The Design Activist's Handbook

You'll Love This If:

• You are a graphic designer passionate about making a difference
• You want to learn how to make a positive change with your work
• You like viewing inspirational design work that pushes boundaries

So you want to be a design activist? It seems “rock star” designers might suggest you take on the occasional pro bono project or sign a pledge about your good intentions. But what if you feel like the only person at the office who cares about this stuff? Or a huge corporation that you don’t feel 100 percent good about offers you a ton of cash for a freelance project?

These are tough situations for those who worry about paying the rent or making the mortgage and finding affordable health insurance. And that’s a big part of why we decided to write The Design Activist's Handbook. This manual for design activism is for every designer who’s ever sat at a computer, thinking: Is this it? Isn’t there more? We set out to help graphic designers figure out how to start making a difference and making a living—no matter where they live and work right now. It’s time to translate all this talking and thinking into meaningful, widespread action.

In The Design Activist's Handbook You'll Learn:

• How to find/make a graphic design career that aligns with your beliefs and value
• Advice and instructions for creating work and using that work to inspire change
• How to make your current design job a place to implement socially conscious design

The Design Activist's Handbook will take you through a process for defining your own professional ethics as a designer and using those guidelines to make the right choices for you. You’ll also find stories and ideas from dozens of design activists that show you what a socially conscious design career actually looks like. Those folks told us not only what they do, but how they make it all work, from paying the bills during tough times to getting buy-in from traditional clients.

The book also includes many tools and resources to help you affect positive change. There are tips on applying for grants, being an activist without getting fired and staying educated on pressing issues. At the end of every chapter, you’ll find some questions and next steps to help you move forward on your own design activist path.