The high failure rate of small and micro businesses together with limited information about the operations of informal fashion micro-businesses and necessitated a study about the apparel product design and development process applied by custom-made apparel manufacturing micro enterprises (CMMEs). These micro-enterprises have an important role to play in poverty alleviation in South Africa despite implementing survivalist strategies, and they also provide a sense of self-worth and dignity to people who would otherwise depend on welfare (Grant 2013; Phakathi 2013; Campaniaris et al. 2011). According to Burke (2011), knowledge of design enables creativity and innovation and therefore to prosper, informal CMME owners need to be competent, as well as innovative (SME Reports 2014).

Interior design is a discipline concerned with human inhabitation. It provides the capacity for inhabitant identities to inform and be informed by the interior. Interiors are cultural products, reflective of societal identity and taste (Königk & Khan 2015). Following Bourdieu (1979 [1984]), tastemaking is a repeated, cyclic process. As tastemakers, interior designers are responsible for deciding how selected goods are made desirable through responding to, interpreting and shaping the tastes of society. The cyclic nature of interiors is prevalent in the commercial realm. The conventional fit-out lifecycle is governed by lease periods of five years and the physical deterioration of shopfitted elements after ten years of use.

The emergence of young African social entrepreneurs who design social change could translate to significant social value design that, in turn, could improve the future of several communities. Nevertheless, the designed value will only benefit the continent if it is substantial and sustainable. The problem is that many social entrepreneurial endeavours are implemented without a long-term future focus or an understanding of how social value is conceptualised. For this reason, tertiary institutions in Africa should consider presenting training or education related to sustainable social value design.

This study expands the concept of cosmopolitan localism by Manzini (2010), which supports the approach of contextualised design solutions and not necessarily a global approach due to context differences. The research adopted an ethnographic approach for studying emerging sustainable graphic design practices with the aid of Sustainability Development Analytical Grid and Activity Theory. The results show the practice of sustainability through the aid of Ghana Food and Drugs Authority and Ghana Environmental Protection Agency who checked the content and materials of graphic design products for conformity to set standards.

The systemic nature of cultural production implies that designed objects are made desirable (or acceptable) by tastemakers who endow objects with forms of social distinction. Social distinction highlights or diffuses status and reveals self-perceptions of consumers’ identities. In this way, design becomes a form of tastemaking, invested in the construction of identity and is therefore a form of cultural production rooted in consumption. The role of the designer in facilitating conspicuous consumption is therefore critical in the context of social distinction, cohesion and identity.

The multifaceted and complex phenomena of ethics and accountability have relevance for the current discourse of fashion design. This is evident in the choice of materials used, the conditions under which clothing is produced, as well as how designers think about and implement the practice of fashion. Fashion practice has environmental and ethical impacts that ultimately connect human wellbeing and society with sustainable practice.

Governments, policy makers and environmental activists across the globe, entered the 21st century with a renewed focus in combatting the impact of humanities unsustainable practices. To achieve this goal a paradigm shift towards being environmentally responsible and accountable is required in which humanity will have to adopt radical personal change. This paper therefore aims to address the unsustainable future that humanity faces through investigating the role of education as agents of change in motivating sustainable practices and inspiring personal, ethical conduct amongst university students.

The role of the design educator is to mediate learning and equip students to effectively contribute to their specific field once they graduate. With an ever-increasing demand for the ethical consideration of the sustainability of products and the impact of the manufacture thereof, so too the role of the educator should compensate and prepare learners accordingly. This paper aims to investigate the social and environmental responsibilities of industrial design professionals by referring to the works of key authors as well as current industry practices.

In  order  to  save  both  the  planet  and  the  human  race,  society  needs  to  take  action  and  adopt  sustainable practices and approaches. The embedded modes of operations and encultured human behavioral patterns are under attack and radical changes are required, to ensure a future that provides sustainable  living conditions. Through employing various teaching and learning strategies, educators aim to convert the student’s approach and encourage  personal  awareness  that would stimulate   responsible  sustainability  thinking  and design. This paper  explains  how  behavioral  patterns   can  be changed  through  our  teaching  and  learning  approach  thus contributing towards an environmentally responsible design culture and society.
 

Ethos, the origin of the word ethics, originally meant a place where animals frequent. When the herds gather at the watering hole how do they interact with other herds, species or competition? How do they behave in a way that they will be welcomed back?

This presentation will report on progress made in the development of a new Master’s degree structure in Graphic Design at the Durban University of Technology.

Full title: Learning From Synergies Between the Intersections of the Indigenous and
Modern in Settlement Planning Concepts and Traditions in Africa:

The study of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the built-environment disciplines has for a long time been limited and trapped in the idyllic discourses of 'exotic’ or 'primitive' architecture, and the ‘organic’ nature of the development and planning of such built forms and settlements, by emphasizing the essentially transient nature of these built forms.

A program of non-prescriptive design in a culture of innovation

In our understanding the Innovation is a space defined by the conceptual innovation and her implementation tools: technical innovation and formal expression. They are together the coordinates of this SPACE of INTEGRAL INNOVATION.

In this perception the dynamic axle, which is major in developing the space, the “z” coordinate is the conceptual innovation. This ability of creating genuine ideas is the most important asset of humanity and the reason of our overwhelming adaptability to change. From this point of view, educating the integral innovation is of high relevance.

This Article provides an initial overview of the professional graphic designers’ negative environmental impact and why their method of design for planned obsolescence must change. It argues thereafter that the American university graphic design curriculum should evolve to include an initial discussion of sustainability through a required studio design course on the topic.

This paper argues that the story of hemp is one of mistaken identity and focuses on the potential of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in a social and economic context and how it can help to develop with modern technology into ‘new’ materials on a national level with reference to examples from abroad.

Recent work is re-conceptualizing global poverty as an attractive growth opportunity for firms that can simultaneously alleviate the problem of poverty. The so-called ‘Base of the economic Pyramid (BoP)’, exists of 4 billion people that live on an income of less than $3 a day. Tapping into these overlooked markets will require companies and designers to reconfigure their business and product innovation models.

Southern African countries are blessed with abundance of rich non-wood species including bamboo.

Countries like Botswana, Zambia, Kenya and Tanzania have most resource-rich ecosystems in the continent. Previous studies have shown that, in these countries, non-wood products are among the diversity of resources that have contributed to the well being of local communities, particularly at household level where resources are used for subsistence and income generation.

In order to achieve sustainability within the design industry, designers and educators working within changing value systems need to develop practical and contextualised solutions.

This paper examines ecological principles based on growing environmental awareness and the need to imbue responsibility towards our environment and relate appropriate technology.