I wanted to do a podcast, but it wouldn’t work… So here are the pictures and words separately. Imagine me speaking the transcript! 🙂

Hey guys!

I popped into the UN this morning to check out the “Design with the Other 90%’. The 10% refers to the minority of the population that benefit from a general design projects, and this exhibition shows a variety of socially responsible projects. The 60 different ones span from across 22 different nations. These are all nations in poverty, struggling with a variety of serious issues, including overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of education, and many more. Presented in the UN visitors’ lobby, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum from the Smithsonian has done a fantastic job with the “Design” arrangement.

Apart from all the artsy and pretty details of the photographs, videos, and models, it is simply a truly inspiring collection of pieces. All of the projects address different humanitarian concerns in communities that need help. Not only are they extraordinary solutions to things that are straining for a huge population of humans. Some projects depicted are Bangladesh’s Floating Community Lifeboats, which provide solar power, and a large oven in Nairobi, Kenya, that generates power from trash. And these are just a couple examples of all sorts of insanely resourceful, visionary concepts.

Artistically speaking, many of the things on display were simply gorgeous, and the ideas were genius. The different architectural designs were not only fun to look at, but really makes you think about how this fits into the location for which it was designed. These parts were like a typical design display, with little blurbs about each piece to the side. Apart from that, they also had many iMac screens, all showing footage of either everyday life of a developing country or an informative video clip about the new ideas being implemented in those countries. Sets of speakers were scattered across the exhibit, some playing the sounds from videos, others playing random noises from suburban areas. There were also some touch screen presentations, cute graphs, and  little museum-y things like that, and together, it made for a really unique and interactive experience. The variety of visuals and audio fit together so well, and tied it into a complete and involving time.

I really recommend you guys check this out! I saw a lot of different groups come in, including a group of middle schoolers and Chinese businessmen, so don’t be afraid about stepping into the UN! It’s just the visitor’s lobby anyway. They do check your bags and make you go through security procedures as if you were at an airport, but they have a gift shop, bookstore, coffee shop and a bathroom downstairs! There are just a lot of cool but also very important things that you can experience here. No, but seriously, if you don’t like design enough to go to this exhibit, the humanitarian causes that fueled the inventors of these designs should be motivation enough. World peace, guys, come on!

The UN is down 1st Ave, at the end of East 46th street, and this exhibition will be here until January 9th. It’s open Mondays to Fridays, 9:30 AM to 6 PM and the website is online 24/7 at http://designother90.org/cities/home. If you don’t feel like going alone, hit me up and I’ll be glad to come with you.

Thanks for listening!