Better Future - Designing for Humanity - Yves Behar
We know Yves Behar as the man behind fuseproject and their impressive catalogue of design projects that solve problems whilst excelling in style. However, perhaps Yves’ most impressive attribute is his aspiration to see all of humanity benefit from the power of design. This desire was showcased loud and clear during London Design Festival’s Global Design Forum at the V&A Museum this week, with Yves presenting his vision of how design can and will help accelerate humanity into a better future.
The projects presented at the GDF emphasise Yves' depth of connection with all of humankind. This power of actioned empathy is perhaps best seen through VerBien, “SeeWell”, a social enterprise project in collaboration with Augen, that has put glasses on the faces of over 6 million children across Mexico and will continue to give away free eyeglasses to disadvantaged children on a yearly basis. Here is what Yves has to say about the project:
"This project follows our philosophy that design should continue to make a difference beyond the commercial world, and that non-profits do need emotional appeal and efficient solutions just as much as for-profit companies. Design can make a tremendous difference and we believe this is a responsibility that the industrial profession carries: to bring transformative solutions."
He also outlined his work in creating affordable 3D printed houses for low socio-economic communities in Latin America. Alongside New Story, an NFP dedicated to finding solutions for homelessness, and homebuilding tech company ICON, the trio have set about to create the world’s first 3D-printed community.
Yves' work with the Spring Accelerator program - a program to accelerate businesses geared toward young women in Africa and Asia - helps social enterprises utilise human-centred design to create stronger impact and achieve greater success in program roll-outs. After all of this, Yves finished by speaking to how personal robots can help impact our lives, from assisting parents with crying babies, to companion robots for the aging.
Yves and his team of collaborators at fuseproject are making huge steps to ensure that we can design our way out of challenges and improve humanity. Importantly, this reach seeks to extend across all aspects of humanity, not just the 5% that so much of the design community exclusively addresses. There is no doubt that Yves Behar is a true champion for a better future.