This is a transcript of the video PeachpitTV: Do Good Design with David Berman
(Text on screen: Voices that matter Conference Web Design
Do Good Design author David Berman discusses what is “Do Good Design”)
(Image of Do Good Design book cover. David Berman appears on screen and faces the camera for the duration of this video. David is wearing a beige suit with a white shirt.)
In the year 2000, I visited Tanzania, and I was amazed to discover that Coca Cola had branded not just the villages but the actual milestone markers between major cities were Coca Cola signs. These are concrete permanent signage that had been put into the ground. And clearly while the Tanzanian government had problems with insurrection and disease and poverty, Coca Cola came in and said we’ll take care of your traffic. So every small village in the back roads of Tanzania is a Coke sign with the name of the village on it, the same way that a corner store– perhaps here in the United States– would have that.
And it’s a brilliant example of great design, of great marketing, great advertising. But it disturbs me greatly because over a million people die of malaria every year in Africa, and the cost of a malaria pill is about the same cost as a Coca Cola on the streets of Dar-es-Salaam. And so, in the book, I lay down this challenge: wouldn’t it be great if we could find a way to use Coca Cola’s impeccable system for distribution to distribute things we really need to share with the world rather than sharing our chemical or our addictions. Rather than teaching people to drink sugar water or highly caffeinated sugar water, we could share ideas about democracy and medicine and information technology and all the wonders we have to share.
Well there’s this guy named Simon Berry in the UK. He has a site called colalife.org. And he kind of blew me away because I laid down this challenge and Simon Berry got in touch with me and he actually came up with a way to take advantage of that distribution method. What Simon’s done is he’s designed a pod. If you can imagine a case of 12 Coke bottles– 12 Coke bottles, four by three grid– has eight spots between the bottles. And he designed this little pod that slips in between those bottles. And the idea is you could put something in that pod. It could be resuscitation salts, it could be condoms, it could be health information. Whatever it is, we can distribute stuff through the Coca Cola network.
So while I’m busy ranting about Coca Cola in Tanzania, guys like Simon Berry are thinking of ways to take advantage of the situation and do good. The book is full of stories about ordinary designers who have done an extraordinary. Because I, myself, I’m not an extraordinary designer, I’m just a guy who said, hmm, I see a situation, I think something should be done about it. And so in the book, I make a point of telling stories about ordinary designers who have done extraordinary things. Who haven’t just had a great idea, but actually had the courage and the tenacity to see it through.
(Text on screen: DavidBerman.com/dogood
Presented by New Riders
Gary-Paul Prince – Producer and Editor
Mary Sweeney – Camera and Lighting
RhedPixel.com – Motion Graphics
Find out more at www.peachpit.com)
Reviewed October 17, 2014