Design for Social Entrepreneurship Fall 2008- RISD Industrial Design

Sami Nerenberg

A social entrepreneur is someone who recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial
principles to organize, create, and manage a venture to make social change.

This course aims to cultivate social entrepreneurial designers by investigating the power of
design of products, systems and services to create positive social and environmental change.
Looking at both international and domestic issues, this course asks, how can design and design
thinking be used to solve the world’s leading problems to achieve triple bottom line sustainability--
environmentally, socially, and economically? Structured around holistic thinking, collaborative and
individual design work, with mentorship from experts in the field, this course uncovers how to
design a product or service, wrap a business around it, and create tangible positive impact in our
world today.

The first half of the semester, the studio will investigate the UN Millennium Development Goals as
a framework of understanding global issues. This investigation will include intensive research,
peer-to-peer learning, system’s mapping, and a design project. As a group the studio will
translate the UN goals to the “US Sustainability Goals” (USSG) - identifying the eight key factors
the US must focus on to become socially and environmentally sustainable. We will develop a
series of educational videos defining the USSG to share with the larger design community
including IDEO, Core77 and others. As a final project each of you as an individual or small group,
will choose a USSG and delve into the communities around us, to discover how design can
improve the quality of life for our social and environmental landscapes.

Throughout the semester you will acquire and utilize the following skills: problem finding, problem
solving, critical thinking, information architecture, new media, human factors, marketing, product
design, system/service design, working in a group dynamic, presentations, and business strategy.

Between guest lecturers, in class workshops, and desk-crits, it is essential you show up to class
on time every time and dress professionally to present your work.

The projects and deliverables created during this course will be shared with the larger design
community including IDEO, Procter & Gamble,Core77 and other design companies.

For more information about this course, please contact: sami.nerenberg@gmail.com

Weeks 1-3: Research: Converging International Information

Sep 16-18: Assignment 1: UN Millennium Development Goals- Background Research

Sep 18-23: Assignment 2: TED Talks-Inspiration

Sep 23-25: Assignment 3: International Precedents- Looking at What’s Been Done

 Weeks 4-6:Design: International Synthesis and Divergence

Sep 25-Oct 2: Project 1: Systems Mapping

Due October 2nd

Oct 2-21: Project 2: Design for Development

Oct 9: pm Presentations from International Organizations (Tentatively)

- Design that Matters- Timothy Prestero
- Project H - Emily Pilloton
- Aid to Artisans - Mimi Robinson

Mid-Crit- Oct 14

Final Crit Oct 21:

Weeks 7-9: Design & Research: Bringing it Home & Spreading the Word

Oct 21-23: Assignment 4: Domestic Precedents

Oct 23-Nov 4: Project 3: US Sustainability Goals

Due November 4th

Oct 28: pm Multicultural Affairs Workshop

Oct 30: pm Presentations from Local Organizations (Tentatively)
- Sweat Equity Enterprises
- Sustainable South Bronx
- Save the Bay
- New Urban Arts
- Ecolect

Nov 4-13: Project 4: UN MDG-USSG Video

Due November 13th

Nov 4: pm Video Editing and Animation Workshop

Nov 8: Better by Design Conference
Nov 13: pm Presentations from RISD Community
-OMA
-OPE
-OSL
-Res Life
-Respond Design
-International Affairs
-RISD Reach

Weeks 9-13: The Ground Floor- Final Project

Nov 13-Dec 11: Final Project 5: Design for Local Sustainability

Nov 18: pm Business & Career Workshop

Mid-Crit-Dec 2

Final Crit: Thursday December 11