Cheryl Heller created the first MFA program in Design for Social Innovation, and the first batch of alumni are already changing the world.
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Cheryl Heller has had a long and distinguished career as a designer and brand strategist helping to launch national brands for Fortune 100 companies such as Seventh Generation, Ford, American Express, Reebok, and Gap. Last year, she became the Founding Chair of the USA’s first MFA in Design for Social Innovation, at the School of Visual Arts in NYC. With classes such as, “How to Start a Social Movement” and “Games for Social Impact,” the two-year program is an activist’s dream. I got a chance to chat with her about her career, how to create change within systems, and why she thinks paradigm shifts are inevitable.
In this interview, Cheryl Heller talks about:
• Incorporating sustainability into communication design
• The power of humility and being able to listen to your opposition
• Why the world isn’t here just for us
• The MFA in Design for Social Innovation
• Engaging with living systems that are ever-changing
• Why companies with social missions need to be financially sustainable
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“Brand Strategy” , Marketing, “entrepreneurship”. All of it.
I’m decidedly of the opinion that just about anyone trying to sell me anything is not looking out for my best interest, but just wants my money, and it is therefore my job to resist them in as many ways as I see fit unless I have an authentic value based desire to purchase their product, good, or service.
I see no reason to listen to someone, or take advice from someone, who has made a living based entirely on psychology in an effort to sell things.
What exactly is “innovative” about convincing rubes to spend their money on consumerist crap they likely don’t need?
What do you mean Jay?