Interview with Jason Stevens: Say Something Posters
Jason is the founder of DesignIsMyThing™ (DIMT). DIMT promotes the role of design in business and social enterprise. Through independent projects and collaborations we advocate design as a strategy for tackling the world’s “wicked problems” as well as creating breakthrough products and services. I got a chance to sit down with Jason to talk about his current project: Say Something Posters.
What inspired you to put together a poster competition/exhibition?
There are many factors that made me decide on a poster competition but the reason is that it’s easy. Not easy for me however, but easy for a designer to create a poster, easy for them to upload it to our website so that everyone can participate in judging it and easy for The Home for Little Wanderers to accept them and hang them in their buildings.
Why “Say Something”?
The name came to me a few months into planning. It’s basically a call to action inspired by the fact that historically, posters have been a powerful outlet for designers to express their opinions.
How did you string together this awesome crew backing your project? I understand everything is done pro bono, right?
Not everything was done pro bono, but most things were. The key is starting with an idea people can easily recognize as worth their time and talent and also showing how it benefits a greater good. That means a bit of work on my part to make sure it makes sense and is achievable. There are a lot of groups that donated, not just internal team members. We have corporate sponsors that donated prizes and services, AIGA Boston that donated their communication channels and expert advice, and of course, many many individuals that donated their skill set.
Once we got someone to understand the concept and see the benefit then volunteering / sponsoring / donating was a no-brainer.
What are your future projects?
If Say Something finishes successfully then you can expect another one next year that benefits a different organization.
I’m also interested in video and especially how TED has used it to share ideas. I’m thinking about doing something local and focused on generating ideas/solutions for non-profits.
