With a promise to its students that each course will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Perestroika doesn’t push the traditional definitions of education and jobs, but rather focuses on outcomes like deep organic knowledge and productive opportunities in the present and in the future. If you dig through the website (which has an embedded video … but it’s in Portuguese and has slim pickings in regards to English translation) you’ll see Perestroika honors the etymology of the word “school” which traces its roots to schole, a Greek word meaning leisure and playtime. And true to that aim, courses run the gambit from the expected, like literacy and math, to the eminently practical, like cooking and web design.

Perestroika prides itself on its Experience Education methodology, which is a “mashup of what we know about classic education and contemporary learning movements, plus all the heritage from Digital Revolution.” Classes are created so students learn what they want to and have fun in the process, which is why part of the school’s ideology is that students shouldn’t go to school out of obligation, but rather because it is fun. Isn’t that a more honest definition of “enrollment?”

And, finally, I must mention Perestroika’s Project 1:1 – a program by which one child from a disadvantaged background gets a free class for every student that enrolls in the school. The faculty recognizes that the disadvantaged are a disadvantage to us all and by doing Project 1:1 the school is creating an advantage that benefits everyone. That’s more than a nice cherry on top of what already is a very compelling design.

Now, how much do you wish you had that much fun putting your fingerprints on your past school experiences?

Conserving water is a real issue as we speed-populate our planet, and redesigning our way into that new reality is going to take leaders from a variety of arenas.  I think it’s great that so notable a brand is doing that.  Levi’s engaged in what I like to refer to as pre-regulating themselves; making changes that they know will be perceived as being accountable to the public on an important issue and doing it through design … in this case process design. But before you think that the folks at Levi’s are breaking their arms patting themselves on the back and running victory laps, check this out: they acknowledge that Water<Less jeans are not the solution to the problem. Here’s what the website says,”

“What Levi’s brand can do alone is nothing compared to what we can all do together. So we’re asking you to join us in using water wisely and changing how you care for your jeans: wash in cold water and only when necessary. If we all washed our Water<Less jeans once a week instead of twice a week, together we could save 858,400,000 liters of water.”

That’s not exactly green washing now is it?  If you ask me, the awareness spread from the Water<Less jeans could end up having a bigger impact on the environment than the jeans themselves, even though they are produced with a fraction of the amount of water usually used in making your favorite pair of denims. Imagine if everyone took to Levi’s suggestion of washing jeans – regardless of manufacturer — once per week instead of twice.

And if that wasn’t enough, in its efforts to conserve water, Levi’s has formed a partnership with Water.org. “Together,” the website says about this collaboration, “we are working to fulfill the vision of a day when everyone has clean water to drink.” Now, the curious consumer may find him or herself learning about other ways to help conserve this precious resource.  But really what Levi’s is doing is treating its customers as part of its like-minded community.  Learning together, making changes together … making real impact.  Together.

Besides all the coolness that comes out of producing a pair of jeans with less water, partnering with the biggest water conservancy organization in existence and urging consumers to wash their jeans less, Levi’s has released a series of entertaining and moving videos to make its point clear as day. They’re certainly worth a couple minutes out of your day. You can view them here.

Here’s to an old brand acting in the most modern of ways.  I’ll drink to that!  And perhaps you’ll want to as well.

If you’re interested in supporting Water.org’s efforts, check out its Facebook page. And don’t forget to drop by the Naked Civics page!

What you’re about to read about is something that far too often we think of a merely a service: how we get information.  But the information itself is indeed a product as well and too often it’s not designed with the consumer of that information in mind.  Usually, the focus is built around what the producer needs to say.  But a truly good story – one that really sticks with you – is built to be heard not just stated, and infographics are emerging as a wonderful design constructed for that purpose.  The need has never been greater as each day we are introduced to another information aggregation website or application.  Listen, I’m a big fan of big information – but sometimes it can be a challenge to keep all of the data straight or pay attention to one story while there are a million others out there equally as deserving of our attention.

An infographic presents a visual landscape of the story being told. The language used in an infographic is nearly universal, as while not everyone can relate to numbers for instance, everyone with sight can interpret shapes and arrows and bubbles. This type of story construction is compelling, what with the stunning graphics and the stories within the story, but it also helps the readers (or viewers) understand the story better. In other words, an infographic is more than just a pretty picture – it is a narrative with context and as such it holds that much more power and impact.

This article in Fast Co Design introduces us to an incredible designer, Francesco Franchi, who creates infographics for an Italian tech magazine. The video in the article shows us some of his outstanding work and captures him talking about the structure of an infographic. “If we don’t have content we don’t have design.” You can’t tell a story about nothing, in other words. Besides the eclectic music and fantastic infographics smothered in beautiful Italian words, this video is outrageous. Do yourself a favor and watch it!

Franchi explains that technology is undergoing a massive overhaul, therefore it’s important to merge the techie language with the language of design so people can understand it. He calls this visual journalism, a combination of graphic and narrative. This type of work is a representation of the story, but because the shortage of words, it leaves a lot of room for your personal interpretation.

At first there was a lot of speculation swarming the blogosphere about the new world of the infographic. People thought it was a fad – kind of like they thought Facebook was just another Friendster. But if you ask me, and many others passionate about this type of language, the infographic is here to stay. It’s not fad, it’s the future of information.

Yes, Franchi is correct in stating that our world is experiencing a whole bevy of new technologies.  But I’d add that words and pictures are tools as well; tools that we create so we can communicate ideas.  So with new technology, we need new tools. If I were as talented as Signor Franchi, I’d show you that in an infographic.  But alas I am not, so check out his work.  It’s beautifully smart!

While there’s no doubt that this is a cutting-edge innovation, there’s an important social innovation at work here too; one that makes me think, finally! Let me give you another example to put this into context.  Think back to the time when being left-handed was shunned … and it wasn’t that long ago folks.  Lefties used to be forced to assimilate to the right-handed world and left-handed products were rare and expensive. But along with cultural acceptance of left-handedness came a marketplace of goods designed for folks with that natural tendency. Sure it’s a minority market, but it’s a legitimate market because those who are left-handed are and should be considered legitimate.  In some very interesting ways, Nike and Össur are creating a similar legitimacy for amputees. These companies are recognizing a market and validating its needs by producing a well-designed, extremely high quality product. Being recognized as a worthy market seems to me an important marker of acceptance.  And amputees deserve to be culturally accepted as a natural and welcomed part of society at large, right?

Let me explain the shoe a bit: the Nike Sole is a three-layer sole that fits right onto Össur’s widely used Flex-Run prosthetic carbon fiber blade (the technology that acts as an amputee’s foot). To date, amputees have had to buy a pair of regular shoes and then either throw the other away or mangle it into a form where they can glue or duct tape a portion of the remainder to their prosthetic.  But the Nike Sole comes individually and it can also be attached to the Flex Run Blade very quickly because of course it was purposefully designed to do just that.

The creation of the Nike Sole just goes to show that good design continues to focus on the user rather than the producer (another example of this is the new interactive, updating and downloadable textbooks that are built for intellectual exploration rather than the ease of cheaply printing a static image).  And Nike and Össur are also pointing the way in discovering and serving new markets, which is just smart business.

And with that, “Just Do It” has taken on a whole new meaning.  Cool.

For more information on Nike Sole, check out this and this.

So here’s an idea that isn’t all that half baked … even if it’s called Halfsies.

This Austin, Texas-based social initiative is delivering a heaping plate of new thinking. It is teaming up with restaurants to “turn the simple act of dining out into a charitable giving opportunity,” as its Facebook page says. Halfsies-authenticated restaurants will offer the following option to its customers:

1.    Customer orders an item on the menu with a Halfsies logo by it

2.    Customer receives one-half the portion he or she normally would

3.    Customer pays full price for item

I know, sounds crazy: pay full price for half the portion.  But the deal is that 90% of the excess price you’re paying goes straight to fighting hunger.  And that other half of your meal that’s missing on your plate?  Well, it’s not going straight to your waist. Clearly, eating half-sized portions and paying for full portions isn’t the definitive answer to either problem, but this is an interesting way to raise awareness of a couple of important social issues together.

Sure, sometimes we will be fortunate enough to find those opportunities that will make big changes with big impacts. And we should always be on the lookout for those grand plans. The reality is that a lot of our opportunities will be small changes with small impacts. But with many people making small impacts, we can create very big changes.

Let’s not underestimate or under appreciate the power of many people doing little things.  And that little thing with Halfsies could be the cherry on top of your dessert.

Check out Halfsies’s excellent video below.

Halfsies: Connecting the Dots from Go Halfsies on Vimeo.

Oliberté is a shoe company that, as GOOD calls it, is the “Anti-TOMS.” And while I’m not exactly endorsing the “anti” part of what TOMS is up to, Oliberté truly is onto something really important.  The company acknowledges that TOMS is a good marketing tool, but this enterprise prides itself on providing jobs and putting a new spark into the African economy. When people are consistently relying on free shoe drops – which has likely become expected – the local economy can suffer because local shoe manufacturers and vendors can’t compete against “free”.

Certainly this isn’t the intention of great social innovators like Mycoskie, but it’s a good lesson that even with our best intentions and actions there is always the possibility of negative consequences. Don’t get me wrong: philanthropy is a powerfully important tool, but it’s not a process that is sustainable for the soul, the mind, or the nations involved. What Oliberté wants is to get rid of the “poor Africa” mindset and show people that even a grief-stricken continent that’s accustomed to hand-outs can produce beautiful shoes.

And beautiful they are. You’ll see on the Oliberté website that the shoes are over $100 USD, but that’s 100-plus dollars well spent. Each shoe is made with handpicked free-range leather.  The rubber soles are natural, and much of the process is done by hand, stitching included. And that’s just the design of the shoe.  Now listen to the behind the scenes design: around 50 percent of its workforce is comprised of women. The company provides job security, free lunches, tea breaks and maternity leave. And all of this all takes place in some of the poorest communities on our planet.

While TOMS Shoes is undoubtedly a company committed to social good, Oliberté takes it an important step forward; from giving the gift of shoes to giving the gift of a job, a purpose and a paycheck. With locally sourced materials and a devotion to being faithful to the environment (it even has a shoe-recycling program), perhaps the most important of all of Oliberté’s efforts is its intention to wean these poor nations from a dependency on aid and assist in transitioning the economies into more vibrant and stable forms of self sufficiency.

Oliberté is a fast growing company.  It’s an outfit that we all should commend … and recommend!  Check out the article. And then let’s go shopping!

When I first saw an article in Fast Co. Design titled, Can These Simple Cartoons Help Redesign Education?, I assumed said doodles were aimed at children, as this type of simplified learning generally is. I was pleasantly surprised when I read the whole piece and watched the three short animated films. These animations aren’t for children – they’re for adults.

You see, adults need to be lifelong learners too, and because our complex world is changing at the speed of light, sometimes concepts need to be explained simply. The Fast Co. Design piece introduces us to Born to Learn, a new project that informs our society about the real way in which humans learn. It’s heavily based on evolutionary and psychological findings, and even if you don’t buy those theories, it’s still really cool and worth ten minutes of your time. The idea is that the way our brains have come to be – after thousands of years of growth, change and formation – is not the way our current education system is allowing them to grow. Born to Learn explores this idea by adorable animated videos that are, as I said, very simple.

A TEDxTC speech that I gave a while ago was posted on the main TED site this past Saturday and the number of views has just skyrocketed.  I can’t tell you how gratified I am that the folks at TED chose to promote my talk and it thrills me even more to see some of the wonderful conversation that is being generated in the comments section.  My talk is about how we can create a better world by integrating common good values as an intrinsic design in the products, services and processes that we use in our everyday lives.  We have become too reliant on the input of angry politics that move us right and left as the way to regulate our world, when what we need are outcomes that move us forward.  Building habitats and cultures that honor our values and our needs is one way to do just that. 

Because this talk has catalyzed this type of conversation, I would truly appreciate it if you’d pass on some your favorite examples of products and services that are aimed at this greater social relevance.  For instance, my friend Eve Blossom’s company Lulan Artisans doesn’t just support weaving co-ops that produce gorgeous textiles, her company produces economic value in villages that results in little girls not being sold into the sex trade.  I’d say that she’s selling much more than a good; Eve is selling a powerful public policy tool that you and I can support just by buying some of her beautiful goods.  How cool is it that a little purchase like that can have that large and important of an impact!  Kevin Rutherford’s super cool company Caldrea produces awesomely good household cleaning products that not only do a great job, but also are designed with environmental sustainability in mind.  Double the value because it cleans without polluting!  Ed Driscoll’s company, Rational Energies, is launching manufacturing plants that will convert household municipal waste into clean alternative gasoline.  Power your car, clean up a landfill and lessen green house gas emission’s all at the same time!

One of the best ways we can help create a better world is to surround ourselves with better products.  And one way to do that is to use our networks to help get the word out to our friends, our families and our greater networks about what we’re seeing out there.  If you know about someone who’s in the market with something that has social relevance built into it, let me know so I can help promote their good works too.  Please!

If you care to, check out my TED talk, and I’d appreciate it if you’d pass it on to your friends as well.  And as always, thank you for helping me be part of this greater conversation of what is making our world tick and how we can work together to improve it each and every day.

Cheers to you all!

Nate

I thought this outdoor clothing giant’s declaration was cutting-edge and risky, in the way that businesses ought to be risky. And because of that, it didn’t surprise me that this week on the very first day that companies in California could make the jump from a regular corporate status (as a C Corp) to a Benefit Corporation (B Corp), Patagonia switched over.

According to BCorporation.Net, B Corps are different from C Corps in that they:

1. Meet comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance standards;
2. Meet higher legal accountability standards;
3. Build business constituency for public policies that support sustainable business.

In layman’s terms, becoming B Corp-certified means that you’re taking a public stance on being a focused, socially relevant institution. These businesses volunteer to meet higher standards and aren’t intimidated that their commitments are public. And in fact, that’s part of the strategy.

Identifying your company as a B Corporation is a tool. It’s like wearing a T-shirt that says “social relevance is a priority to our corporation,” or “we care about the environment and we’re moving beyond just talk.” When it comes down to it, Patagonia’s B Corp status differentiates it from the slew of outdoor clothing companies. By becoming B Corp-certified Patagonia is expressing that it cares about social relevance and will do what it can to align its values with the values of society.

Think of it like the certified organic farms. They go through lengthy and oftentimes difficult certification processes in order to demonstrate that they are recognized by the state (or region or country) as truly organic. This is something that’s been popping up all over our country as of late. At the same time, in old-world countries like France and Italy where the farms are inherently and historically organic, the organic-certified farms are far and few between.  There’s little need to differentiate players in the marketplace because everyone has always had that posture in their agricultural communities.

That’s my hope with B Corps: What is remarkable today will ultimately be successfully integrated enough into the business landscape tomorrow to the point where the ability to differentiate yourself around these values seems archaic.  Consider this scenario: buy my products because I treat people of all races equally.  While that line could have been very useful in the not-too-distant past, the biggest differentiator today is those businesses that get outted because they don’t live up to this public expectation.  Yes, the law prevents racial discrimination, but the marketplace frowns upon it as well and perhaps in more damaging ways to those who offend our sensibilities.

Because it’s voluntary and based on the idea of market differentiation (i.e. how can we be more successful in the marketplace today), I believe that tools like B Corps can be much more successful in the long run than merely passing laws that force the kind of behavior that society seeks from the business sector.

It’s an interesting and positive statement that we created this tool, the B Corp certification, to express the importance of being socially responsible. And if enough forward-thinking businesses like Patagonia take the lead, many other C Corps will follow suit.

At the end of the day what we should seek is an outcome.  Having our business community committed to being socially relevant is an important outcome for us and I like the fact that, in addition to and beyond merely throwing regulations at each other, we’re putting more tools into our kit.

Smart move and I bet ultimately more effective.  Nice outcome.