Design for humanity by Saai Artist
A walk through the street below your house will reveal a collage of colorful signs, symbols, pictures, and illustrations. Design is everywhere. At its heart, this juxtaposed mirage of imagery and language is an act of service. The goal is to reach the right people, with the right tools; provide the right message, and most importantly, the right solutions. Aesthetics play a variable role. Design for humanity amplifies this experience of service providing, having been drawn from scratch, to serve the humans: us. It is natively human-centered, feasible for use.
The right solution, ha!
To change the design ideas
In April, the Indian retail label, House of Masaba by Masaba Gupta, appeased the market with a fresh offering- Maskaba, a new range of face masks. While the initiative itself wasn’t a novel offering, the idea caught on. As several global fashion giants- from Gucci to Dior- bask in the capitalistic profits of luxury masks, aimed for a minuscule part of the audience, Maskaba took the challenge to fight off the virus, in a social way.
Talking about it in a post on her Instagram, Masaba writes, “Changing gears for some time. In the wake of the current pandemic, all operations at the House of Masaba came to a halt. While the damage that this will do is immeasurable at this point, I hope to keep my chin up by doing my bit to help my country instead.” Today, Quirky, colorful niqabs float the market in the brand’s signature print, for an audience that loves budget fashion, for a Time which is desperate in want.
From across the country, a Mumbai-based womenswear brand, Karleo took a similar initiative. Their initiative, aptly titled, Masks for humanity, creates and provides masks to the frontline workers. Karleo’s joint partner for the campaign was Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Other brands weren’t left behind either. While Fablestreet launched its line of reusable cotton masks, the multi-fashion and lifestyle business, Good Earth is producing a range of sanitizers both, for commercial sales as well as NGO donations.
While Indian brands took initiatives and stood tall, the digital community wasn’t left far behind either. Art took a new course of experimentation, matching eccentricity with bouts of creative fresh content. Why don’t you take a look at yourself and follow us to the next blog in the Design for Humanity series?