Robert Fabricant and Jay Parkinson on Designing Health

Fil Vocasek ( Bio  /   Posts )  |  Wednesday, April 21, 2010 UTC

A few days ago a friend emailed me a picture of a sign that read, “Design won’t save the world. (Go volunteer at a soup kitchen, you pretentious **ck.)” I smiled at the snark, but was frustrated with the sentiment.

As designers, we are saddled with many images of the aloof artist: the hip urban designer, beebopping from office to art opening to downtown loft; the starving artist who wastes away, as their art does the same in a mildewy basement; or the desktop publisher, banging out lifeless brochures as they sneak away to the supply closet to pull out their hair. None of these stereotypes suggests design can alter habits or behaviors.

Last Tuesday, as part of the New York SVA Dot Dot Dot lecture series, The Entrepreneurs of social design presented a few possible ways designers might save the world. A few of my favorite moments happened in talks by previous PopTech speakers Robert Fabricant and Dr. Jay Parkinson:

Three of the five designers featured at the event framed their role as designers in the medical field:

Doug Powell – Designer and Brand Strategist, Schwartz Powell

When his seven year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Doug and his family were thrown into the painfully undersigned, over-textual world of pediatric medicine. Once they got their head above water, Doug and his wife created the Health Simple product line, focused on delivering easily-palatable information to get the patients and their families through one event at a time. Doug created a balance with these fun products, taking into consideration the educational and emotional needs of all involved.

Robert Fabricant – VP of Creative, frog design and Speaker at PopTech 2009

Robert laid out some humbling guidelines for designers, and touched on some of the health and wellness behavioral projects that frog is undertaking. Robert’s work on the PopTech Accelerator’s Project Masilueleke has helped change the face of mobile healthcare for HIV and tuberculosis patients in South Africa.

Jay Parkinson, MD – Founder: Hello Health and Futurewell, and PopTech Speaker 2008.

Jay outlined the need for the redesign of the entire health care process in America, taking into consideration the prevalence of the internet in everyday life, the importance of the patient/doctor/community when administering healthcare, and the changing intersection of the insurance, healthcare and online worlds.

With their teams, these three are part of the growing movement to redesign how individuals receive healthcare—and who would argue that isn’t going to save the world?

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