October 11, 2010

By: Cooper-Hewitt N. from New York, NY
Comments: 19

Posted By: Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
On: 5/27/2009 8:29:01 AM

If you can visualize designers as good guys in white hats riding into town to solve problems you’re close to Paul Bennett’s design mission in Iceland. Paul is the creative Director of Design Firm IDEO and has been in Iceland to look at ways in which design systems can help rescue the country from economic meltdown. He talks about his design approach in a fascinating conversation with Egill Helgason on Icelandic TV. One strategy he adopts is to look at the problem in a fresh way, listening carefully to community voices, and finding a way to mediate and moderate the Icelandic culture of “extremes” that induced it to invest its economic future almost wholly in international banking. This whole discussion is an excellent example of the practical way design can focus thinking on highly complex problems and enact solutions. The other inspiring example quoted by Bennett in this video takes us to India and the Aravind Eyecare Hospitals. Here the McDonald’s method of franchising and training is harnessed to confront the daunting challenge of blindness in India. The Brainchild of Dr Govinda Venkataswamy, the program has produced self-sustaining hospital “franchises” in southern India, using locally trained medical paramedics to run and maintain the facilities. Design thinking, fresh thinking about how to make systems work despite huge challenges, is shown to be a powerful agent for change. This is Bennett’s core message: design is not just about thinking, but action. Great classroom inspiration. Watch more at: https://vimeo.com/4781400?pg=embed&sec; (part 1)and https://vimeo.com/4781545 (part 2)