Hasta La Ideas

Pat yourself on the back, UnBeige readers, because finally we have proof that you’re a superior bunch. It’s not simply reading here that makes you a better person but your love for art and design. According to a new study, people with an active interest in the arts contribute more to society than those with little or no such interest. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) used data from the General Social Survey—conducted since 1972 by the National Data Program for the Sciences—to analyze how arts exposure (defined as attendance at museums and dance, music, opera and theater events) and arts expression (defined as making or performing art) are related to traits of social responsibility.

“Even after controlling for age, race, and education, we found that participation in the arts, especially as audience, predicted civic engagement, tolerance, and altruism,” said Kelly LeRoux, an assistant professor of public administration at UIC and principal investigator on the NEA-funded study, in a statement issued by the university. LeRoux and her team correlated 2,765 randomly selected adults’ survey responses to arts-related questions to their responses on altruistic actions such as donating blood, giving directions, or doing favors for a neighbor, and looked at “norms of civility” including participation in community groups and charitable organizations. They also looked at responses related to social tolerance. “If policymakers are concerned about a decline in community life, the arts shouldn’t be disregarded as a means to promote an active citizenry,” added LeRoux, who plans to repeat the study with 2012 data.

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Can fixing that shaky table affect your desire for emotional stability? A new study suggests as much. Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada sat one group of volunteers in slightly wobbly chairs next to slightly wobbly tables while another group was seated in chairs next to tables that looked identical but didn’t wobble. Then they asked both groups to perform a couple of tasks: first, to judge the stability of the relationships of celebrity couples by rating the likelihood of a breakup on a scale of one (“extremely unlikely to dissolve”) to seven (“extremely likely to dissolve”) and then to rate their preferences for various traits in a potential romantic partner, also on a scale of one (“not at all desirable”) to seven (“extremely desirable”). The Economist recently revealed the rather ground-shaking results of the study, soon to be published in the journal Psychological Science:

Participants who sat in wobbly chairs at wobbly tables gave the celebrity couples an average stability score of 3.2 while those whose furniture did not wobble gave them 2.5. What was particularly intriguing, though, was that those sitting at wonky furniture not only saw instability in the relationships of others but also said that they valued stability in their own relationships more highly. They gave stability-promoting traits in potential romantic partners an average desirability score of 5.0, whereas those whose tables and chairs were stable gave these same traits a score of 4.5. The difference is not huge, but it is statistically significant. Even a small amount of environmental wobbliness seems to promote a desire for an emotional rock to cling to.

Watch for this finding to launch a trend in divorce lawyer office decor: rocking chairs.

Pictured: A work from Dutch designer Anna Ter Haar’s 2010 “Cinderella’s Chair” project.

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Day one of this year’s conference on idea execution

Today marks the first day of this year’s 99% Conference, our annual ideas-focused event we co-founded with Behance four years ago. For the 2012 conference we’re looking forward to hearing from inspirational speakers like design legend James Victore, co-founder of Warby Parker Neil Blumenthal and StumbleUpon founder Garrett Camp, to name a few, as well as events, workshops and an exciting round of Cool Hunting Video premieres.

While we’ll be on site for the next two days, those out there unable to make it can follow the inspiration as it unfolds via the CH twitter feed, the 99% Conference feed or by searching #99conf on Twitter and Instagram.

The satellite fair returns for its second iteration

When we attended Wanted Design‘s inaugural debut during NYC Design Week 2011, we knew that the fledgling venture was a force to be reckoned with. While ICFF remains the main attraction, Wanted Design drew our attention for bringing American and New York-centered design into conversation with the dominance of the Milan and Stockholm Design Week crowd. Spearheaded by French founders Claire Pijoulat and Odile Hainaut, the satellite fair has grown from meager origins to include 50 exhibitors alongside a multitude of talks, workshops, presentations and social spaces.

This year’s Wanted Design will be returning to take over 22,000 square feet of the Terminal Warehouse (former home of the historic nightclub “Tunnel“) as designers both domestic and foreign gather to show their wares and spread ideas. Focused on the city’s creative community, the response from last year’s event bodes well for the four days of design celebration to come this May.

Pijoulat and Hainaut created Wanted Design in part to combat the major shortcomings of design fairs—namely, the lack of interaction between creatives. With this in mind, the 2012 event will feature a conversation series as well as a stream of workshops with eminent designers and craftsmen. Manhattan Neon—a decades-old vendor of neon works—will be hosting a neon-centric workshop. An exhibition entitled “New Finnish Design” celebrates Helsinki as the 2012 World Design Capital, and 3M Architectural Markets will be presenting an experimental installation called “Lighfalls” in partnership with Todd Bracher.

Also on tap is the “Design Students Challenge“, which calls on students from six design schools in the U.S. and France to build a lighting prototype in the span of three days. Using one material, one concept tool and one fabrication tool, the students’ creations will then be judged by the public and a panel of design professionals. Focusing on the Americas, highlights from the fair include a group exhibition of Brazilian design curated by Objeto Brasil as well “America Made Me”, an exhibition that bridges fashion, art and design curated by Bernhardt Design.

As with last year, the 2012 exhibition will feature a pop-up shop curated by iGet.it with domestic furniture, accessories and objects for sale in-store and online. Cafe Intramuros, sponsored by Intramuros Magazine, will be serving La Colombe Coffee and is one of a few spaces offering creatives a chance to sit, meet and discuss ideas.

There will of course be some stellar design objects premiering and showing at the fair. While many of the specifics remain to be seen, major events include a book launch from Rizzoli, a showcase of next-generation designers hosted by Dwell and DWR as well as numerous new products and prototypes.

Wanted Design

18-21 May 2012

Terminal Warehouse

11 Avenue between 27th and 28th

Can design change the world? Of course. The challenging part is figuring out how to best harness the power of design to make a difference, for clients and causes alike. A pioneer of this tricky, potent, you-know-it-when-you-see-it combination of design thinking and social entrepreneurship has been Worldstudio, the New York-based marketing and design agency that specializes in creating and implementing programs for corporate clients that support their social responsibility platforms. Between projects for the likes of Adobe and The Metropolitan Opera, Worldstudio principal Mark Randall co-founded (with Steven Heller) Impact! Design for Social Change, a six-week summer intensive at the School of Visual Arts that is now in its third year. Meanwhile, interest in the field of design for social impact is surging, and as Randall and friends gear up for a March 1 panel at SVA on the social design job market (a taped webcast will be posted online following the event), we asked him to tell us more about how good design can do good.

How do you define “social design”?
This is a great question, and one that the design community is slowly defining. In the broadest sense, social design uses design thinking and creativity to improve the human condition and to ensure a sustainable future for us all. A social design approach can be applied to a wide range of areas; non-profits and NGOs, civic design, corporate social responsibility, as well as social enterprise and social entrepreneurship.

Was there a particular project or point in your career that got you interested in social design, or was it an area that you gravitated to more gradually?
As a kid growing up in the 1970′s I was engaged by the ecology movement and Woodsy the Owl—”Give a Hoot! Don’t Pollute!” In 1993, David Sterling, who at the time was a partner in the legendary firm Doublespace, approached me to design a logo for a concept business that he was developing. He wanted to create a design studio that incorporated a social agenda into the work that was done on a daily basis. His ideas were unformed at the time, and as we worked on the identity together we discovered that we viewed the world—and design—in much the same way. Our conversations helped to shape what the business could and ultimately would be. Instead of being his designer I became his business partner. David left the business almost ten years ago, but I have continued the work that we do with a great group of collaborators.
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