Initiated by a group of Dutch designers, including Richard van der Laken and Pepijn Zurburg, founders of De-Designpolitie, the conference explores the influence of design and its propensity to change and improve social problems in the world.
With design often associated solely with luxury, trends and aesthetics, the creators of What Design Can Do were determined to show design as a much more powerful tool for questioning and challenging. For instance Ina Jurg, a speaker at What Design Can Do 2012, presented the importance of design through her charity’s WASH United projects in Africa, which raise awareness of sanitation and hygiene through ‘redesigning’ the toilet experience and finding innovative designs to make hand washing more appealing.
What Design Can Do is structured around a programme of discussions, workshops and brainstorms. International speakers from all design disciplines will discuss alternative strategies for the future, with participation from the audience. The ideas and answers given by both speakers and audience will be compiled into a book and presented at the end of the conference.
The two-day event takes place in the Stadsschouwburg Theatre, Amsterdam.
