Learning from Others is a growing resource of visual communication driven projects for change. More than a showcase, this section is dedicated to understanding different ways in which communication can be used to instigate change. The projects may be big or small, old or new, self-initiated or commissioned. The important thing is to understand different perspectives, approaches and media for change.
If you know of projects or people who can enrich this resource, write in to rising@codesign.in and help us grow this resource.
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Design for Us
Design for Us is a Toolkit by Mike Fretto that equips graphic designers with resources and strategies for facilitating community-led design projects.
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The Okay News
Most would agree that a significant percentage of our daily news feed is taken up with stories that are intense; stories of crime, injustice, and disasters (both natural and otherwise) that deserve pause, if not action. However, the daily newspaper […]
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London is Changing
London is Changing, by Rebecca Ross, is a project that aimed to communicate to the public, individual perspectives on the changes affecting London and its residents.
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Design for Us
Design for Us is a Toolkit by Mike Fretto that equips graphic designers with resources and strategies for facilitating community-led design projects.
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The Okay News
Most would agree that a significant percentage of our daily news feed is taken up with stories that are intense; stories of crime, injustice, and disasters (both natural and otherwise) that deserve pause, if not action. However, the daily newspaper […]
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World Comics Network – Introducing Grassroots Comics
The World Comics Network (India), started by political cartoonist Sharad Sharma in mid nineties, looks at introducing Grassroots Comics as a tool for communication and social design. Working with different communities, they emphasise on the value of visual art, self-expression […]
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Field Guides for Ensuring Voter Intent: Designing for Democracy
The Centre for Civic Design, based in Maryland, USA, states ‘Democracy is a design problem.’ A problem they have set out to tackle with the Field Guides to Ensuring Voter Intent, a series of small design guides for election officials. […]
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The Refugee Project: Making data meaningful
Each year, tens of thousands of people are forced to abandon their homes to save their lives. Whether they are fleeing war, natural disasters or persecution, when they cross international borders, they become refugees. The Office of the United Nations […]
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Ryman Eco & Being Part of the Conversation
—The Hindu, March 30, 2014 Back in March 2014, a Indian-American teen claimed, to great media fanfare, that the US government could save ink and therefore resources and money by switching typefaces. What seemed a rather clever suggestion on the […]
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FS Me: ‘The accessible type’
FS Me is a typeface family designed by Jason Smith of Fontsmith. Developed with Mencap, a leading UK charity for people with learning disabilities, it was designed to meet, and then exceed, the recommendations of government accessibility guidelines. FS Me […]
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Supporters’ Scarves
Supporters’ Scarves is a recent project by Common Office. In their words, the project “appropriates the football scarf for supporters of six political causes; equality; affordable housing; the welfare state; the national health service; public transport; and new towns.” This […]
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#missingtype
#missingtype was created for this year’s National Blood Week in the UK, in collaboration with Engine and Twenty Six Digital. The campaign was a response to the dramatic reduction the in the number of new blood donors coming forward in […]
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Graphic Medicine
Graphic Medicine is a site that explores the interaction between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare.
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A for Amitabh: Games and Tools for Empowerment by Thoughtshop Foundation
This piece first appeared in Take on Art, Design Issue in January 2012, and was guest edited by Mayank Mansingh Kaul. Thoughtshop Foundation is a Social Communication Organisation. It is dedicated to creating new and effective ways of dealing with […]
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The Designer-Facilitator
Communication designer Lakshmi Murthy with over 2 decades of experience in working with rural audiences, puts forth a new role of the communication designer when working in a unfamiliar social and cultural environment.
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Mobile Kunji
As an audio-visual ‘job-aid’ for community health workers in rural India, Mobile Kunji supports interpersonal communication and helps provide standardised, credible information.
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This Side That Side: Restorying Partition
“This astonishing collection of talent from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh focuses on the lasting effects of partition and dwells on the human yearning for something other than what history and its makers dictate. Beautiful, moving and unforgettable.”—Joe Sacco
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Design to Improve Life Compass
The Design to Improve Life Compass offers interesting methods, processes and filters which educators and students can incorporate in projects.
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New Londoners: Reflections on Home. SUBJECTS (1/3.)
‘New Londoners’ is the first post in the SUBJECTS series which looks at three projects that uniquely address the relationship between the photographer and the subject. These three approaches use photography, both the process and the result, to address attitudes […]
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Lawtoons
Lawtoons is a comic book series on laws in India.
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Poster Women: A Visual History of the Women’s Movement in India
A pictorial archive of posters and other visual ephemera, initiated by Zubaan, as a way to communicate and celebrate the rich history of the women’s movement in India.
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The History of Sustainability
The History of Sustainability is a book designed to understand the evolution of sustainability, in a simple engaging format. A great resource if you are keen to learn more about sustainability.
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Art with Heart
Art with Heart is a non-profit organisation dedicated to help children overcome trauma through creative expression.
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Before I Die
Before I Die is a global, community art project that publicly displays personal aspirations to build greater connections within a community.
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Walk [Your City]
Guerrilla wayfinding for safer, sustainable cities
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Colour Africa Proverbs
Colour Africa Proverbs is a colouring book for children, with illustrated proverbs from African culture on valuable, universal truths like respect, compassion and teamwork.
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KartuPedia
KartuPedia, developed by Heimlo & Indonesia Mengajar, is an illustrated teaching aid, designed to help educate children in remote provinces across Indonesia.
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Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit
Hope is a Girl Selling Fruit, is a particular poignant narration published by Tara Books, where the choice of folk art style adds significant meaning to the story.
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JAM
When she returned to India from Muscat at the age of 16, Ketki Jadhav couldn’t muster the courage to navigate a scooter through the uncontrollable traffic jams of Pune like the rest of her college friends. Six years later, as […]
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The Great Indian Clearance Sale
The Great India Clearance Sale is a self described ‘adventure in information’. Secondary data is framed within a idiosyncratic visual point-of-view.
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Menstrupedia Comic Book
Puberty, menstruation and feminine hygiene are topics considered taboo in India. Menstrupedia is an online resource that shares vital information on the subject in a simple and accessible manner.
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Signs for the Homeless
Kenji Nakayama and Christopher Hope began Signs for the Homeless in an attempt to use the striking impact of beautifully lettered signs, as replacement for dilapidated placards held by the homeless in Boston, to make passers-by stop and take notice.
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Postcards for Irom
Initiated by The Root, the project invited artists and designers to create postcards in an attempt to generate support and awareness for Irom Sharmila’s fight against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in Manipur, India.
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The Small Picture by Manta Ray
The Small Picture is a full-page comic published each Friday in Mint—one of India’s fastest growing newspapers.
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How Can I Improve My Park?
How Can I Improve My Park is a poster produced by CUP to help people advocate for improvement in local parks in New York.
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Israel Loves Iran
In March 2012, amidst the strained Israel-Iran relations, Ronny Edry and his wife Michal Tamir—graphic designers and educators based in Tel Aviv—posted an image on Facebook featuring a photograph of Ronny and his daughter, along with the caption: “Iranians, we […]
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Perch Project
Perch Project is a visual resource on basic animal care and rescue. The project is self-initiated by two visual communication designers, who wanted to share their understanding and knowledge of animal care with others.
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The Fearless Collective
The Fearless Collective is an art and visual design platform that encourages women to be fearless and brave and works towards changing perceptions around women in India.
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Chineasy
Developed by ShaoLan Hsueh, Chineasy is an innovative way to learn Chinese using illustrative mnemonics.
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The River of Stories
Orijit Sen’s River of Stories is a graphic narrative of the social, environmental and political concerns surrounding the construction of the Narmada dam.
Rising is created and supported by 
Codesign is a brand identity and communication design practice, based in India. As a creative collective, we also initiate independent projects such as Dekho and UnBox Festival (2011–2013 editions), exploring the role of design and its unfolding transformation in India.