EP #7 | Richard van der Laken, Co-Founder of What Design Can Do + Creative Director of De Designpolitie on the Power of Design and Enabling the Creative Community to drive positive impact

Episode Summary

Richard van der Laken is the energetic engine behind both What Design Can Do (short: WDCD) and De Designpolitie, the graphic design agency he started in 1995 with Pepijn Zurburg. Richard and Pepijn have formed a duo for more than 20 years since meeting at HKU University of the Arts in Utrecht, the Netherlands. 

In our episode Richard talks to me about the "seductive" power of design, the responsibility designers like him have and some powerful examples that his work with WDCD has brought forward. the concept of Biomimicry and talks about its potential if applied to challenges within our complex human systems. She also gives advise to fellow designers and talks about the levers she perceives to accelerate change towards a more resilient and regenerative future.


What we talk about

• In our episode Richard tells the story of what brought him to go beyond his expertise of Graphic design and start the community and global initiative of What Design Can Do.
• He also draws from his humbling experience working across different cultural contexts and the importance of using local knowledge and driving change with the people on-site and not imposing solutions "made in Europe" in a different geographical location and culture.
• Richard highlights his mission of empowering the creative community to work on very large social and environmental issues to leverage the power of design and framing the right problems.

About Richard van der Laken

Richard was an intern at Anthon Beeke’s studio and at the biggest Dutch ad agency FHV/BBDO, before founding the Designpolitie (Dutch for ‘Design Police’) with Pepijn Zurburg. The Designpolitie has exhibited at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, MoMA New York, MoMA San Francisco, Institut Néerlandais Paris, Brno Tsjechia and Graphic Design Museum, Breda. 

In 2010 Van der Laken and Zurburg, together with several fellow creatives, founded What Design Can Do, a two-day international, multidisciplinary conference on the power of design as a factor for societal change. Over five years WDCD grew to become an international platform to showcase the impact of design. As general director and tireless ambassador for WDCD, Van der Laken has travelled from Norway to South Africa, and from Italy to China, to spread the word. Richard is also co-founder of the visual column Gorilla. 

Resources mentioned

• On the Visual Columns of the Gorilla Collective
• Richard’s Ted Talk in Dornbirn
• Ant Studio's «Beehive»: An alternative to Airconditioning cooling the streets in Dehli, India

Connect with Richard van der Laken's projects

• Website of What Design Can Do
• Website of De Designpolitie
• Website of The Daily Gorilla
  
  

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