Students' share success
Published 5 December 2011
Students from the University of Brighton Sustainable Design MA course have won international acclaim for their digitally based social network project.
The Share the Rain project, led by Anastasia Georgiou, Gabriel Wulff, Manjul Rathee, Rodrigo Bautista and Kata Upama, won the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Cause and Affect Competition (www.cause-affect.org). It addresses issues of disengagement, unemployment and sustainability and is focussed on those suffering economic troubles. It aims to improve lives by generating networks and using tools to build relationships and social structures. Users can initiate projects, join existing initiatives, seek help, offer skills, post tips and tricks and learn from others.
Share the Rain was one of very few student projects to be selected for the award, which also received one of only three Judges Choice Honourable Mentions in the overall competition.
Left to Right: Anastasia Georgiou, Kata Upama, Rodrigo Bautista, Manjul Rathee, Gabriel Wulff.
Manjul Rathee said: "The recognition Share the Rain has received by AIGA has not just exposed the project to a global audience but has proven that ideas are free from the prejudice of scale and reputation. It's not about where they come from, but about believing in them."
Fellow student Gabriel Wulff said: "Winning the AIGA Award is a great boost as it's proof that people around the world believe our ideas have value. Our solution-focused approach proved empowering."
Dr Jonathan Chapman, who is the MA course leader, said: "The project is an example of the mission behind the university’s MA Sustainable Design course which is 'metadisciplinary' – breaking free of the restrictive language and culture of traditional design disciplines and enabling a deeper and more expansive engagement with reality.
"The project looks to pioneer new and provocative means through which sustainability may be more fully achieved, pushing the edges of the discipline outwards to colonise new territories of expertise and understanding."
Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organisation for design in the USA. Their Cause and Affect competition is a biennial event that celebrates and rewards the work of designers and organisations that positively impact society and contribute to good causes.
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