tries), oceans away from the designers’ offices. By its nature, designing for communities tens of thousands of miles away makes it nearly impossible to truly understand the intrica-cies of a problem well enough to even propose potential solutions. Lesson No. 1: Be there and care (work locally, or move to where the work is).

Project H Design, which I
founded in January 2008, has
grown organically, arriving at
this epiphany through a series
of projects, some of which have
been more successful than oth-
ers. At our outset, we activated
close to 10 design teams around
the world, each of which was in
fact engaging locally but often
around entirely different issues
(homelessness, foster care,
global health, the handicapped,
education). As the executive
director, I found myself bounc-
ing between projects, constantly
having to shift gears between
cities, user groups, research
sets, prototypes, and team
dynamics.

• The Design Revolution Road Show is visiting 35 schools this spring; showcasing design solutions that have a social impact.