Mayari’s Blog

It’s very difficult. Go to your nearest supermarket and search for things NOT made in poor countries. How many things are left enlabeled fair trade and eco certified? Not too many things. We are poor in that sense. We can buy stuff because of cheap labour. And we don’t even think as far or feel guilty.

Buying things, we don’t even have to spend real money but a plastic card. How much have we separated ourselves from “real” materia! How can we spend more than we have?! I truely can’t understand this concept!

Here is a work I found on design21

Maybe this card cold help you to think twice before you spend your virtual money on something.

I just read the main article in “brand eins - das wirtschaftsmagazin” about competition.

There are more and more people on this finite planet. But less and less “valuable” ressources. How do you make sure that you get your part of what’s left?

The article says nature would act like this: Individuals would let the weak die or even act aggressive and kill them - survival of the fittest.
But the article also says that we do not longer follow this “natural” way as people are intelligent and emotional beings: People would rather find solutions to increse the ressources (recycling, gentechnology etc.) - to be positively destructive.
Which way do you feel better about? Because at the end of the day we are still egoistic beings who want to feel good.

What we learn is: Competiton should no longer make you angry and destructive but inspire you and make you create clever solutions. Watch your competitors, learn from them and be a bit better - a bit cleverer.

Btw. An article that fits this topic McKinsey Survey: Competition from China

I foud this picture in a presentation about sustainable design:

THE REAL CHALLENGE OF SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

An interesting Presentation. In a nutshell: We have to become more sustainable on two levels.
1. in the material domain (new products and their production)
2. in the human domain (new business models and different consumption e.g. behaviour).
As a designer people think I should act in the first domain. I’m not a traditional designer but a concept designer. My interest lies much more in the second domain. It’s what I would call a change and not a chance. And we need a change. I strongly believe that new media and new brands or rebrands can help doing so.

Anomaly: More than a branding agency who does it differently.

As I often have the feeling that I don’t fit the norm this company could perfectly fit my character.

Another community I joined. But it’s a good feeling to become part of an important project.

Connect2earth is using the modern technology (mobile phones) to make a contribution (video, image, text) in order to draw attention to the problem we are facing e.g. exploiting/distroying our world. It’s an initiative supported by WWF, IUCN and Nokia and participants have the chance to show their contribution at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona this October.

If you want to invest money but you can’t decide where Kiva could be a good and social option. It enables poor people to set up their very own companies so that they can permanently escape poverty taking action themselves. Kiva believes in the poor but passionate entrepreneurs. Finally they have almost nothing to loose and a lot to gain.

Another new strategy by H&M. They sell clothes designed by artists such as Rihanna, Chicks on Speed, Good Charlotte, Henrik Vibskov, Jade Jagger, Justice, Katharine Hamnett, My Chemical Romance, Rufus Wainwright, Scissor Sisters, The Cardigans, Tiga, Timbaland and Ziggy Marley. 25% of the selling price of the collection will go to HIV/AIDS-prevention projects around the world. For more information go here.

If I needed a shirt right now I would go for the one designed by Good Charlotte.

What if people are more and more interested in the background of their products? How can they find details? Dole provides a code so that you can check online where their fruits come from, see pictures and learn other information. Of course they won’t show the bad things but it’s a good start into making tbusiness more transparent. I hope other companies will follow this example.