Next month, March 19-24, 2013, the University of Minnesota College of Design will host a first-of-its-kind Public Interest Design Week, the headline event of which is the thirteenth international Structures for Inclusion conference. The week will attract to the College of Design an array of people and groups working at the intersection of design and service. Together, we’ll reflect on the state of the public interest design field, imagine a vision for the future, and hone the skills needed to make that vision a reality.
Framing a range of lectures, panels, film screenings, and workshops, highlight events of Public Interest Design Week include:
Shelter: connect workshop, led by filmmakers Richard Neill and Lee Schneider of the Shelter Media Project, which builds participants’ media and storytelling skills;
Public Interest Design Institute (PIDI), led by Bryan Bell of Design Corps, which employs the Harvard Case Method to showcase projects that exemplify the Social/Economic/Environmental Design (SEED) principles;
Affordable Housing Design Forum, led by Katie Swenson of Enterprise Community Partners, which will convene leaders on the frontlines of affordable housing design and community development;
Structures for Inclusion (SFI) conference, now in its 13th year, which will feature presentations and discussions about products, places, and processes designed or redesigned for the public good; and
Social/Economic/Environmental Design (SEED) Awards presentations during SFI will recognize and showcase six finalist projects from Kenya, Indonesia, Sudan, and several states within the U.S.; and
Iconothon, a design hackathon of sorts, led by Sofya Polyakov and Edward Boatman of The Noun Project, will add to the public domain symbols that are frequently needed in public interest design.
Unless noted otherwise, all events take place in Rapson Hall, home of the College of Design on the University of Minnesota’s Minneapolis campus. Address: University of Minnesota, College of Design, Rapson Hall, 89 Church Street SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
More information, as well as a working agenda for PID Week, are online at www.publicinterestdesign.org/week. To stay up-to-date on everything related to Public Interest Design Week, follow the College of Design and PublicInterestDesign.org online. The College can be found on Twitter at @UofMDesign, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UofMDesign. PublicInterestDesign.org is on Twitter at @PubIntDesign, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PubIntDesign.
