Advocating for a community of circular designers
Project Overview
Design education is still a long way from making the circular economy one of its central teaching themes. This project aims to address the gap in circular design education and create a community of practice. I focused on connecting with other designers around the world, developing educational content on design strategies for the circular economy, and posting a series of design challenges to elicit circular thinking in designers.
Client
Non-commercial project
Duration
Ongoing since 2019
Methods
Visual communication, storytelling, workshop facilitation, prototyping
My Role
Community Lead and Workshop Facilitator
Team
Solo project
The challenge
Why is no one talking about the Circular Economy?
Design is critical to achieving a circular economy. We need to redesign our products, services and systems to fit perfectly with this new paradigm. However, circular design is not yet a central theme in design education around the world.
The opportunity
Social networks are spaces to address issues that design schools ignore
Designers use Instagram to explore topics schools don't teach, connect with like-minded people, and practice their design skills. And while there are initiatives that promote discussion about the profession and help designers practice hard skills like product visualization, there is an opportunity to talk about circular design and create a space where designers can practice and learn about it.
The goal
But how an Instagram community can create positive change?
Providing a space for creatives to learn and practice circular design is a way to get more and more designers interested in this topic and ultimately help them incorporate principles of the circular economy into their daily practice.
The initiative
Circular Designers, an online community for responsible creatives
Circular Designers is an Instagram account that promotes circular thinking in designers through discussion, practice, and education in circular design. By providing tools, workshops and weekly challenges to the community, Cicular Designers promotes design as a key tool to achieve a circular economy.
The growth of the community is a sign of the relevance of the project
Since its creation in March 2019, the community has grown satisfactorily and has become a benchmark for circular design.
