Bigger and better than ever before, What Design Can Do enters its fifth year with a bright future full of fresh initiatives in store. Plans for a similar event in Brazil are at an advanced stage. And with the WDCD Challenge, WDCD is not only showcasing responsible design, but also making it happen.
In addition to looking forward, the fifth anniversary is a moment to pause and look back on achievements so far. Close to one hundred speakers from all continents and disciplines have taken to the stage to present cutting edge work, spanning the full spectrum of creative disciplines.
A selection of that work — 31 projects to be exact, each presented with images, an explanatory text, and a brief biography of the maker — has been gathered into a handsome celebratory publication 31 Brilliant Ideas For a Better World. The book, presented this afternoon to all WDCD2015 attendees, paints a picture of the incredible variety of What Design Can Do. It’s also something of an encyclopedia of ideas, highlighting where today’s vanguard designers are taking their profession as they work to solve seemingly unsolvable problems.
Sinking cities, vanishing crafts, knitted meat, tuberculosis, abandoned railroads, weapon proliferation, informal settlements, old rotor blades, border enclaves, learning Chinese: is there any issue that designers are not able to tackle? The future is looking yellower all the time!
Billy Nolan, Bas van Lier, 31 Brilliant Ideas For a Better World. Celebrating 5 Years of What Design Can Do. ISBN: 978-90-823886-0-2. Now available at selected bookstores in Amsterdam. Price: € 19,95.
Top image: presentation of the anniversary book on stage at WDCD2015 (photo Leo Veger)