News

Design Ignites Change, Adobe Youth Voices and the Designers Accord announce an exciting youth mentoring initiative that asks high school students – in collaboration with professional or college design mentors – to “redesign your school.”

For School: by Design, mentoring teams will examine the school “ecosystem” from the student’s vantage point to re-imagine a more sustainable school, one that will improve now and continue to grow and thrive in the future. The project will connect students to a subject they know well, and one on which they probably have strong opinions.

“Our goal for this program is to make sustainability relevant and integrated in the lives of our mentors and students” says Valerie Casey, founder of the Designers Accord. “We will do this by using our schools as a canvas, and design thinking as our toolset. We will push beyond the customary notions of green design and eco-friendliness, to the more meaningful aspects of cultural, social and economic sustainability.”

The goal of the initiative is to engage students in thinking about the pressing problems in their school in a mindful and creative way, to come up with solutions that account for a diversity of ideas, perspectives and approaches to learning. Teams will be encouraged to create integrated solutions that consider the student in the classroom, the classroom in the school and the school in the community.

Engaging the creative community

The program can be adopted by a range of creative disciplines including but not limited to:
» Architecture
» Industrial design
» Interior design
» Graphic design
» Environmental graphics
» Interactive design
» The initiative can also encompass illustration and photography.

Step-by-step guidelines make it easy

The six to eight week, self-guided program is designed to be easily executed at any time by the following groups who will serve as mentors:
» Professional design organizations
» Professional design studios
» College and university design programs

Each participating mentor organization or school will identify mentors within their constituency and pair them with local high schools students under the supervision and guidance of Design Ignites Change. Conversely, if a local high school or youth group wishes to participate, Design Ignites Change will work with them to identify possible mentors in their area.

A step-by-step set of guidelines and curriculum are available to make the mentoring experience easy to execute, and Design Ignites Change team will be on hand to consult on all aspects of the program. The materials will give the inexperienced mentor the tools they need to successfully complete the project while providing a rewarding experience for the student and themselves.

Showcasing and supporting great projects

Projects will be featured on the Design Ignites Change and Designers Accord websites, and particularly noteworthy projects will be promoted to the press. At the end of 2010, all submitted projects will be eligible to receive an award to fund the implementation of their project within their school.