Last week we posted about Architecture for Humanity’s efforts in helping the citizens of Port-au-Prince rebuild after the 7.0 earthquake that hit on the 12th of January. VC’s own Sky Obercam recently compiled a comprehensive list of organizations all focused on providing assistance and aid for Clutch Magazine. Find out how you can help here.
South Korean design firm Unplug Design has developed a concept to deliver footballs (soccerballs) to poor children in third world countries who don’t have the resources or means to purchase their own. The Dream Ball design overlays patterns onto aid packages, such that children can build their own footballs through reuse of the cardboard.
Unplug Design explains the concept below:
To the children in The Third World; Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Congo and etc, who can’t enjoy football freely because of poverty, war and natural disaster, having a football means a lot and can be a dream and hope to escape from their poor life.
However, the children are so poor that they can not buy a football. So, they play football with the ball made of plastic bag or coconut palm leaves, therefore giving them their own footballs which can give them hope. This is our aim for this project.
This is an interesting concept, but we have to wonder how practical it really is. Noted football icon Pele, grew up in similar circumstances and made due with rags and grapefruits to master his skills. Thoughts?
Image via Mashable
Our thoughts are with the people of Haiti in this time of crisis. We would like to highlight Architecture for Humanity’s efforts and response to the Haiti crisis after the 7.0 earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince on the 12th on January. To learn more on Architecture for Humanities efforts and how to support their cause click here.
From Press Release:
The best hope for peace in the world – yet one of the biggest challenges – is the pursuit of better communication and understanding between different civilizations, cultures and peoples. To help UNESCO achieve this objective, DESIGN 21: Social Design Network – an online platform founded by Felissimo and UNESCO to promote design for the greater good – launched the Culture Counts competition. Designers across the globe are asked to submit poster designs that celebrate 2010 as the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures. The top 30 posters will be showcased in an exhibition at UNESCO headquarters in Paris during the second annual International Festival of Cultural Diversity in May 2010. An “Overall Winner” and two “Judge’s Picks” will also be chosen to receive cash prizes.
More than 100 designers will be published in the publication. 53 designers have a special podium as a weekly theme. “Think Green!” creates for the year 2010, a visual inventory of the topic of ecology and design. In addition to individual, for this project developed typography, the calendar shows ideas in the context of raw materials, energy and the environment in different countries.
We were lucky enough to be asked to be represented in this showcase of progressive work and are anxiously awaiting our copy. To learn more about EIGA—the people behind it and how to snag a copy for 2010 click here.
The Design Revolution Road Show is a traveling exhibition and lecture series bringing “product design that empowers” to 25 high schools and university design programs across the nation in the Spring of 2010 brought to you by Project H. To learn more on this traveling exhibition see this.
Even in today’s technologically advanced age, posters are still very powerful tools to communicate opinions and information on a universal level. We’ve included a few of our favorites for your perusal.
Poster by Joe Scorsone and Alice Drueding
Stop AIDS by Fang Chen
Slingshot by Chaz Maviyane-Davies
Together Against by Benito Cabanas Elveno
AIDS the Killing Bite of Love by Anthon Beeke
Visual Culture presents this collection of non-profit organization logos to keep with our theme today that is focused on raising awareness for HIV/AIDS as part of World AIDS Day 2009. Each organization is dedicated to combat AIDS.
1. Youth AIDS
2. Love Heals
3. Africare
4. Debt AIDS Trade Africa (DATA)
5. ONE
6. Elton John AIDS Foundation
7. amfAR
8. Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC)
9. International AIDS Society
10. (RED)
11. UNAIDS
12. Pangaea
13. AIDS Alliance
14. World Vision
Please feel free to add to our list.
Image from Lights for Rights
World AIDS Day has been held on December 1st since 1988. The intention is to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS across the globe. For this years event the theme is focused on human rights and access to treatment.
Below are a few sobering facts about HIV and AIDS:
• A total of 33 million people now live with HIV/AIDS. Two million of them are under the age of 15.
• In 2008, an estimated 2.7 million people were infected with HIV.
• Every day 7,397 people contract HIV—308 every hour.
• In 2008, 2.0 million people died from AIDS.
• More than two-thirds (67 percent) of all people living with HIV, 22 million, live in sub-Saharan Africa—including 90 percent of the world’s HIV-positive children.
For additional facts about AIDS you can go here.
Want to get involved? Go here to see if an event is going on in your area.
Circa the 2008 presidential election, VC presented an iconic poster series that examined some of the most pressing issues of our time. To mark the occasion, which sparked a fascinating dialogue amongst Visual Culturists, we’ve decided to pull it out of the archives, dust it off and place it back on display for the sake of exploring just how much progress, if any, we’ve managed to make since then. To view the original post go to “Freedumb isn’t Free”.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
