cause/affect: An International Design Competition for DO-Gooders

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011, posted in Inspirations with No Comments

cause/affect is an international design competition that celebrates the work of designers and organizations who set out to positively impact our society. From a Flash driven website that engages and educates users in such a way that it takes the fear and anxiety out of earthquake preparedness, to a political campaign that calls attention to Chevron’s dirty practices throughout the world. For these DO-Gooders, making a mark means making a contribution—to their clients, to the design community, to those in greater need, and it usually starts with a sense of curiosity, care, and compassion for societal issues surrounding them locally or globally. These designers are doing what we call as “Using Design for a Cause to Affect the World Positively,” and we are here to celebrate their work. The competition is divided into seven categories: Community, Environment, Political, Education, Arts, Health & Welfare and Student. Top three winners will be chosen from each category and from that winning list, People’s Choice and Judge’s Choice will awarded. Below are our favorite winning work from 2009. Take a look and we hope these will inspire you to be a DO-Gooder yourself. For more information on cause/affect and how to enter the competition, please visit their website and follow them on twitter. Competition deadline is June 24th 2011. Note: Description of winning projects are taken from cause-affect.org

Brute Labs / projectOPEN

projectOPEN addresses the pervasive plight of homeless in Santa Monica. By organizing a map based index of local homeless resources, medical services, and laws that affect the lives of homeless people, we hope to empower through information. With a generous grant from UCLA, the BRUTE LABS team printed and distributed the maps. For more info, visit Brute Labs.

CLIF BAR & Company / Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge

Currently, 40% of urban trips are less than 2 miles, and cars are used for 90% of those trips! The Clif Bar 2 Mile Challenge hopes to inspire necessary change by both challenging AND providing solutions for hurdles folks may have for not riding their bikes for short trips. Goal: less oil, less money — more fun! Includes mobile biodiesel tour, online interactive module, and smiles… Free of charge. Please visit us at 2 Mile Challenge.

Underground Advertising / Chevwrong Campaign

Underground Advertising’s “Chevwrong” campaign was created with Justice in Nigeria Now (JINN). Its goal was to call attention to the social, health and environmental impact of Chevron’s dirty practices through out the world. Visit for more info Underground Ads and Justice in Nigeria Now.

Worldstudio and Citizen Scholar / Design Ignites Change

Design Ignites Change promotes and encourages talented high school and college students across the country to use design thinking and innovation to create messages for, and solutions to, pressing social problems. The dynamic Design Ignites Change website showcases student work and engages viewers to learn about and join the program.World Studio, Citizen Scholar and Design Ignites Change.

Tomorrow Partners / Reading Rocket Bookmobile

Many Denver Public Schools lack funding to provide library access to kids. The “Reading Rocket” bookmobile, which is operated by the Denver Public Library, brings books and a renewed excitement about reading to under-served schools. Visit Tomorrow Partners and Denver Public Library.

Factor Design / SFIFF51—51st San Francisco International Film Festival Visual Identity Design

Now in its 51st year, the San Francisco International Film Festival is the longest running film festival in the Americas. Factor Design was engaged by the San Francisco Film Society to create the SFIFF 2008 identity. The design challenge was to celebrate the theme of diversity while visually uniting the inherently disparate subject matter and aesthetics of the participating films. actor Design’s solution, a system that incorporates a seemingly three-dimensional multicolored ribbon that interacts with still photography from the films, succeeds both functionally and conceptually: it brings cohesion to a multitude of event materials, from tickets to film trailers, while elevating the festival’s overarching mission. San Francisco Film society Executive Director Graham Leggat is thrilled with the results. “The ribbon is truly the spirit of the festival,” Leggat says. “Our tenets are discovery, exploration, and transformation, and the design encapsulates all three.” Factor Design and SFIFF.

Hybrid Design / Impact Teen Drivers Campaign

Hybrid designed educational materials (distributed to every sophomore classroom in California) to launch a public awareness campaign on distracted teenage driving. For all elements, we had to find a voice that didn’t sound like adults trying to talk to kids, or even worse, adults trying to talk like kids. Each piece in the campaign ends with a question, letting the audience arrive at their own answer. Campaign elements include a series of classroom posters; an accident probability wheel; t-shirts; documentaries that focus on the impact left when a teen dies in a car accident; and viral videos that humorously demonstrate the dangers of seemingly innocuous items. Hybrid Design.

I Shot Him / Quake Quiz

Set in home, work, outdoor and commuting environments, this Flash driven website engages and educates the user in a way that takes the fear and anxiety out of earth quake preparedness. QuakeQuiz.org is a graphically engaging quiz that provides valuable tips on what to do the moment you realize an earthquake is in progress and in the moments that follow. Be quake ready with Quake Quiz and San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. Also visit I Shot Him Because I Loved Him Damn Him.

Shawn Chung-Cheng Hsu / Rise of a New World

Rising sea levels are a reality because of global warming. We know the problem is becoming more serious. As a graphic designer, the goal of my project is to warn young people about this issue and send messages about other consequences of climate change in my project titled, “Rise of a New World.” It is in the form of a graphic novel and newly designed action figures to tell this fictional story of life in the year 2106. In this project, I am using new and different methods to express the issue of global warming. Visit his portfolio and also Rise of a New World.

Si Yeun Kim / Six Degrees—Pictorial Explanation of Global Warming

Climate change is a global issue, therefore should be communicated clearly throughout the world. The initiative of this project is to design a pictorial language that can visualize complex information in a simple way, and most importantly visualize it so that it can form a standardized understanding throughout the world, no matter what spoken or written language is used. Si Yeun Kim’s Portfolio.