Using Design to Aid in Poverty Relief
College
College of Visual and Performing Arts
Department
Design
Abstract
The issue of global poverty has dominated international discourse and is the focus of countless charity and public awareness campaigns. However, few have tried to address this threat to human life through the arts. In my thesis, I seek to use design to aid in global poverty relief. With this project, I am not aiming to solve global poverty, rather I seek to empower and aid communities currently affected by extreme poverty. To accomplish this goal, I will create a company that sells t-shirts and other screen-printed materials; a portion of the proceeds made will be directly given to grassroots organizations that work in and with communities impacted by poverty. For the purpose of my thesis, I will focus on the poorest parts of Latin America: the rural and indigenous communities of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. I will design three printed materials per region, three printed materials which represent the company, a website, and a packaging proposal for the products. The additional questions I am asking with this thesis are, how can I create socially and environmentally conscious designs which represent cultures I am not apart of, and how can I instill trust in my audience that my cause is worthwhile and helpful? The goal is to create a creative business model that promotes investment in communities and empowers individuals to be able to break the cycle of poverty within their populations.
Honors Thesis Committee
Jason Tselentis, M.F.A.; Jesse Weser, M.A.; and Adam Glover, Ph.D
Course Assignment
VCOM 486, 487 – Tselentis
Start Date
20-4-2018 2:09 PM
Using Design to Aid in Poverty Relief
DIGS 220
The issue of global poverty has dominated international discourse and is the focus of countless charity and public awareness campaigns. However, few have tried to address this threat to human life through the arts. In my thesis, I seek to use design to aid in global poverty relief. With this project, I am not aiming to solve global poverty, rather I seek to empower and aid communities currently affected by extreme poverty. To accomplish this goal, I will create a company that sells t-shirts and other screen-printed materials; a portion of the proceeds made will be directly given to grassroots organizations that work in and with communities impacted by poverty. For the purpose of my thesis, I will focus on the poorest parts of Latin America: the rural and indigenous communities of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. I will design three printed materials per region, three printed materials which represent the company, a website, and a packaging proposal for the products. The additional questions I am asking with this thesis are, how can I create socially and environmentally conscious designs which represent cultures I am not apart of, and how can I instill trust in my audience that my cause is worthwhile and helpful? The goal is to create a creative business model that promotes investment in communities and empowers individuals to be able to break the cycle of poverty within their populations.
