馃攳
Cansu Akarsu | Philanthropic Design Brings Smiles and Solutions - YouTube
Channel: unknown
[12]
When I was in high school my favourite
[14]
teacher was Mr. Wiavbowski.By then,
[16]
it was because he never got angry
[18]
with our chatty group of girl friends.
[21]
We thought that either he couldn't hear well
[24]
or he didn't really bother with us.
[26]
But, right now I understand that
[29]
I really admired his teaching method.
[32]
When we were to do a physics experiment,
[34]
he put us in the position of a real
[37]
scientist. He didn't instruct us on
[39]
what to do. Let's say we have to prove
[42]
that "Water's density is 1".
[44]
He said, you have all these tools on table
[48]
Now try to find the density of water.
[51]
He didn't really give us a method to follow
[54]
and he challenged us to come up with our
[56]
own method. I find this a bit similar to
[59]
the concept of Tabula Rasa.
[61]
It's a condition where you have a blank
[64]
state of mind. No prejudice or effect by
[66]
the past experience or knowledge.
[68]
As a young designer, I find myself most
[71]
creative when I'm in that state.
[74]
Now, I will give you an example.
[76]
It was 3 years ago, when I stumbled upon
[81]
a Japan based design competition on the
[83]
internet by a company called Felissimo
[87]
They said, design a new pencil case for
[90]
our set of 500 colored pencils.
[93]
When you read a pencil case, it already
[98]
defines an object. So, it might actually
[101]
lead to a wrong start for a designer.
[103]
The mind immediately focuses on
[106]
what has already been designed. And,
[108]
you start to remember all the pencil cases
[111]
you saw in your life.
[115]
If I really want to create something new,
[117]
I have to go back in time and I have to be
[121]
in the blank state of mind where there
[123]
were no pencil cases in the world.
[125]
Then I made this my starting point and
[128]
I asked myself what is the core function
[131]
I need to achieve? That is, I have some
[134]
pencils in my hand and I need to
[136]
bring them together.
[137]
Since I made this my starting point
[140]
in the end I designed a tool called
[142]
End-to-End.
[143]
It's a small tool that connects two
[145]
pencils end to end allowing them to move
[148]
freely in all directions.
[150]
This is how it works.
[156]
You can carry as many pencils as you want
[159]
by connecting them together and carrying
[161]
with you. When 500 of them are connected
[164]
you can play with them even make
[167]
structures with them.
[171]
So by forgetting the old, I was actually
[173]
come up with something different
[176]
than a normal pencil case.
[178]
Was that a pencil case? Maybe not.
[180]
But it created a fun and interactive
[183]
solution to the problem and probably
[185]
that's why I got the privilege to go to
[187]
Japan as a winner.
[192]
Last year, I was an exchange student
[194]
in South Korea in Kaist University.
[197]
This was my Lab. By the influence of
[200]
my professor there, I got really
[202]
interested in philanthropic design.
[205]
Since I'm a big fan of competitions,
[208]
I found out about Index Design Challenge.
[210]
That year Index collaborated with UNICEF.
[214]
They came up with design topics aiming to
[216]
improve education in the rural schools.
[219]
This idea of improving education using
[223]
my design skills really got me going.
[226]
They created this really great, long
[230]
design brief where UNICEF explained the
[232]
current situation and the problems they
[235]
had in the rural schools.
[237]
One of the topics that I worked on was
[239]
about the "soap maintenance".
[241]
They said the problem is the loss of soap
[245]
due to wastage, displacement, melting and
[247]
theft. And the challenge is therefore
[250]
to find a way to present the soap so that
[252]
it cannot be easily taken away.
[255]
When they give you a problem,
[257]
designers we love problems!
[259]
We have something to solve.
[261]
Actually we have to dig into these problems
[264]
For a second, I said "Is this really about
[268]
UNICEF's problem?" It could also be
[271]
about a 9 year-old kid washing hands
[275]
in school, right? So, now I would like to
[278]
play a short game with all of you guys.
[280]
Please close your eyes and imagine that
[284]
you are a 9 year-old.
[287]
Close your eyes please everyone.
[291]
Now you are at school, you are going to
[293]
4th grade in the class, teacher is there.
[299]
(Bell rings) It's break time right?
[301]
Everyone is running outside to play but
[304]
you have to go to the toilet now.
[308]
You go to the toilet,
[310]
and you do what you have to do.
[316]
You go out and through the window you can
[320]
still hear and see your friends playing.
[322]
On the other side you see sink and soap.
[324]
The break time is quite short and it's
[327]
going to be over soon. What do you do?
[331]
According to a study by the Water and
[333]
Sanitation Programme in Senegal
[337]
They realized that only %7 of kids wash
[340]
their hands after going to the toilet.
[342]
Then, they ask the kids. Why?
[344]
They said, "washing hand takes time from
[346]
my playtime and since I wash my hands
[348]
alone I feel like it is a boring activity"
[351]
Right? (Laughs)
[354]
So, by looking at the problem from a
[357]
different angle we could actually
[358]
redefine this challenge and maybe solve
[362]
more problems than what is suggested.
[367]
With this redefined challenge, I designed
[369]
"Soapshish". I was inspired by different
[372]
means than only soap. I was inspired by
[374]
a traditional toy Abacus and 艧i艧 kebab.
[377]
I admit that I missed some turkish food in
[380]
Korea so this is the effect of that
[382]
(Laughs)
[384]
And I designed a huge abacus of soaps
[386]
basically. The children can move them up
[389]
and down, left and right and play with it
[393]
maybe with more than one people.
[397]
This doesn't only solve the problem of
[401]
theft because they cannot take the soap
[402]
away but it also creates interactive
[405]
solution. In the end the biggest aim is to
[408]
improve handwashing as a habit, not a
[410]
temporary solution but created as a habit
[413]
in the next generations.
[416]
Here is a short video from Korea.
[419]
(Children screaming and laughing)
[438]
That's a quite emotional moment for me.
[445]
So, I wanted to bring the playfulness
[448]
of the break time, all these mess and
[450]
shouting and screaming right next to the
[453]
water to create a playful moment when
[456]
they wash their hands.
[461]
What has worked for me as a designer
[464]
until now is to try to find the right
[466]
balance between the old and the new.
[468]
Try to be open to new ideas not by being
[473]
limited by the old but also being inspired
[476]
from different means out of the box.
[478]
I believe that this is a way to challenge
[481]
both ourselves and our teams to be more
[483]
creative.
[483]
Thank you. (Claps)
Most Recent Videos:
You can go back to the homepage right here: Homepage