Meet Irish designers who are making the most of their skills to help others

They have spent time in both Malawi and Colombia working on projects to help local communities which they say has helped give them a better understanding of the different needs of communities when it comes to design.

"I am lucky enough to be able to get time off for volunteer work," says Fiona, a researcher and designer at Daylight Design,  a global research and design consultancy.

"But Aisling and I have left jobs before in order to make this work happen."

Aisling is currently a digital designer at an AI company and the two insist they are very different but because of that make a good team.

"We met in college and originally we weren’t big fans of each other," Aisling says.

"Fiona thought I was annoying and I thought she was too shy and quiet but we warmed to each other then. Opposites attract like chalk and cheese and in the work scenario our completely different personalities and mindsets complement each other - everything about us is so different that it works to have this holistic perspective in all of our projects; so what started off as dislike became the best kind of bond you could possibly have."

Both studied visual communication and design at IADT but volunteering had always been a big part of their lives too.

So when they were both considering what to do next, they realized they wanted to make a difference using the skills they had.

"We stumbled into this style of work and bringing design to under-served communities and helping nonprofits and social enterprises to share their story and use the power of design," says Fiona.

"It was something that happened naturally as opposed to a big plan."

And it was while the women were living together in Lisbon that they embarked on their first volunteering experience.

 The women went off to the African country of Malawi for eight weeks to work in a social enterprise. Clean and Proud is based in Mzuzu, and is a social enterprise that collects and recycles local waste plastics, making it into bags that are sold in Europe.

Fiona and Aisling helped with research, branding, strategy and photography but were flung into the deep end with dodgy electricity, lack of internet and the monsoon season.

"We get more out of a project than the people we are trying to help," says Aisling, dispelling the notion that the pair are do-gooders.

"The cultural exchange, the problems that we face, how to design our way out of convoluted issues is so amazing for us and we are so grateful to have that experience."

Both say volunteering gives them the chance to learn skills that ten years of working wouldn’t provide.

"The challenges we faced were so bizarre we couldn’t even think of them," says Aisling.

"We had to walk to the local shack to get this kind of scratchcard thing to get the internet but then our laptops used so much internet that we would use that card that was meant to last a month in a few hours. Every time we plugged one of our tech devices in it would blow up the plug socket because what we were used to power socket-wise was way more powerful than what the Malawians had.

"We didn’t have beds,  we didn’t have tables a lot of the time; we didn’t have that much food - it was a very intense experience but that’s what makes it so valuable towards us because how do you design when there’s no help and no budget? We get so much out of it because we are trying to help but also learning at the same time."

During their time in Malawi, there were storms, there were periods of no electricity at at one point Fiona got an electric shock. But seeing the difference their work was making to the community around them was what drove them on.

 Women working in the non-profit were being afforded the chance to have their children with them in a nursery which is not the norm for Malawian women and the money made provided teachers for the children and much more. And the staff in the non-profit were educating the local community as to the environmental impact of waste.

"We made do with what we had," says Fiona.

"We had to come down to the level that we were working in and live in that context. We wanted to embrace the culture and embrace how people live and bring that into our design because without those experiences we wouldn’t fully understand the context and be able to design solutions that are relevant and make sense."

 Aisling agrees: "Fiona got electrocuted, any time it rained the electricity would go. We learned how to work online and offline and go with the flow."

It was non-stop working for eight weeks so for their next stint in Colombia, the women determined not to work as much.

"We decided we would take things more slowly but that went out the window when we met Felipe the founder because he was such a legend and had so much passion and drive," says Aisling.

"We were so gung ho the second we got there and probably worked too much but the cultural context was completely different as in Columbia they spoke Spanish and we didn’t have a word of it."

Fundación Montecito in Sogamoso, Colombia runs two nature reserves and promotes environmental culture within the communities where they are.

Fiona and Aisling helped them provide a sense of belonging within the communities by helping develop different educational solutions including a board game, bird guide and a community festival.

And working in this way is much better than remotely organizing something from the comfort of Ireland, both women insist.

"You see firsthand the issues that exist," says Fiona. "And there is a bond between us and the community."

Fiona and Aisling are two of the participants at BOUNCE, a design event that takes place on January 9 and 10, at Trinity College Dublin. The two-day event, for the design community, promises a fresh, dynamic perspective on the design process, offering designers a unique opportunity to explore, engage, and be inspired.

The new event has been created for designers and creatives, who are eager to critically examine processes and be inspired by new approaches to familiar challenges. Two cutting-edge workshops will opened BOUNCE on January 9th featuring Critical AI for Creatives’ led by Martin Grödl from Process Studio, Vienna and "Typography in a Liquid Chaos" led by designers Tina Touli and Thiago Maia.

 Fiona and Aisling were part of the second day which includes a curated lineup of international and Irish speakers from a range of disciplines including communication design, strategic design, service design and technology. Over the course of the day, the panels and presentations will delve into the ‘how’ of design—placing process at the heart of the conversation. 

And this is something both women are skilled at - taking that leap of faith to make the world a better place.

"We find that spark happens when you lean into that space of ‘what if’ and let that fear excite you rather than scare you," says Aisling of their volunteering experiences.

* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.