The Designers Accord is an international association of designers, companies and institutions with the purpose to mainstream Sustainable Design. Founded as a network and communication platform, the Designers Accord provides an opportunity to discuss and broadcast sustainable methods and practices.

The IDZ aimed to support the Designers Accord and its underlying philosophy, strategy as well as its community thinking and therefore planned on encouraging the discourse and knowledge exchange. Since the summer of 2009, the IDZ supported the Designers Accord as an »Endorser« and, along with the association, implemented the first »Town Hall Meeting« in Germany.

Goals of the Designers Accord

The Designers Accord was founded in 2007 as a five-year project to mainstream sustainability in the global creative community. After establishing a network, it carried out several projects to satisfy the need of the community, marketplace and culture to discuss topics of sustainability.

Fot this purpose, the association developed guidelines to maintain the collective and individual integration of sustainability in the field of design. The focus was on gaining a positive influence within the creative community by developing a huge network, motivating the members to share practices, ideas and case studies, and that way founding further initiatives.

The three primary goals for the first year were:

• Engaging all members of the creative community in a dialogue about the importance of integrating the principles of sustainability within the design process
  
  

• Evolving design education and supporting ongoing professional development
  

• Bringing systems thinking and design thinking to higher-order strategic challenges
  

For further details: www.designersaccord.org

Town Hall Meeting

Sustainable design is a key factor for a sustainable society. Indeed, sustainability begins with the first sketch and implies the following questions: Which criteria underlie the design process? How do we need to adjust the process? Are there any commendable case studies?

To discuss these and further questions and to share information, the IDZ joined the Designers Accord and implemented the first »Town Hall Meeting« in germany in the february of 2010. The program included presentations as well as networking. The short introduction about the Designers Accord's work was followed by three lectures about »Sustainable Design«. Afterwards, designers, companies and institutions were invited to introduce their projects in the field of sustainable design. Lastly, the guests and members got the chance for social networking and for sharing information.