Humanitarian Design Principles and Resources
Fundamentals of Humanitarian Design and Sustainability Resources
“Design for the Other 90 Percent” by Cynthia E Smith. I highly recommend buying the book at just $12 to $14. You can read Paul Polak’s short article on Design Principles for the Other 90.
Design for the Other 90 Percent at the Cooper Hewitt
International Development Enterprises is also interested in humanitarian design for the poor at the base of the economic pyramid. They use a PRISM approach to the design process. Paul Polack, the founder of IDE, has 12 principles for humanitarian design projects. Polack believes that listening to villagers is absolutely critical to creating products and services which serve their needs.
BOP Protocol can help companies and entrepreneurs better engage with people in the developing world, thus creating not only better relationships but also better business success. Check out BOP 2.0 and a field guide from Kenya for better humanitarian design for people at the base of the pyramid.
H Design is a great non-profit humanitarian design organization. You can read Emily Pilloton’s Design Antimanifesto which discusses issues of Design for the Other 90 Percent and Sustainabililty.
Kickstart. You can learn about their design principles in Design for the Other 90 Pecent. You can read about their five step process to product design and launch. Kickstart creates products like the Money Maker Block Press and uses untraditional marketing like this music video.
Those interested in humanitarian design may find Architechture for Humanities‘ Open Architechture Network helpful for collaboration.
Other Humanitarian Design News and Resources
Sunlablob is an example which rents out solar lamps and provides employment to villagers.
Netsquared has three finalists for its mobile development project with the US AID.
You may appreciate base of the pyramid design organizations (part I) and base of the pyramid design organizations (part II). This is by no means comprehensive, but does scratch the surface of humanitarian design organizations. Or alternatively, you may want to focus on our base of the pyramid resources for social entrepreneurs, which provides the next level of introduction to the field.
