8 Designers Share the Biggest Mistakes They’ve Learned From

Here at GOOD, we believe that design can be used to create positive social, environmental, and economic change. So we're joining forces with our friends at Impact Design Hub to share compelling stories about design that's moving the world forward. The article below is an excerpt of “Paved with Good Intentions: Impact Designers Share What Went Wrong.” Get the full story here.

This SOIL employee demonstrates the safe way to turn human waste into a valuable resource: compost. Image via oursoil.org.

We asked leading practitioners in the world of impact design to share a few choice cautionary tales from their own experience in the field. What happens when design for good goes bad?

Marc Norman

Director of Upstate, a Center for Design Research

“...The more “at-risk” we are, the more we will be able to accomplish. It is as hard, and as simple, as that... ”

Sasha Kramer

Executive Director of SOIL, an organization tackling sanitation challenges in Haiti

“When SOIL first began working in Port au Prince, Haiti, we were so eager to demonstrate that poop can actually be a resource that we may have gone too far with our enthusiasm..."