SALISASAKI

GRAPHIC DESIGN+ SOCIAL DESIGN

Sali Sasaki

Contact:• sali@citiesxdesign.org• +1 786 925 7225• blog.developmentxdesign.org

Education:• MA, Royal College of Art (UK)• BFA, Parsons School of Design

Contents

About

Cities x Design

Design DNA

Creative Cities Network

Shenzhen City of Design

Retail Therapy

Design for Development

Articles, etc.

Credits

From left: Report cover, Pop-up Shop Project in Orlando, UN Pavilion in Aichi Expo 2005, Cities x Design in Savannah, GA, Souvenir shop in Kyoto, Japan.

Sali Sasaki is a designer and researcher born in Yokohama (Japan) and raised in Paris (France).

Between 2004 and 2008, she was the manager of UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network program and focused primarily on the role of design in social and cultural development.

She has written about design for development on numerous occasions notably for UNESCO, ICOGRADA, the Seoul Design Olympiad and the International Design Center in Nagoya.

Following her departure from UNESCO, Sali has been working as a design consultant specializing in cities, cultural development and social innovation.

The following pages showcase a selection of recent design and design research projects.

Links | Development x Design | Cities x Design

About

From left: Mini Guide to the Marais, Paris, Merci concept store, Paris.

Cities x DesignThe Future of American Cities

Individuals from different cities discuss why design can make a difference:

From left page:

Katie Jain and Joel Templin, principals 1. at JAQK Cellars, in San Francisco, talk about their newly launched wine label that revolves around the theme of poker.Andrew Blauvelt, design 2. director and curator at the Walker Art Center, in Minneapolis, likes to look at design as a cross-disciplinary field that affects society at large.The Steel Yard in Providence, RI, is 3. a former steel and iron industrial site

that serves as a catalyst for urban regeneration and community growth through creative approachesSasha White, owner of 4. Vanilla Bicycles, in Portland, describes his passion for cyclingand the craft of custom-frame building.Doublebutter in Denver, CO, is run 5. by two young furniture designers who believe that well crafted bespoke products should become more wildly accessible.Danny Abshire, CTO at 6. Newton Running, in Boulder, is behind a revolutionary concept shoe that alleviates the negative physical impact of running on the human body.

Cities x Design is a book, with a companion DVD and media portal, that demonstrates how investing in creativity and design can change perceptions, boost tourism and create unique places in the United States. Cities x Design Website

Organizers

Jay CorlessSali Sasaki

Partners

International HouseHotel San JoseThe Valley HoThe PearlAce HotelThe ModernTabard InnAVIA21c Museum HotelThe Proximity

New Orleans, LABevolo

International House Hotel

New Orleans Building Corporation

AIGA: History of Graphic Design in South Louisiana

Austin, TXRoadside Relics

Uncommon Objects

San Jose Hotel

Art School at the Austin Museum of Art

Woodland

Santa Fe, NMCity of Santa Fe

New Mexico Museum Foundation

Niman Fine Art

Scottsdale, AZTaliesin West

The Valley Ho

Phoenix, AZMade Boutique

Modern Phoenix

Gallo Blanco Cafe

Roosevelt Row

San Diego, CAPeji Design

MIX at Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (La Jolla)

The Pearl Hotel

Bessell Surf

San Francisco, CAMoto Development Group

Hatch / JAQK Cellars

Appetite Engineers

Stripe

McFadden & Thorpe

Portland, ORMuseum for Contemporary Craft

Vanilla Bicycles

Ace Hotel

Voodoo Doughnuts

Seattle, WABoeing Everett FactoriesThe Future of Flight

Pilchuck Glass School

Boise, IDThe Modern Hotel

Basque Center

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Madison, WIThe Offi ce for Lost Objects™

The Old Fashioned

Chicago, ILChicago Architectural Foundation

Chicago Center for Green Technology

Millennium Park

IIT

Lake Shore Apartments

Detroit, MICollege for Creative Studies

GM Technical Center / Design Center

Packard Plant

Slows BBQ

Providence, RIRISD

The Steel Yard

La Laiterie

Philadelphia, PAThe Design Center at Philadelphia University

Design Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market

Washington, DCThe Tabard Inn

The Smithsonian

National Building Museum

National Trust forHistoric Preservation

Pittsburgh, PAWall to Wall Studios

Peppi’s

1662 Design Zone / Lawrenceville

Andy Warhol Museum

Waffl e Shop

Columbus, OHSalvato Coe + Gabor

Columbus Society for Communicating Arts

Bored Sketchbooks

Tigertree

Jeni’s Ice Cream

Louisville, KY21c Museum Hotel / Proof on Main

Museum Plaza

Maker’s Mark Distillery

Speed Museum

The Green Building

Chattanooga, TNCreate Here

Young Monster

Good Dog

Atlanta, GAMuseum of Design Atlanta

Primal Screen

AIGA: Design and Religion

Savannah, GASavannah College ofArt and Design

ShopSCAD

Working Class Studio

AVIA Hotel

Greensboro, NCProximity Hotel

Miami, FLBal Harbour Shops

The Wolfsonian

DEN Architecture

Cafe Bustelo

Miami 21

Destiny, FL

Boulder, CONewton Running

The Kitchen

Denver, CODoublebutter

Denver City Planning

Omaha, NEBig Omaha

Kaneko Center

Bemis Center

M’s Pub

Iowa City, IAUniversity of IowaCenter for the Book

Minneapolis, MNWalker Art Center

Mill District

Guthrie Theater

Mill City Museum11 12 13 14 15

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Cities x Design - Exploring the Future of American Cities

From left page:Business card1. Video feature2. Mini poster3. Book cover4. Press pack5. Portland intro pages6. Vanilla Bicycles feature7.

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NagoyaInternational New Designers Workshop

CCN Social Design Workshopswww.socialdesigners.org

Download Design DNA Final Report (PDF)Design DNA Flickr Photo AlbumINDIGO World - Report

This workshop is a study on the role of design in place brandingand looks at how traditional crafts and new technologies can be integrated in the Nagoya area.

It concentrated on cultural innovation requiring new tastes and behaviors and helped the city to better define its cultural identity through creative solutions.

The International New Designers Workshop series has been organized by the International Design Center Nagoya Inc. since 2000. The last two editions of the workshop have been endorsed by UNESCO and emphasized more strongly on real-world problems.

Organizers

IdCNInternational New Designers Workshop Organizing CommitteeCity of Nagoya

From left: IdCN workshop 2005, 15 years of IdCN (publication), Rootsfinder-Design DNA report cover, Russell Kennedy, chief director of the 2008 workshop, and his team.

From left page:Cover illustration1. Report2. Collateral3. Report4. Report5.

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The Creative Cities Network connects cities who want to share experiences, ideas and best practices for cultural, social and economic development. Cities may apply to be endorsed by the Network and join the programme to ensure their continued role as centres of excellence and/or to support other cities, particularly those in developing countries, in nurturing their own creative economy.

There are currently 6 cities of design in the Network of 19 cities: Berlin, Buenos Aires, Kobe, Montreal, Nagoya and Shenzhen.

Candidate cities go through a rigorous selection and evaluation process that focuses on their ability to support their local design community and related industries through creative actions.

www.unesco.org/culture/en/creativecities

Creative Cities Network

Top row from left: Nagoya, Buenos AiresBottom row from left: Kobe, ShenzhenRight: Berlin, Montreal

From left page:City fact sheets1. Logo / identity2.

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ShenzhenDesigned in China

UNESCO City of DesignDownload full city application (PDF)

Shenzhen was appointed City of Design by UNESCO in November 2008. It is now looking at strategies to develop an enabling structure for its design community through education, workshop training and international initiatives. Shenzhen is the birthplace of modern Chinese design and the first Chinese city to join the network. It thrives to become a role model for other Chinese cities who want to successfully use design in their development process.

Organizers

City of ShenzhenShenzhen Economic DailyShenzhen Creative Culture Center

From left: Universiade 2011 Shenzhen poster competition, night view of Shenzhen, educational event. Background: Design museum by Urbanus.

Retail Therapy (Research)The Role of Design in the Souvenir Industry

From left: Souvenirs from Paris, Souvenir from Hong Kong

Cultures from around the world are nowadays interpreted through the aesthetic of products and images. Ensuring the authenticity of such language is important for encouraging cross-cultural understanding and essential in achieving sustainable development in emerging countries.

The notion of branding has shifted in recent years. Some studies show that perceptions of environmental, ethical and

social responsibility are the fastest growing contributors to consumer brand value. If designed and branded intelligently, souvenir products could become the perfect medium for communicating cross-cultural values worldwide.

Long before souvenirs actually became an industry they might have been considered as more culturally relevant. The souvenir industry has emerged over a century ago and yet it has hardly been challenged in the past decades. It seems that the conception of souvenir products would benefit from a design-integrated approach, for example through place branding strategies and a deeper understanding of local visual identities. Very often, souvenirs are expected to be affordable, kitsch and poor in aesthetic detail. Yet, shouldn’t they be the inspiring evidence of a travel experience that could otherwise be forgotten?

Why can souvenir products not be more grounded in their local environment and be less superficial? Shouldn’t local creators play a role in redefining souvenir items?

Some of the main issues currently at stake are:

• The use of local capacities and creative input to develop more genuine local identity instead of superficial imagery;• The inequality between developed countries and those in transition concerning the evolution of cultural identities;• A clash of opinions about the relationship between cultural preservation and contemporary identity; notably relating to the use of design and technology.

This research is a study and experiment with retail display design in the tourism industry, notably souvenir shops, hotels or airports. Its aim is to propose solutions that would help emerging places to develop their own design culture and build their identity through design strategies. This project is about cultural innovation requiring new tastes and behaviors. Its goal is to socially, economically and culturally benefit local communities in the context of globalization. What does it take to reinvent the image or redefine the spirit of a place? Is it possible to build a successful city/country brand without falling into clichés by collaborating with local creators? How can the exercise of branding adapt to different cultures? What does local identity mean in a globalizing world? How can traditional practices reinvent themselves through design and new technologies?

Dowload full paper (MS Word)Retail Therapy Flickr Photo Album

Retail Therapy was the inspiration behind:Rootsfinder-Design DNA

Card from Madrid, Spain.

Development x Design

From left: report cover, best practice examples on design for development, Design for the Real World’s 1st edition.

[ Excerpt from the 2008 report ]

“It is very important for any nation to understand the larger agenda of the work of designers. By working with designers, a nation invests in the growing ability to change, to work on innovation, on creativity. Enabling change and enabling creativity is perhaps the most important challenge that we are faced with.” – address by Peter Butonschon, President of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design during the ICSID 2003 Regional Meeting in Africa.

Within UNESCO it is important to promote design for development and its application in the fields of general education, public health, environment, public information for readers and non-readers, agriculture and social responsibility by sustaining cultural diversity, stimulating contemporary practices and empowering future generations. Design is a creative methodology that can support UNESCO’s notion of successful development: a tradition specific to each culture combined with the most modern economic, scientific and technological resources (from Creative Diversity, Introduction by Jorge Perez de Cuellar, for the World Decade for Cultural Development) .

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The cultural dimension of design is affected by traditions, multiculturalism, ethnicity, diversity, language, gender, beliefs, value systems, and according to the British Council, one of design’s major role is to “transform the visual heritage

of places and peoples into contemporary commercial currency and cultural expression”.

In order to be socially credible, design must mean something in its own culture. Design is a powerful method to promote cultural identity and therefore it is important for local people to develop design skills allowing them to communicate about their own culture and develop a visual identity derived from a deeper sense of tradition and history.

Download full report (PDF)

Other related paper:‘Graphic Design for Development’Seoul Design Olympiad 2008Download MS Word document

A 1987 ICOGRADA report entitled “Graphic Design for Development” written by Amrik Kalsi, Jorge Frascara and Peter Kneebone for UNESCO inspired me to write a 21st century document on design and its role for socio-cultural development. My goal is to raise awareness on design within UNESCO and promote design methodolgies in problem-solving by pursuing the ideas generated by the likes of Victor Papanek and his peers.

Organizers

Jay CorlessSali Sasaki

That all design must fill a human need; it is a basic element of all human activities.

Design as a tool and methodology can contribute to human development.

Sound development policy includes social, economic, environmental and cultural data.

It is better to support existing organizations than create new ones.

The solution to global development problems lies in multidisciplinary design partnerships.

From left page:Design case studies1. MDG x Design2. Concept presentation3. Concept presentation4.

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Articles / Workshops / Presentations / Exhibitions

Articles, presentations and publications Development x Design BlogWriter and Editor

Cities x DesignWriter and Co-Editor

Design >Graphic Design for Development, WriterSouth Africa

Creative Cities NetworkForum on UNESCO Creative Cities NetworkMinistry of Culture, Sports and TourismSeoul, Korea

Quotes and Contradictions, InterviewINDEX: Design to Improve Life, Denmark

Design for Cultural DevelopmentDestination 2024, Presenter3rd International Conference on Design for SustainabilityOpen House, Tokyo, Japan

Social Designers - Design DNAInternational Design Center Nagoya Inc., OrganizerCity of Nagoya, Japan

The Role of Graphic Design in International DevelopmentResearch paperSeoul Design Olympiad, South KoreaNew Views 2, London UK

Retail Therapy (or the role of design in the souvenir industry)Research paperICOGRADA World Congress La Habana, Cuba

UNESCO and DesignSt Etienne Design Biennale, PresenterFrance

Design for Cultural Diversity and DevelopmentResearch paper, UNESCO

Workshops, training and seminars

Destination 2024Design and sustainabilityTokyo, Japan

Design DNA - RootsfinderPresentation on social design, critiques, guidance and supervision of participants

International Design Center Nagoya, Japan

Creative Cities Network Meeting, UNESCO, Parisin presence of representatives from the cities of: Berlin, Montreal, Seville, Bologna, Popayan, Edinburgh

Designmatters / Art Center College of Design Social Design Fellowship with UNESCO, Paris

United Nations Pavilion - Aichi Expo 2005Volunteer and staff training and guidance prior to pavilion opening and throughout Expo duration

Exhibitions

FCI Pop-up Shop and GalleryCity Arts Factory, Orlando, FL.

Everyday Design: Great Finds from Around the WorldOrganized by AIGAMODAA Gallery, Los Angeles, CAAIGA Gallery, New York NY POCKO People. Launch Exhibition

Magma Clerkenwell, London, UK The Show 2 : Royal College of Art Henry Moore Gallery, London, UK Lie Back and Think of England Rivington Arms Gallery, New York, USA

I Like Variety (volume 2) : in London private view sponsored by Becks Royal College of Art, Blue Room, UK Galerie E.O.F, Paris, France

Freelance Design and Photography

Cities x Design - Photography, Website, Book Design

Downtown Arts District, Orlando - Photography

Design DNA Workshop - Catalog, Poster, Flyer, Report

Design Taxi, Singapore - PhotographySchmap Travel Guides - Photography

Anneusual cookbook, Basel - IllustrationGraphic Magazine, London, UK -

Illustration

Alfred Dunhill Ltd., London, UKProduct development

John Brown Citrus Publishing, LondonWaitrose Food Illustrated - Illustration

Figaro Madame, Paris, France

Parco, Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

Cafe Globe, Tokyo, Japan

BMW - MIni, Munich, Germany

IPWW, New York, NY

Girl-on-the-street, New York, NY

CreditsGraphic design - Photograhy - IllustrationAll rights reserved © 2010 - Sali Sasaki