jGuateAmala! translates from Spanish to 'Love Guatemala'. It is a long- term project campaigning to encourage Guatemalans to think positively about their country's future. Alice Rawsthorn's article in the Herald tells how Bruce Mau's design thinking reached beyond the creation of a visual identity for the campaign, and helped redefine the vision. Rawsthorn talks about geodesign or 'new design' as an emerging field in which design thinking is used to address social and political problems. Mau's Massive Change project (exhibition, book, events) had previously 'explored paradigm-shifting events, ideas, and people, investigating the capacities and ethical dilemmas of design'. Of jGuateAmala! Mau says "Of course, we can't solve Guatemala's problems, that can only be accomplished by Guatemalans. But by sharing our communication tools, we can help. What could be better than that?"

Alice Rawsthorn was Director of the Design Museum before becoming design critic of the International Herald Tribune. Read the article here.

CATEGORY: MISCELLANEOUS