The Big Idea
I get a lot of "what is Oxfam doing in Australia" and "oh that sounds like a vacation" sort of comments about my project. Well, as for the first, go read up on the Close the Gap campaign and you'll see why it's important that they're here.
Concerning the second, it's only a vacation in the sense that I'm in a civilized location, and that I like what I'm doing. But I haven't exactly been to the opera house or seen a kangaroo yet (that's for July!)
When I began writing my proposal for this project, I had broader aims than a Duke Engage experience. The idea for this actually came to me when I started work on another, more personal endeavor.
I run an international group of artists and designers called Evoke (www.evokeone.com). These artists often charge upwards of $500 an hour for design work, yet they submit to our exhibitions for free. What if there was some way for an artist to submit a piece to an exhibition, use the design to promote a charity, and build their portfolio in the process? It's a win win situation. Charities spend MONUMENTAL amounts of money on promotion - you hire a bad designer, people don't take you seriously. You hire one that's really good, your money isn't being used right.
I sent out cover letters to a number of organizations about my idea, and got generally very favorable replies. However, everyone wanted to see a portfolio of some sort, and see what we could do when working pro-bono.
This was a sticking point, as I didn't have a portfolio for the group.
So, why not go to some place for Duke Engage where I can develop said portfolio? It just so happens that a lot of my fellow designers in Evoke are located in Australia. This made it a very convenient location to begin work. Going to Africa and printing nice posters is rather futile when people need food - they don't need a cool image to tell them they're hungry.
I'm a big fan of the "do what you can now" philosophy. And I think my project here is doing that.
After meeting with the likes of Stefan D'Alessandro and Justin Maller (BIG design names) in Melbourne, I can see that other artists are backing me up on this as well.
I'm working with Oxfam to retrain their inhouse designers so they don't have to subcontract as much. At the same time, I'm laying the foundation for a group I would like to launch in the fall.
Will it work? I don't know. I'll give it a good shot.
Cheers,
Ted