Our community is made up of designers, collaborators, project participants – all forming a partnership to work on projects for the social good. Using googleMaps, we locate our project sites in Mexico.

    Wim Crouwell Interview with Dutch graphic designer and typographer Wim Crouwel at Galerie Anatome in Paris, 02/2007.   A clip from the feature-length documentary Helvetica, featuring Dutch design legend Wim Crouwel.  Erik von Blokland Round typefaces keep going in and out of fashion, for many reasons. One of them always has been the media the face would be used for: type on screens and back-lit signs suffers...

  Mapping the Human ‘Diseasome’ (May 5, 2008)Researchers created a map linking different diseases, represented by circles, to the genes they have in common, represented by squares. Map | Related Article: Redefining Disease, Genes and All  

The design of the identity and web site for the UF seminars in global health, to inform prospective students about this interdisciplinary course and create an online archive available for students and colleagues world-wide.

Maria Rogal Office of Design, Innovation & DevelopmentAssociate Professor, Graphic DesignUniversity of Florida School of Art + Art History w: mariarogal.com 2009–2010 Projects Abby Chryst Ariella Mostkoff Greg Cole Yesenia Rivero Gabriela Hernandez Laila Simonovsky Mike McVicar Morgan Slavens Maria Rogal (faculty) 2008: Xyaat Ecotourism and Artisans Network Projects Molly Aubry Marcela Gurdian Emily Frye...

Albert Schweitzer wrote “Start early to instill in your students awareness that they are on this earth to help and serve others; that is as important to pass on to them as knowledge. The most important thing in education is to make young people think for themselves.”    

Design Thinking is EverywhereLately, I’ve been coming across more and more organizations and people who are promoting innovation, design, and thinking differently as a way to make change. It’s not that we haven’t all known this all along, it’s just that it seems creativity is being embraced as a valuable and now tangible, even commodifiable, asset.

English – > 8.8.2008. Summary of the feedback from Marcos Cante (36, Señor, Quintana Roo) and Herbé Chim Ake (41, Miuxupip, Yucatán) about the projects for the public good – products of the MFA graphic design program at the University of Florida spring graduate seminar in design.

Gaby showing Marcos how Joomla! works as Herbé learns too.

Mornings are fabulous here. Up at 6:30 with the birds flying – so many in the morning and at dusk. Work and life must be good because I am not naturally a morning person.

Wednesday we had a 6 hour meeting at Cooperativa Xyaat in Señor. Among their many projects, Xyaat works in communitarian tourism which is focused on sharing modern Maya culture with others.

For so many reasons, this is the first time I am heading back to Yucatán since January of this year. I am going with Gaby. We’re flying JetBlue from Orlando direct to Cancun.

The projects represented here – our “social design research projects” – are exactly this: projects designed and produced for communities by designers who have identified compelling problems – in their own environments or in contexts that they believe they can have an impact.

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In 1999, Turkey was shaken by a major earthquake that caused thousands of and left even more people homeless, injured and suffering. Seeing all those images of suffering and reading the news about how things could have been different if we were all well prepared or organized for those kinds of disastrous events made me think about the lack of the networks and social awareness in Turkey.

BackgroundSocioeconomic factors in developing countries require walking and bicycling to be common modes of transportation. Statistics show that pedestrian fatality rates are high in these countries. One reason for this problem is the lack of roadway lighting and low visibility. Iluminación products are specifically developed to provide visibility and safety using fashionable, low-cost, sustainable and local...

the project To develop an identity, business system, and packaging for “Hach Ki’i Ka’ab” orange juice, a product of Cooperativa Cuauhtémoc in Quintana Roo.

Cooperativa Xyaat creates community tours that are culturally responsible and educational in Señor, a living Maya community, in Quintana Roo, México.

These projects focus on using design processes and products for social, economic, cultural, and environmental good. They are opportunities for designers (faculty and students) to work side-by-side in with our clients in their environments rather than isolated in our studios.

Mint in Mexico is a collaboration between UF Graphic Design and indigenous communities in Mexico. Our underlying principle is that design plays a critical role in economic, cultural, and social development. It is here we put these ideas into practice.

¬ View the first round of labels for Lol-Balché honey. ¬ Contact Maria Rogal for more information on the design documents We began to work with Cooperativa Lol-Balché, a 41-member cooperative in Santa Elena, Yucatán in late 2006. In addition to selling wholesale, some members wanted to bring a percentage of their honey direct to market.