Futurekind: Design by and for the People

Featuring over sixty design projects enabled by new technologies, this book reveals how innovative, socially and environmentally conscious designs allow us to change the world for the better.

We have grown accustomed to two beliefs: first, that only experts can be designers, and second, that our everyday activities are harming the planet. Yet, by bringing together digital communication and engaged online communities, products can be designed by anyone for the social and environmental good.

From a playground-powered water pump in South Africa to a DIY cellphone, Futurekind showcases design projects―across every scale, budget, and material―that have made a genuine difference in individual lives and in communities around the world. Each of these groundbreaking projects is presented through fascinating and life-affirming narratives, and reveal how design practice is being transformed by crowd-sourcing and the latest digital technologies that enable people to actualize ideas together.

Vivid photography celebrates the humanity of the endeavor and the mechanisms and motivations behind each design approach. Both manual and manifesto, inspiration and call to arms, this rich and timely survey tells the true stories of world-changing collaborations between designers and communities, providing hope for humankind.