Emily Pilloton

Emily, tell us something about you and your design slogan "stop talking big and start doing good".

Something about me: I'm the Founder of Project H Design, I believe that design can empower, and that product design should be more need-based and less consumer-based. I'm a nomad and can't sit still, and rarely show up to business meetings without baked goods.

"Stop talking big and start doing good" is a line from my Anti-Manifesto: A Call to Action for Humanitarian Product Design, 
and a battle cry for designers to (apologies for the Nike reference) Just Do It. Basically, I'm a little sick of design being more a noun than a verb.

We designers are trained to solve problems with grace and foresight. But we get caught up in conversations and soundbytes surrounding sustainability and good design without translating those conversations into action. I believe that initiative and productivity are the best business strategies and the most direct paths to change and progress (this is obvious- if you keep moving with speed and direction, you're going to get somewhere). Between all the design conferences and meetings and networking, we have to remember that it's what we DO, not what we SAY that will make us all better and more socially-productive designers, both individually and collectively.

What is Project H Design and when did it start?

Project H is a conduit, catalyst, and conversation starter for expanding the impact of product design to more socially-innovative realms. We're trying to make the case for shifting the trajectory of industrial design towards something more generative, humanitarian, and responsible. And I'm out to prove that designers are at their core activists over aestheticians, and that with some chutzpah and business sense we can become a community that global citizens rely on to produce solutions to real world problems.

Can you describe specific projects you are working on now?

Right now our big projects are the Hippo Roller redesign run by the San Francisco chapter, Lifestraws for Mumbai, new chapter expansions, and a few global workshops.

The Hippo Roller redesign is the second phase of our ongoing partnership with Hippo Roller, based in Johannesburg and run by Grant Gibbs. In March, we funded and delivered 75 Hippo Rollers to a community in South Africa called Kgautswane, thanks to support from designers and generous donors from all over the world. The donation wasn't just a handout, but a first step in a collaboration that would grow to include community partnerships, design consulting and development for the new prototype, and strategy for the business case surrounding the roller's distribution. As it stands now, we have been lucky enough to combine efforts between Project H's San Francisco chapter run by Ryan Duke, and the San Francisco chapter of Engineers Without Borders. We're helping to provide redesign suggestions to Hippo Roller that will reduce price point, increase shipping efficiency, and yield possibilities for more global distribution.

Lifestraws for Mumbai began as a funding project back in May. We partnered with a UC Berkeley-based organization called Haath Mein Sehat (Health In Hand) that consists of a group of engineering students developing, testing, and implementing point-of-use water filtration systems in Mumbai. We funded 25 of the new Lifestraw Family filter system and in December will be delivering the Lifestraws. With Haath Mein Sehat, we'll look at user acceptance and  implementation opportunities for the systems within a dense, urban slum, a context within which the Lifestraw has not been tested extensively.

Project H chapters are sprouting up everywhere- San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London, soon Melbourne and India, serving as local "design troops" that bring design thinking to demographics typically underserved by designers. The chapters can work on global projects, like the San Francisco chapter and the Hippo Roller redesign, or with local organizations and communities who might benefit from the thought and efficiency planning that designers bring to the table. We're expanding into cities worldwide, so let us know if you'd like to start one!

Lastly, we've been running some blitzkrieg-style workshops worldwide- mostly in university industrial design departments- that bring an hour, day, or week's worth of social design thinking to a particular global issue. In Melbourne this past July we ran a Global Mobility workshop that conceptualized solutions for East African small-acreage farmers. In November we're running a Design Improv: 1000 Ideas in 2 Hours workshop at CEDIM in Monterrey, and hopefully a Tools for eFISHency workshop in a fishing village outside of Cairo in the spring.

What impact have you seen from these projects? How did communities welcome them?

With the Hippo Roller in particular, the impact is tangible and astonishing. On an immediate level, the communities see the value in its function and welcome it as a tool for efficiency, health, and time-saving. But beyond that initial function, there's a social impact that can be measured over time. Kgautswane has been something of an incubator community for the Hippo Roller; they have received and are using thousands of them in their community of 110,000+ people. Some have been in use for 5, 7, even ten years. And while traditionally the women and children fetch water, the Hippo Roller is viewed as a masculine object and has inspired the men to step up and fetch water more frequently. Because of these shifting gender roles, children's and women's literacy has improved and more women are starting businesses, etc. It's an impact that wasn't anticipated in the initial design of the object, which was purely functional, but a great example of creating impact through great design.

With the Lifestraw and chapter projects, I have really been surprised and humbled by the funding and design community support (the Lifestraws have yet to be delivered, so I can't really speak to the Mumbai community impact). But in the case of the Lifestraws for Mumbai project, Project H received donations from the design community, who really understood the value of the object, and generous individuals and philanthropist, who really understood the social value. And because it was only $25 to sponsor the delivery of one Lifestraw, it was an accessible funding amount to everyone. So the community impact was really more about finding a way to bridge the design and donor community through an amazing product.

The communities that benefit from our initiatives are not just the Hippo Roller recipients or families who will receive a Lifestraw Family system, but all the supportive networks as well- the Bay Area design community, local chapters, funders, social enterprises, etc.

Which do you think it will be the next upcoming project? Which part of the world would you like to focus on next time?

On September 1 we launched our Design For Education project, which is the biggest and most complex design project yet. We have a great team of designers (Heleen de Goey and Dan Grossman), and design management strategists from Pratt who will design an math toy for elementary education with applications in both a developing and US retail market.

The toy will be designed in 2 versions- one based on a Ugandan school for AIDS orphans as a case study, and one that will be developed as an off-the-shelf consumer product for the US retail market. In April of this year, I spent 6 weeks at the Kutamba AIDS Orphan School in Uganda working with teachers and students to gather research surrounding their curricula, teaching tactics, student habits, interests, and favorite games, etc. Kutamba will serve as the case study for the design of a locally-producable version of the toy, while we'll develop the retail version based on the same design concept. Through research of math education theories like manipulatives (we learn math through tactility) and constructionism (we learn by making), we'll design a system that inspires both forms.

The other interesting facet to this project is the business model and the development of some best practices for embedding social entrepreneurship and new funding structures into the implementation of these toys. My hope is to bridge the markets through a retail-funded donation that goes back into the distribution of the toy in developing markets.

The Design For Education project will be an exploration for Project H internally as well- to establish some best practices for combining design with enterprise, charity with market viability, and thinking both locally and globally at the same time. And right now we're in the running to win $10,000 to fund the project.

What is your vision for Project H Design? How would you like it to grow?

When people used to ask me this question, I used to respond with "I'd like to move out of my parents' house." But now that I have, I've set my sights higher!

In all honesty, I've been absolutely floored by the speed at which Project H has grown and humbled by the support I've received from all types of people and organizations. My goal for its continued growth is to build an organization that is scalable but accessible, organic but grounded, and more than anything else, a catalyst for action.

I'd like to grow the chapter network so that each chapter is self-sustaining and can be flexible based on local contexts, chapter members' interests and skills, but remain grounded in the values that Project H stands for.

I'd like to figure out some best practices for Project H and the design community as a whole: practices and strategies that more directly equate financial value with social value. In other words, I want to prove that you can make a living designing for the greater good.

And lastly, I'd like to expand the potential of design thinking beyond the design community itself. I'd love for communities, both in the US and in India, Africa, Asia, and beyond, to begin to view design as something we rely on to solve our problems- one of the first lines of defense in ameliorating social ills. Design can be a form of capital, a form of public health, and a vehicle for social and political progress. I hope that Project H becomes proof of that.

What trends are you seeing in the humanitarian design community?

Everyone's talking about "the other 90%" and "the bottom of the pyramid." And it's great that we're realizing that there's a huge demographic that has been left behind, both in the design world and economically. But we have to be careful here, because "the other 90%" feels very us-versus-them, and really, humans are humans, and needs are needs. We all believe in love and family and we want to believe our hard work will be rewarded. Design can bring us together rather than magnify our differences. Yes, we can look at the economics and realize there's a divide, but we should be more focused on bridging cultures and markets through design, rather than focusing on the differences between San Francisco and the slums of Monrovia.Let's look to what we have in common, and use that as inspiration for design work.

Secondly, I think we're finally realizing that the term "sustainability" has too often in the past few years meant "environmental responsibility." Somehow the social, human element has been behind the curve, like the younger sister that's been overshadowed by her overachieving older sibling. It's high time we devote some real energy and foresight to what "sustainability" really means, and realize that human capital is as important as what something is made of, or what its embodied energy might be. Is the Hippo Roller not good sustainable design because it's made out of plastic? Is a $2000 bamboo coffee table really any more sustainable?

Who can you see partnering with Project H in the future?

To date, most people involved with Project H have been young individual designers with passion and optimism and insane amounts of talent. In the future, I'd love to partner with some bigger design firms to more firmly root some of these values and strategies in the design industry from the inside out.

My other fantasy partnership is Target (particularly in the production of the educational math toy). I think as big box retailers go, they have an amazing commitment to both design and education that could take the distribution of the Design For Education product into a wider-scale retail market. I love the idea of pitching this amazing math toy to Target, and setting up a funding structure in which their sells support the distribution/implementation in the developing world, bridging private school 2nd graders in California with AIDS orphans in Uganda all through this great designed object.

Lastly, I'd love to partner with some government entities. Not because I'm chomping at the bit to fight through layers of red tape, but because I think when public officials begin to value design and implement it within their own civic programs, we'll see a real shift. We'll be able to say design isn't just about consumerism, but something we as a society look to to make change and to make life better.

How can people support a non-profit such as yours?

The obvious answer here would be "make a donation!" and of course, financial support is key for nonprofits like Project H that operate on sweat and optimism. But more than that, I'd go back to my previous statement: "stop talking big and start doing good." The best support you can give is your own action, whether you're joining or starting a Project H chapter, or starting a conversation or new project within your day-job design firm. Just do your part and we'll all get there together.

Tell designers 3 good reasons to change their way of designing.

1. To prove that "good design" is synonymous with "design for good."

2. Because even though we've all got our fingers crossed for Obama, we have to use what we've got (design ingenuity) to become our own changemakers.

3. Because if you view change as potential, you'll never be bored or hate your job.

To find out more about Emily Pilloton, visit www.projecthdesign.com. She can be contacted at emily (at) projecthdesign (dot) com.