An activist design conference working toward solutions

The program structure of What Design Can Do is designed to give the conference its ‘activist’ character. The main program will lead to a side program including discussions, workshops and brainstorms, generating an exhibition of ideas, resulting in a book, used in a publicity stunt that will show the world What Design Can Do!

Each year the What Design Can Do program will be built around a specific editorial theme. For the 2011 edition this theme will be ACCESS, on many levels an urgent global issue. The theme makes it possible to formulate currently relevant answers to the general question of ‘What Design Can Do’.

The two-day program is divided into different sections, each focussing on a specific elaboration of the general theme. In this first edition sections will focus for example on ‘Access to basics’, ‘Access to information’, or ‘Access to the city’.

Each section will consist of four elements:

VISION
presentation of a broader vision on the subject

STATEMENTS
by individual designers demonstrating What Design Can Do

CONCEPTS
plans and ideas for design solutions that would solve current issues

ANSWERS
in break out sessions speakers will work together finding answers to a specific question related to one of the access-themes. The public is welcomed to join in. The conclusions will be published in the conference book.