Pro Bono Practices: October 2007 Archives
By Aaron Hurst on
October 19, 2007 4:26 PM
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The Communication Arts website offers an article on design for the public good, including a great gallery of public design. The examples range from a poster for a film festival to beautiful brochure for Doctors without Borders. You can click oneach and read about the project and designer.
http://www.commarts.com/CA/feadesign/pg04/
It is easy to be distracted by the gallery, but be sure to read the article too. It does a nice job of giving a balanced view of the pros and cons to doing pro bono work as a designer.
By Aaron Hurst on
October 12, 2007 11:06 AM
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McCall Design Group, the retail design firm responsible for just about every Gap, Victoria's Secret, and Bath & Body Works, just completed a pro bono space plan for Goodwill in San Francisco. They opened the new store on October 4th with much fanfare. The new store has a more efficient layout than their usual stores and might be the best designed thrift shop in the country. Not only is it a smart space, McCall helped to really integrate the brand into the experience, right down to the note cards announcing the opening.
McCall has just signed on to do Goodwill's 18th area store, a 16,000 sf space in Redwood City. They're excited and Goodwill is ecstatic. They're also collaborating on the design of a new breed of Goodwill off-shoots called "William Good," which will be a one-off, boutique clothing store that is essentially a pilot program.
By Aaron Hurst on
October 9, 2007 12:41 PM
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A number of graduate schools (e.g., engineering, design, business, etc.) are starting to engage their students in pro bono projects as part of their curriculum. This is a wonderful way to build the pro bono ethic in professionals early in their careers, and the students clearly gain a lot from the real world experience.
My fear is that these students may be getting a lot more out of the experience than their nonprofit clients. It has always been one of my core beliefs that nonprofit pro bono clients should be treated as paying clients and not as guinea pigs or second-class customers. When students do projects for nonprofits are they able to add real value or are they just wasting the time of a resource-strapped nonprofit?
What has your experience been providing or receiving pro bono services from graduate students? Send me an email at PBJ@taprootfoundation.org.
