Design Futures is an innovative curriculum recently introduced to Griffith University's Queensland College of Art, which seeks to educate students in sustainable thinking and practices. This attitude is a needed transformation away from the common unsustainable design approaches, and students are taught to stop and think about the effect their designs have.
...the program acknowledges that designers are moving beyond the role of service providers. Students are instead educated to become change agents, research based practitioners, critics, entrepreneurs, theorists, strategists and practical intellectuals. This program is for people who are interested in non-compliant methods of design practice, disruptive technologies and transgressing the borders of professional and academic disciplines.
Logo development and previous experiments.
In order for an effective change of philosophy and practices I feel that a community of dynamic, global, forward thinkers, activists and leaders needs to be created. This collaborative community, I think, is a key element to the promotion of the Design Futures ideology.
As a university project, we were instructed to design a logo to represent the Design Futures new curriculum. I have used the design to reflect my enthusiasm for, and belief in, community collaboration.
The final graphic shapes.
The logo is based around this idea of connections, overlapping and intersecting elements. A united community that is reaching out and evolving.
The "practitioner" and "educated" accreditation are given to individuals or studios who use Design Futures practices. These labels themselves accommodate the recognition and facilitation of the Design Futures community, in promoting the identification of like-minded people.
The practitioner logo graphic reflects a block, indicating that they who have achieved this accreditation use the Design Futures ideology as a corner stone to their practice.
The educated logo is a badge that students who have completed the Design Futures course can apply to their professional profile. The form suggests a folding and expanding paper shape, embodying the open and evolving mind of a student.
