At the Royal College of Art, we went to a Design Business Association (DBA) event based on the Design Inclusive Challenge. This project is a world recognized and specialty project to present a problem and receive an end product via designers who donate their time. Early on in the process, there is an elimination period where a proposal is entered and a group of designers are narrowed to begin development of their ideas. This time four groups were selected:

1. Clinic: Developed a collaborative trading website called Sage & Onions (They were the winner)
2. BWA: Designed a website called Footnote
3. 1HQ: Created a surface called Move using emerging technology
4. Epitype: Generated a clever marketing campaign to grow awareness and called it Open Age Brackets

The statement and question were posed at the beginning of the conversation; We design for Babies and have created a whole industry out of it. Why not design for old people? They make up £250 billion a year. Considered the “Third Age,” of life, this generation accounts for anyone above the age of 50. If you are a baby, child, tween, teen and young adult for the first 25 years of your life, you are only an adult for 25 years before you are considered old.

The goal of this challenge was to change perception and expected quality, creating a whole new series of products and efforts towards Our Future Selves. This is a great concept and should be cared for in generous terms.

How do we as a culture deal with people from 50 years or more continued to be the theme. Older people are slower typically and more cautious. Some are closer to the end of their lives and (hopefully) beginning to share in some of the enjoyments of retirement. But others still have the desire to work and are being effected and mistreated by employers, employees and fellow commuters by their speedy and unthoughtful attitudes.

Emma Soames from Saga Magazine, granddaughter of William Churchill spoke at length about her research working for an older persons publication. “No body wants to be old. So no one talks about it. Our arrogance gets in the way. You are in a powerful place to make the visible better and to get the best part out of being old.” When discussing design for this generation, here are her thoughts, “A lot of what ends of happening is based on being distracted and showing off to your peers instead of doing the task at hand and proving the problem. We need designers who are willing to do the research and solve the problem.”

Another speaker discussed her voice and mission at the University of the 3rd Age which was just fascinating. She kept bringing up the point about technology and how her age group needs to spend more time focused on learning it for fear that they will eventually become, “Digitally excluded or digitally allergic.” That’s an interesting comment.

Design is about consideration and problem solving. Getting bogged down with the day to day, we have forgotten this very important piece of information and we need to do whatever it takes to get back to my roots as a designer. It is about challenging yourself and being completely thoughtful of your audience… engaging them every step of the way throughout a project. It is important to remove egos from the design and just be totally focused on the task at hand.

So, the challenge is, can you solve the problem and remove your ego from the process?

Here there is a smattering of fantastic packaging that I have found at several To Go locations in London. Stores included in my research are:

Sainsbury Local
M&S Simple Foods (a Marks & Spencers Brand)
Salades
Eat.
Yo Sushi!

The Create Change Challenge objective is to provide ideas on specific ways to make an impact on the planet while mastering self-goals. We want to provide the parallel of personal growth to help for the planet.

AUDIENCE
The audience can really be anyone who is interested in change, but we are primarily targeting:

• College Level Students
• Young Professionals
• Progressive Adults

Here are some of the first project examples from the Flex Studio Class. We are meeting tonight for our 3rd class to see progress and I will post updates!

WHAT IS THE CREATE CHANGE CHALLENGE?
Mission: By making a small change in ones own life with a different choice or decision, ultimately creates change for the planet.

The Create Change Challenge is based on a simple idea for one person to create change in their own life, causing a rippling effect on the greater community and ultimately the planet.

The outcome of these challenges will affect individuals and the environment. These are some of the possible outcomes of this challenge for each individual:

• Decreasing daily waste
• Making smart purchases- less packaging, reusable, organic, or biodegradable
• Decreasing the energy consumption within work and home
• Increase alternative transportation; recreational (bikes & walking), public transportation, carpooling
• Exercising daily
• Healthy eating habits

The focus of the Create Change Challenge is to set a goal for oneself as it applies to global change. Change begins with information and creative thinking about the bigger picture. Through an online website, we will help to provide resources to be come educated on how to create change as a global society.

The Create Change Challenge is a www.dailyburn.com-type site with icons based on the below categories of Community, Sustainability, Knowledge, Innovation & Earth. Each individual action receives a number of points based on the kind/quality of the change created. Points are also based on personal goals and challenge-oriented goals that are set when compared to other Change Agent members. We want the site to be both fun and game-like to for an effortless experience. We do not want this to feel like work! There will be prizes based on points.

When a person signs up on www.createchangechallenge.org, they instantly become a member of the Create Change Challenge and receive a profile page along with:

• A online template for a journal to keep with a special area for goals
• Daily calendar and newsletter with a list of ideas on things to do
• 10 points towards change
• A list of people in their area that they could connect and create change with

Future add-on items might be:

• Dashboard/iPhone application to use
• Competition between schools, corporations, families, etc.
• Facebook application
• Ibeatyou.com post
• ideo contest

Categories for Change:
Community, Sustainability, Knowledge, Innovation & Earth are the core values of Tilt Studio Inc and the Tilt Foundation. Each of these values act as buckets or holding tanks of individual categories, which should be considered when creating any kind of change. These are just examples and are not limited by what is below.
1.    Community

• Love relationships
• Friends
• Family
• Household

2.    Sustainability

• Health
• Exercise
• Eating
• Finances

3.    Knowledge

• Ongoing education
• Future plan & purpose
• Cultural activities
• Traditions

4.    Innovation

• Unique purpose
• Entertainment
• Leisure time
• Creativity

5.    Earth

• Giving back
• Considering purchases
• Conservation
• Daily impact based on the previous 4 elements

FLEX CLASS EXAMPLES

There are 8 students in the class, each with varied ideas, thoughts and theories about how this should work. I am leaving the class completely open for interpretation to ensure open thinking.

Shannon Hovick ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard

Vanian Kimmey ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard (Image is above)

Meghann Harris ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard

Hin-Yan Tsang ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard

Charde Fuller ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard (Image is below)

Lisa Burn ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard (Image is below)

Nathalie Garfinkle ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard

Andy Mangold ––  Project Brief   |  Moodboard (Image is below)

Jessica M. Pegorsch, artist, educator and a principal of Tilt is currently working on a series of artworks entitled 500 Chandeliers. Her interest in Chandeliers began while visiting the Carroll Mansion in Baltimore. Since then she has been photographing them and studying their unique characteristics.

Jessica explores the elegant color palettes and the intimate patterns that occur within the interworkings of the chandelier itself. As she embarks on creating these 500 Chandeliers she looks forward to the evolution and the meaning behind this subject matter.

Her past works based on cells and organisms, explore relationships between individuals and their interactions with one another. In the Chandelier series her main focus is on experiences with individuals that bring light to her life. Her goal for the next year is to create 500 Chandeliers on tiles, canvas and paper. All Chandeliers will represent people that have affected her in a positive way. Giving light and energy to others.

As time passes the 500 Chandelier Series will evolve. Jessica has created a Facebook Fan page for individuals to view the progress and participate in the creative process. She encourages others to take photos of chandeliers and upload them to the Fan Page creating a plethora of images to be inspired by. Her goal is to create 500 Chandeliers by November 2010. Jessica will work with a curator to display the photographs, drawing and paintings.

She will be showing the first 30 Chandeliers at Jordan Faye Contemporary for the Small Wonders Show. Opening Reception is Thursday, December 10^th from 6:00pm – 9:00pm.

Jordan Faye Contemporary is located at 1401 Light Street in Federal Hill. Mark your calendars! Looking forward to seeing you!

What does everyone think about the concept of carbon offsets instead of just consuming less?

Sara Michener
Consuming less isn’t in the cards so long as we culturally worship capitalism, so Carbon Offsets is probably more politically viable. I get everything from thrift shops and spend most of my money on local, organic foods. But can you imagine if the president told the American people to buy less? He’d be shot the next day.

Alex Lo
I dislike carbon offsets for 2 reasons. The first is conceptual. Carbon offsetting assigns a value to pollution that is paid for by supporting something less polluting. That’s like saying it’s okay to litter as long as you recycle a certain amount at home. A good deed doesn’t really cancel out a bad one.The second reason is a criticism of reforestation. The idea of sequestering carbon in new tree growth is flawed. But that’s a long argument for another day.

Anyway, I’m pretty sure scarcity of resources and rising prices will drive people to reduce consumption in the near future, whether they like it or not.

Carol Westcott
I’ll step on a political mine and mention the great effect having smaller families would have for our planet.

John Shepley
Consuming less is a VERY capitalist notion. Who put 7 tons of steel in a car if they can use less than 2? Does an artist put 5″ of paint on a canvas? No. After years of (somewhat falsely) believing that energy lasts for ever and we don’t need to worry about the environment, we all need a recalibration to some degree or another; and the biggest consumers / wasters need more. Nuclear energy was going to be “Too cheap to meter”. But the successful capitalist will find PROFIT in consuming less energy, especially as rates continue to increase.

Carbon offsets are smelly. But maybe they’re a reasonable solution during this transition time while it sinks in with everyone that fossil fuels are not forever and we are impacting the biosphere by pumping, um, a zillion tons a year of carbon dioxide into it.

Stefan Schwarzkopf
Carbon offsets are a transitional thing, like hybrid cars — they help a little but don’t really solve any problems. Their effectiveness is that they raise awareness and get people to do *something* which should slowly lead to more awareness and real actions like consuming less and making better choices about what we consume. You’ve gotta teach folks to walk before you can expect them to run, much less jump…

Sarah Reed
Consume less! the ability to buy an offset for over-consumption doesn’t foster a sense of responsibility. quite capitalistic to buy a way out, as a way of damage control…

Mark Neustadt
Just a way to make a quick buck off of liberal guilt. Typical of Americans – don’t actually change your lifestyle to consume less, instead live your same lifestyle but feel self-righteous about it.

Do you have something to add? We would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on this topic!

I had the opportunity to join in the fun. Check out the photos of me trying to keep up with the next generation.

“Americans are too impatient. They expect instant beauty. But they forget that cities are not built in one day. We may spend years agonizing over a renewal project and then we expect the city to be rebuilt instantly. Can you imagine what Paris must have looked like when Baron Haussmann finished with it? The social and cultural shock must have been tremendous. It’s like surgery; it takes a long time for the tissue around a wound to heal. The city has to echo life. If our life is rough and tumble, so is the city. I’ve always felt that ugliness with vitality is tolerable. The great danger our cities face today is that their vitality will be sapped by too much concern for instant beauty. New York is not a beautiful city. It may even be ugly, but it is exciting. It draws beauty from its vitality. If you drove all the residents out and made it a gleaming commercial center, it would only be beautiful in a narrow sense. It would be lifeless, and therefore intolerable.”

–Ieoh Ming Pei commonly known by his initials I. M. Pei, is a Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese-born American architect, known as the last master of high modernist architecture.

Thursday was a remarkable opportunity to talk to Goucher College. In the lastest, Silver LEED building on campus, we were positioned on a panel, front and center to tell our story. After a full day of travel for Rachael and TEDx for Jess, we were wiped out, but ready to force the crowd to help energize us.

We opened with change and asked the room to move around and create some energy. The outcome was fantastic! We had people upside down, slapping elbows and turning around. It was a wonderful sight to see.

Throughout our talk, the room participated with ideas and thoughts for change. It was fun to hear their ideas and their reactions to some of the key environmental terms that are out there. Our favorite was Christina from Baltimore Green Works who said when asked ‘what does the term Green mean’, “Blue + Yellow.” Great statement!

And in the end, we were able to solicit some wonderful ideas of change from the audience. Here is just a snapshot of what was written in our notebook of all things considered to be Creating Change. If you have any additions or thoughts, please let us know.

“Provide alternative ideas change my way of doing things.” -Ellis

“I consult for NPO’s at a reduced rate. I also don’t put bags in bags.” -Tony

“Bring extra fruit & veggies to work for some of my unhealthy co-workers.” -Joe

“I want to stop using the words green and sustainable. I want to listen more often to what people love and have to say to create that change!!” -Christina

“Carpooled here!” -Andi

“Spread knowledge to friends and family to induce change.” -Alex

“Brought my son to school on a bike. Shared ideas I’m passionate about with people.” -Ariane

“Contacted rescue groups to use my unique pet ID tags for fundraising for them.” -Robyn

“Use my bike to get everywhere go to grocery store with canvas attending Goucher to go into wildlife with environmental conservation.” -Hadley

“Changed all my home products + cosmetic products (soaps, shampoos) to green products.” -Anna

“Use those super cool reusable Q-tips!” -Amanda Griffith

“Educate people on all the ways that we can make big impacts in our everyday life.” -Linde

“Not use compact Mercury Light Bulbs, too light” -Lydia

“Bike everywhere.” -Mark

“Turn off the shower while I lather up!” -Will

“Every time you get the feeling that you can’t do something & even if its an intuitively good thing, ask yourself why… (pick a bottle out of the trashcan and put in recycling’s don’t flush after going #1, etc.)” -Davin

“I take mass transit or walk on a daily basis. I attempt to use as little electricity as possible, unplugging unused appliances and minimizing the usage of any lights.” -Melissa

“Limiting my waste unfortunately a lot of change is uncomfortable so the struggle is daily.” -Claire

“Sharing whatever knowledge you have about change-climate change and conservation-with your friends. The domino effect will happen and change can occur.” -Emma

“Limiting waste, limiting resource use (electricity, water) be involved in progress with green efforts, eat locally, spread knowledge & increase my knowledge.” -Cornelia

“Spread the word and convey the problem. Real change will come from a worldwide cohesive movement.” -Dave

“I use handkerchiefs, hand towels, recycle, turn off the water when I brush my teeth, use reviable apps. *LITTLE CHANGES in my lifestyle that I try to inspire other people to do too.” -Tabitha

“Drive hybrid cars, wear clothes a long time cutting down as shopping.” -Mary

“Always approach today’s work and tasks with a new attitude and different perspective, leaving yesterday’s ideas behind.” -Phebe

“Recycle.” -Alena

“Walk more, recycle, stop shopping.” -Sara

“During dinner parties, when helping out doing dishes, I shut the running faucet off constantly only to annoy my friends and start “the” conversation.” -Ricardo

“Create a vacation program doing international volunteer/grassroots/humanitarian program/planting trees” -Anon

“I examine my dairy habits to see now I can best change them to reduce waste and electricity use. I cannot force others to change, but I can change myself.”

“Participate in volunteer conservation project.”

“When I see ways in which other people could be environmental, I like to suggest it in away that seems beneficial to them.”

“Smile”

“Always be willing to stand up for what you believe in even if you’re the first and the only one. Also, believe in change. Do the little things that may not seem to make a difference. Together with everyone learning more and doing more, there will be change. Be confident.”

“Through spontaneity. By learning and thinking and maintaing an open mind. By talking and conversing and sharing ideas. By taking adventures. By training to adapt my lifestyle to sustainable practices…”

“1. Invest in 6 biodiesel buses, 2. Have holistic life, kids and artists decorate each bus. Name the bus. Green theme. 3. Install display screen to shore rotating green news. 4. Run 3 N-S 3 E-W  5. Showcase them in the media. Yay!”

“I listen, I learn, and I try to be inspired, and inspire those around me. I would like to execute change somewhere, and let people know that they have the ability to change.”

“I create change in my workplace by started a ‘Green Team’. This is a grass roots employee organization who comes up with ideas and then gets support from the senior leadership to implement - examples: eliminating styrofoam plates in the cafeteria - recycling bottles and cans in the cafeteria and conference rooms: installing a green roof, etc.”

“Today, I made change by turning off the lights when I left, recycling rather than trashing, and turning down the thermostat. Sometimes its the little things that make the world go ’round.”

This weekend was our 3rd photo shoot for Jes-M!  We just received a shipment of the Men’s Sage Space Tee and couldn’t wait to start taking photos! Sharing the lime light were three toddlers; Isaiah, Courtland, and Braedan. Check out the adorable models on our flickr site.

Thanks to all the models, big & small and our photographer Betsy VanLangen for making this happen!

Monday night we had a focus group to help us understand what our consumers thought about Jes-M products. I wanted to say Thank You to everyone that participated. It was wonderful to hear everyone’s thoughts on the brand, the function of the products and the materials used.

If you are interested in taking part in the next focus group please contact us. Our next date is on November 19th from 7:00-8:30pm.