theme for IDD 2023 announced

20.03.2023 Announcements

The theme for International Design Day 2023 has been announced: ‘Peace. Love. Design!'. The theme not only marks the Council's 60th Anniversary but also takes its cue from the activism of the sixties, encouraging designers worldwide to explore issues of environmentalism, social equity, collective movements and radical change.

International Design Day commemorates the founding of the Council on 27 April 1963. The day is an opportunity to recognise the value of design, its capacity to effect change and challenge designers to reflect on the well-being of people within their local environments and find innovative solutions to local needs by using design to honour diversity and transcend borders.

The visuals for International Design Day 2023 were designed by Martina Giustolisi

2023 THEME: PEACE. LOVE. DESIGN!

This year, International Design Day celebrates the International Council of Design's 60th Anniversary with a theme that nods to ICoD’s legacy as an organisation. The theme, ‘Peace. Love. Design!’, inspired by the activism of the sixties, encourages designers to explore issues of environmentalism, social equity, collective movements and radical change.

The International Council of Design was founded in the sixties, on 27 April 1963, during a historical period with many social upheavals. The youth movements of the time 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.

BIG QUESTIONS

Here are some questions designers can engage with on International Design Day 2023:

• Environmentalism: In what new ways does design need to be responsible in its engagement with the material world and climate change? 
• Social equity: How can designers foster values of peace and love to address issues of social equity today? 
• Collective movements: In what ways can designers bring people closer together to form new spaces of access and care? 
• Radical change: What can design do to reshape systems and structures to support justice, so all people live well and flourish?

THE IDD 2023 POSTER

The creator of this year’s IDD 2023: Peace. Love. Design! visuals is Martina Giustolisi, a graphic designer based in Sicily (Italy) and a graduate of the Visual Communication Design programme at the Academy of Fine Arts Catania. Giustolisi’s work deals with visual identity and the role of the professional designer in relation to social and cultural contexts.