ID [PNW]

In my photoshop class (Etec312) at Western my students have been taking various photos and images and making strange and scary mash-up manipulations. Here are some of them... Eagle woman by Erin Yoakum New Species by Jesse Savage Star Trek rocks out! by Antonio Mendez Bill Stepping Up by Alex McCulloch Baby by Evan McCormack The BILK by Ryan Mahan Paris' big secret by Jannike Lindberg (Not exactly ID, but good practice with Photoshop) bicycle t-shirts, stickers, iPhone cases and other gear.

We've been fortunate to receive some good articles and press about the Hoima bicycle project. Hopefully this draws attention to the needs of Ugandans and the ways that we can help. Here are some links: The Bellingham Herald article http://www.bellinghamherald.com/102/story/229078.html photo gallery http://www.bellinghamherald.com/galleries/gallery/228732.html video on Western ID's youTube channel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk24vjFZB5k Western's Newsletter http://onlinefast.org/v4/index.php?blog=7

The very title "design for the majority" or "design for the bottom of the pyramid" has a condescending, superior implication. That is "we educated, highly creative western designers will design for the poor uneducated, uncreative people of the world." But, to design for a different culture, a different people, entirely foreign to your own is not as easy as one thinks. For one, people are very different all around the world. How they think, how they perceive money, their social structures, their very priorities, are quite different. An American design for an African market will always be more or less off-target. A Japanese design for an Indian market will always be a little inappropriate. From color to form to iconography, we're different. Of course with lots of research and expensive flights we can learn and get closer. Secondly, creativity is not an attribute limited to Europeans and Americans. It just happens that prosperous cultures have their basic...