In late June 2007, the Designers Accord was founded with the goal of changing the way the creative community does business. Designers, educators, and business leaders adopted a “Kyoto Treaty” of design (later renamed the Designers Accord) that specified a particular ethos and behavior around sustainable design. The underlying philosophy of this agreement was that by collectively building our intelligence around issues of climate change and humanitarian issues – and tackling those challenges with optimism and creativity – we would catalyze innovative and sustainable problem solving throughout the creative community.
The Designers Accord came about at a time when environmental issues were headlined in every media outlet. The sudden rise of mainstream interest in environmental issues, coupled with design’s discordant legacy relationship with the environmental movement (how could anti-consumption environmentalists align with product designers? how could environmentalists’ anti-aesthetic harmonize with design stylist’s priorities?), had led to stasis in the creative community.
While some design firms were making advances, most designers did not know where and how to start transforming their practices. The Designers Accord offered a strategy and platform for designers in firms, corporations, and schools to declare their sustainability goal, and work together to define a plan to address environmental and social issues in their work.
The reception of the Designers Accord was overwhelmingly positive, and within one year, designers in firms, corporations, and educational programs from all over the world joined the coalition. Since its inception in June 2007, membership continues to rise, and the discourse around sustainability has evolved to include social justice, cultural sustainability, and humanitarian issues, in addition to environmental issues. We now define sustainability as the union of environmental impact and social impact.
The Designers Accord did not create the sustainability movement in the creative community, but it carved out a community strategy, and helped accelerate awareness throughout the design industry. The Designers Accord has not only unified designers around sustainability, but also sent a clear message to industry at large that the creative community is prioritizing sustainability as a critical part of good design.
Support
The Designers Accord is so appreciative for the generous support provided pro bono from the following companies:
Futurescape developed this website and the Toolkit website in record time and pixel perfect. Futurescape is an Experience + Service Design and Implementation company, and an incredibly talented and professional partner of the Designers Accord.
Eric Strohl generously designed the Designers Accord logo. Strohl’s work is the height of thoughtful craft.