international
design day

The theme is it kind? proposes a new metric of design kindness: the kindness standard. And defines what kind design is. This year we ask Members how they are designing to transform current systems into possibilities to design with kindness — to ensure a kinder future for all.

THE KINDNESS STANDARD
(developing metrics for kindness)

What if design was measured by how kind the design is to the world? How much care you have not only for the people using the design, but for the people extracting the raw materials, manufacturing the products, for the people living near the factories, for the environment that people need to live in. What if design was considered in terms of whether the design is ethical and good and improves the world in some way or whether it is unkind in small or large ways. Is it compassionate to the suffering of the people involved in the value chain that creates it?

Developing a metric for kindness and building kindness into design practice means:

Reconfiguring the value and metrics of design. If your metric is money and you are creating things that are at the expense of the well-being of people, this is not valuable design. What about inventing a measure of design based on what kind of relations and ethics it generates? How much, and what quality of care shapes the design, shifts the economic model of creating desire (and making more ‘stuff’ and money) to consider instead pressing questions of fairness: Who is being considered and who is left out? Whose future will be affected, and how? How much harmony does this design generate now and in future? What kind of world does this design uphold/imagine anew? 

For International Design Day, we want to go a step further. It is not enough to simply meet the criteria for not being ‘bad’, we want to see a world where design strives to be kind, generous and caring. By having standards for ourselves that exceed regulatory standards, by introducing wonder and beauty into the user experience and by showing care not only for the consumers of our products but also all those who are in the value chain and impacted by the design.

What if designing with care and compassion is exciting, meaningful and desirable?

The International Council of Design was founded on 27 April 1963. The sixties were historically a period where there was a lot of social upheaval. In 1958, the peace sign had been designed by Gerald Holtom, a British graphic artist, as a logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). By the mid-sixties, this symbol was being used more widely in protests against war. All over the planet students and young people were rallying behind this idea.

This youth movement challenged not only war and nuclear armament but called into question the existing social order. These movements questioned and fought against race inequality, totalitarianism, and social and economic injustice. They championed feminism, universal human rights, freedom and love for their fellow human. The so-called ‘hippies’ evolved the phrase “Peace and Love”, denoting a wish for a humankind that was caring and kind to each other.

Like all utopian movements, there was eventually a backlash against these youth movements. In North America, they became tied in the social imagination with the psychedelic drugs and the mayhem they produced. In the rest of the world, some of these movements were quashed with state violence. But it was, nonetheless, widely recognised as a period of great social growth and experimentation, something that we are remembering with this theme.

Within the framework that we have been upholding regarding the role of design in society, we invite you to consider that today we are facing many of the same issues: war and the threat of nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation and climate change, increasing economic disparity, political polarisation and the rise of nationalist movements, the challenges of sharing a planet among 8 billion inhabitants. Perhaps we are suffering from a basic lack of human kindness.

With ‘Peace. Love. Design!’ we challenge you to think about how design has a role to play in solving many of these issues. Fundamental changes are afoot, both good and bad. These intense pressures create new problems. But in periods of transition, astounding human ingenuity often emerges. These are a series of challenges that humanity can rise to. Working together with a kind heart, empathy, and goodwill toward our fellow humans, we can imagine disruptive change.

We would like to thank Martina Giustolisi for her design of this year’s theme poster! You can download the high-resolution poster here. Use it to celebrate International Design Day in your communities.

Rather than succumb to the urge to simply move forward, this is an opportunity to sit with the discomfort of the unknown and allow for considered regeneration and growth. The pandemic and its related crises have shown how some phenomena of our time will not end definitively, but will instead usher in a series of uncomfortable and unclear states and situations. We can choose to respond to this lack of clarity with confusion and frustration or embrace the opportunity to explore alternative futures, rethinking everything from the ground-up. It feels urgent to act…somehow. But how? Which designs will matter in the near or far futures? Which designers’ voices need to appear? Being both “suspended” and “in transition” can cause anxiety but also, potentially, growth. We wonder if it is from this blurry border zone between things— full of contradictions, tensions, and undeniable interconnections—that staying suspended in transition might be the best place ever to be: open and receptive to generative design possibilities?

Our Member Bienal del Cartel Bolivia (BICeBé) graciously translated the above to Spanish, you can download it here.

International Design Day 2022: Suspended in Transition asks designers to step out of their comfort zone, to accept moments of partial-knowing, not-defining, and not designing-yet, to reflect from a place of discomfort and flux at the same time. If you are planning on celebrating with us, you can download the IDD2022 celebration badge to add to your event promotion.

We would like to thank Tyra Von Zweigbergk former ICoD Secretary General for her design of this year’s theme poster! You can download the high resolution poster here. Use it to celebrate International Design Day in your communities.

Starting in 2021, the event that had been known as World Design Day became International Design Day (IDD).

The designs that designers create can bring joy, spread information, promote education, grant access to healthcare, and provide knowledge and well-being. It is a fundamental part of the designer’s job to understand how the interplay of social, economic, environmental, technological and geographic factors may grant or block fair access in certain contexts—and to find new ways to let more people ‘in’.

“All people deserve to live in a well-designed world”. Living well and flourishing, supported by objects, places and systems designed to support and encourage this, is something every being should be able to access. The concept of ‘universal experience’ is more often than not, inadequate for most. Designers—whether they are aware of it or not—not only provide improvements to life situations but also often control access these benefits. Design for Each and All is about noticing all the parts present, giving care and attention to a broad range of human variation, relations and environments. More and more, things like family bonds, status, income, whether a person is able-bodied or not, whether they live in the global North or South, shape an ever-changeable design journey. As part this transformative designing process, there are some guiding questions that might lead to more design for each and all:

BIG QUESTIONS
• How can design shape how people live well and flourish?
• Who is/are ‘each and all’ and what is the context?
• How do I think about ‘just’ and ‘fair’ access in design?
• How does design build a better—more inclusive, fairer— world?

We would like to thank Peter Bankov once again for his design of this year’s theme poster! 

In its last iteration as 'World Design Day' the 2020 theme was Be Professional! challenging designers to reflect deeply on the state of the profession. Many people claim to be "designers”. But what is the distinction between a 'designer' and a 'design professional'? If we maintain that design is not just a job, but actually a profession, like being an architect or a doctor or lawyer, then we must also accept the responsibilities and obligations that come with it. Being a design professional is not merely a title. The designation implies adherence to a code of  professional behaviour; it implies obligations towards society and being professionally bound not to cross certain lines.

 
THEME

Designers have an important impact on the built environment and thus on the quality of life of many people as well as the planet. They need to be aware of the impacts of our actions and the responsibilities we have, collectively, in carrying them out professionally. 

Practicing designers need to decide if they consider themselves professionals. There is a critical difference between maintaining a professional standard and always providing clients with what (they think) they want. Sometimes these two things can be at odds in terms of the responsibilities of a design professional. If they consider themselves 'professional', then they must adhere to a set of commonly held principles that they are not willing to compromise. If they consider ourselves 'professionals' then they must consider the impact of their work on more than the client and the individual end-user; designers are accountable for the social, cultural and environmental costs of their professional actions.

The International Council of Design is today the largest international organisation representing professional associations of designers, across the spectrum of design disciplines. Recognising the increasingly influential role played by designers in the 21st century, against a backdrop of economic, environmental, social and cultural challenges caused by unleashed consumption, the Council realises the urgent need for the design community to re-evaluate the designer’s role and responsibilities. Designers must redefine the meaning of being a professional designer.

LINKS
Facebook Group
Reading List on Design and Ethics

We would like to thank Peter Bankov once again for his design of this year's theme poster!

The goal of World Design Day is to challenge designers to reflect deeply on the state of the profession. Design affects the well-being of people within their local environments and offers innovative solutions. Design is a vehicle to honour diversity, transcend borders, and improve quality of life. Marking the anniversary of the establishment of the International Council of Design on 27 April 1963, participants worldwide are invited to gather, innovate, and live out a moment of design by organising public events and initiatives on 27 April of each year.

Women designers are important contributors to the discourse on global change. All over the world women are designing for better health, justice, human rights—in homes and in cities and for the earth in general—actively widening the conversation about what it means to be a professional designer in this time. Women are working in teams, in communities and with governments to find ways to collaborate and have impact. Yet recognised designers remain predominantly men. Design history has tended to overlook the achievements of women.  For World Design Day 2019 we want to highlight women designers who create intelligent, inclusive, sensitive design, whether to make big differences or small ones. The Women in Design theme honors and shouts out to remarkable women designers past and present.

British design critic Alice Rawsthorn conducted a day-long instagram takeover on World Design Day (Saturday, 27 April 2019). Those familiar with Rawsthorn's instagram account will know that her posts are researched and full of rich details touching both design history and thought-provoking insights on the state of design going forward. Look back at her observations of the Bauhaus, gender data bias in design and some of the women who have made their mark despite the odds.

In 2019, ICoD was is a very proud partner of the Aiap Women in Design Award. A biennial international award in the space of communication design that was founded by the Italian Communication Design Association, Aiap. One way to increase the profile of women designers is to recognize their work and this Award devotes itself entirely to promoting women designers and making a place for them in design history.

The WDD2019 visuals were designed by the multitalented Russian poster designer Peter Bankov. Working between Moscow and Prague, Bankov also works “between terrible design and beautiful, national and anti-national, West Slavic and East Slavic, European and Asian design.” Founder of Design Depot studio and editor of KAK magazine, Bankov has managed to produce over 800 posters, what he calls his “design opuses.” www.bankovposters.com

Download your copy of the WDD2019: Women in Design poster here:

For more information on International Design Day contact Events Manager Elizabeth Carbonell at events@theicod.org

International Workshops

Design is transformative and knowing that the kids of today will be the leaders of tomorrow, early awareness of design as a field of professional practice and of elemental design methodology, is key. Start Young was a hands-on workshop developped for World Design Day 2017 that pushes children to explore their creative potential freely and trust their capacity to solve problems and test their solutions. With Start Young, kids learn to recognise the design around them and the basics of design methodology.

In 2018 the workshop was given by ICoD Members, collaborators and by a handful of international partners including the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires – MALBA (Argentina), Casa Wabi (Mexico), Design Exchange (Canada), the Triennale di Milano (Italy), Open Design Afrika (South Africa),  and MUMEDI – Museo Mexicano del Diseño (Mexico).

Designing for Children

Integrating children’s rights and ethics into the heart of the design process, the Designing for Children Guide was created by designers, psychologists, neuroscientists, health care specialists, educators, and children’s rights experts in Helsinki. The aim of this evolving guide is to refine a new standard for both design and businesses and direct the development towards products and services that have ethics and children’s best interests at their core.

The WDD 2018: Kids can too! logo was designed by Peter Bankov (Moscow).

See the recap news story here.

For more information contact Events Manager Elizabeth Carbonell at events@theicod.org

Kids are a blank slate. They are at an age when their view of the world and its possibilities are limitless. As the first generation of ‘pure’ digital natives, today’s kids already feel personally responsible for their own futures: they want to be able to choose and create work that makes a difference in the world. And they will do it in their own, unique way. But how do we prepare young kids to navigate this turbulent world, so they can become sensitive, intellectual, imaginative and practical leaders for tomorrow? Having a designing mindset means being tuned into the invisible things that matter to people and their relationships to each other and the world.

The Council sees the great potential for design to improve the world around us. We know that design changes—for the better—how we live and thrive in everyday environments like schools, parks, workplaces and hospitals. The profession of design and its ethics requires designers to consider context, culture, diversity and specificity before even starting to design, and this has become an essential way of thinking and being in the complex world we live in today.

In 2016, the theme was Design in Action! We invited designers around the world to participate by sharing examples of design in action in their city or community via Facebook and Instagram! 

Document

We invited designers to share by sending us the documentation of what they saw or made: videos, photos, drawings, maps and more.

Go public on local design

We encouraged designers and organisations to organise local talks or presentations about examples of Design in Action! 

Take us on a tour

We invited Members to organise a walk with members of their design community, touring their city and surroundings in search of local examples of Design in Action!

Design together

We challenged designers to bring people from various disciplines to frame and solve local design problems. We asked them to send us the documentation or showing their communities examples of what great design means to them in studio tours. 

Download the toolkit here


Questions about International Design Day? Contact Events Manager Elizabeth Carbonell events@theicod.org

Points of Departure
Designing, at its core, is a creative process aimed to solve a problem according to local context and audience. The process is often invisible and yet typically involves many participants, numerous stages and hidden moments to achieve the final outcome.

The Council asked: How are you designing the future today? How does your unique approach to your process take into account future generations? How do you consider the life-cycle of your design, and its environmental and economic impact? What kind of software, techniques, texts, collaborations and jam-sessions have inspired and enabled you to get there?

World Design Day is driven by Council Members and Community.  We invited them to share their own events,  initiatives, statements and expressions by sending us videos, photos, drawings. Suggestions for activities included:

•  Go Public on Process - organise local talks/ debates/ lectures/ presentations about designing and the value of the designing process.
•  Design Together - bring people from various disciplines to frame and solve local design problems.
•  Open-Studio Tours to share with the public the environment in which you design, helping them to see the process, the inspirations, the invisible steps, and who is involved.
• Celebrate Designing Processes by working with local governments to recognise World Design Day and highlight the community impact of the profession.
• Document Your Process by expressing your How are you designing today? statement – in any medium.

On this occasion, the Council invites participants from across the globe to examine the evolving role of designers in the 21st century by reflecting on the statement "This is what a designer does."  Participants can download the and submit their own "statement" on the WCDD Facebook page.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES 

Communication Design is, at its core, a creative activity aimed to solve a problem according to local context and audience. These suggestions are a point of departure for the many unique solutions World Communication Design Day may inspire.

• organise a ‘designer hackathon’ around 27 April to bring together people from various disciplines – converging to frame and solve local design problems
• organise local talks/debates/lectures/presentations
• open door studio tours
• work with local governments to recognise World Communication Design Day and highlight the community impact of the profession
• produce participatory design celebrating the theme by making your "This is what a designer does" statement

SHARE

World Communication Design Day is driven by our members. Share your event to inspire others and spread the word!

Montréal (Canada) – Continuing the year-long celebration of its 50 anniversary, the International Council of Design invites members and all interested parties to participate in World Communication Design Day 2013, by organizing public events and initiatives celebrating the impact and importance of communication design.  To commemorate this momentous occasion, the council invites participants to develop projects around the theme ‘1Love1Word’  and join the global celebration on 27 April 2013.

This celebration was launched in 1991 as World Graphics Day, and since 2012, it is known as World Communication Design Day.  This global event is an opportunity for designers to recognise communication design and its role in the world, and to celebrate the birthday of Icograda, founded on 27 April 1963.

On this occasion, we invites designers from across the globe to reflect on the powerful force of community, which transcends borders and differences, bound by a common love and a passion for change, empowerment and creative leadership.  

Theme: 1Love1Word

For 50 years, the International Council of Design has been a place that designers can call home. Serving and promoting the importance of communication design in ever-changing global climates, ICoD members, partners, friends and affiliates remain committed to the vision and mission that inspired the foundation of the International Council of Design in 1963.  Spanning five decades and all regions of the world, the Council's network has fostered collective achievement while celebrating individual and regional growth: each year, each project, each initiative and collaboration, each connection, each milestone, converging in a common expression of a love for design and community.

‘1Love1Word’ captures the spirit of the ICoD family.  It is…

• multiplicity as a unity; finding congruity in difference and accord in divirgence
• multi- and inter-disciplinary collaboration bridging gaps to produce innovative design solutions
• love as a creative force, design as a communitarian practice
• interplay between tradition and innovation; responsiveness to context and history
• a cumulative, collaborative, pioneering drive for accessible and sustainable design

It is the International Council of Design.

Suggested activities

Communication Design is, at its core, a creative activity aimed to solve a problem according to local context and audience. These suggestions are a point of departure for the many unique solutions World Communication Design Day may inspire.

• organise a ‘designer hackathon’ around 27 April to bring together people from various disciplines – converging to frame and solve local design problems
• organise local talks/debates/lectures/presentations
• open door studio tours
• work with local governments to recognise World Communication Design Day and highlight the community impact of the profession
• produce participatory communication design work celebrating the theme

SHARE

Share your event to inspire others and spread the word about Communication Design:

on Facebook: Create an event in the group, or share your own event in the group discussion.

on Twitter: use the #wcdd2013 hashtag when discussing your related events

on Instagram: use the #wcdd2013 hashtag when capturing images of your related events

Established in 1963, the Council will celebrate its 49th anniversary on 27 April. This celebration was launched in 1991 as World Graphics Day. Beginning in 2012, it will be celebrated as World Communication Design Day. It is an opportunity to recognise communication design, and its role in the world, and to celebrate our birthday.

On this occasion, designers reflect and hope that our global network can contribute to greater understanding between people and can help to build bridges where divides and inequities exist.

THEME: CONVERGENCE

Convergence has been central during the last 30 years of the design profession.

Convergence is...

...the technological-digital revolution through computers, the internet, mobile phones making graphics, video, photography, sound, telecommunications, publishing come together and become accessible to all.

...cross-disciplinary collaboration: bringing together designers from different fields, but most interestingly witnessing designers working with specialists in other fields (anthropology, biology, psychology, undergraduate education, social work, economics, etc.)

...the new macro discipline of 'expanded media' consolidating communication design – branding, advertising, wayfinding, editorial design, web design – with emerging sectors – game design, programming, user-experience, interaction design, social media, sound design, computational art, data visualisation.

...open source creative capital from around the world coming together to create extraordinary collective achievements like Wikipedia, Linux, WorldChanging (open architecture), Kickstarter, and numerous examples of online participatory art.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

Communication Design is, at its core, a creative activity aimed to solve a problem according to local context and audience. These suggestions are a point of departure for the many unique solutions World Communication Design Day may inspire.

• organise a 'designer hackathon' around 27 April to bring together people from various disciplines – converging to frame and solve local design problems
• organise local talks/debates/lectures/presentations
• open door studio tours
• work with local governments to recognise World Communication Design Day and highlight the community impact of the profession
• produce participatory communication design work celebrating the theme

SHARE

World Communication Design Day is driven by our members. Share your event to inspire others and spread the word about Communication Design:

• on Facebook: Create an event in the group, or share your own event in the group discussion.
• on Twitter: use the #wcdd2013 hashtag when discussing your related events
• on Instagram: use the #wcdd2013 hashtag when capturing images of your related events