Social innovation is one of the most dynamic, expansive and exciting fields of endeavor today. It is the application of new strategies and models to solving the challenges facing the world, and to strengthening society. In "Blessed Unrest," Paul Hawkins describes its remarkable force in the world as “the largest movement on earth, a movement that has no name, leader or location, and that has gone largely ignored by politicians and the media. Like nature itself, it is organizing from the bottom up, in every city, town and culture, and is emerging to be an extraordinary and creative expression of people’s needs worldwide.” 

Design has the potential to be the most powerful integrating force in helping us address the challenges we face. Designers are, by nature, committed to giving back and to engaging in work with purpose, yet there has been no learning path for them to play a leading role social innovation.  How can we learn to turn our good intentions into positive impact?

What exactly IS Design for Social Innovation? What are the forms, the tools and the contexts in which it takes place? What are the roles for designers in this exciting new field? And most important, how can designers learn and become involved?

In this discussion, Cheryl Heller will define Design for Social Innovation, social innovation, give examples of Design for Social Innovation, and talk about how to make it a part of every designers’ career.

Cheryl Heller is Chair of the new Masters Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York in Design for Social Innovation, founder of Heller Communication Design, and Board Chair of PopTech, a thought leadership conference and social innovation accelerator. She is a pioneering communication designer and business strategist, who has ledtransformational initiatives for entrepreneurs, corporations and Non-Profits, including Mars, L’Oreal, Seventh Generation, Reebok, Kodak Professional, Bayer Corporation, BlackRock, Marriott Corporation, Cemex, Seagrams, Ford Motor Company,  Discovery Networks International, MeadWestvaco, Sappi, WWF, Girl Scouts of America, IDE (International Development Enterprises) and the Cloud Institute for Sustainability Education.