the college website with regards to approaches to teaching and learning. It is interesting to note that R. Buckminster Fuller was associated with the College.

RH

Futerra Video: Communicating Sustainability

I just had another look at a great video by Futerra, who specialise in sustainability communication. See it here. You can also find a range of online publications about communication, sustainability, Greenwash, etc. on their website http://www.futerra.co.uk/. GG

Student response to Remake/Remodel

We have come to throw things away too easily, everything is packaged and repackaged without much thought about the impact this has on our planet. 

If one starts to consider what else could be done with the amount of 'rubbish' we produce, then a whole world of possibilities opens up to us. 

Below are a couple of examples of what could be done by remaking and remodeling items that would normally be thrown away, or in this case were actually thrown away but then salvaged. 

Alina:

   

Jane:

 

Polystyrene is not recycled due to economic reasons and it is also quite toxic, it is therefore even more important to try to re-use it in some way that doesn't do more damage to the environment; though it would be good if it were never used in the first place. 

It does have some interesting qualities to it that make it suitable for packaging, as well as make it good to re-use. These include it's unobtrusive colour (generally), insulation qualities, water resistance and strength.