John Bielenberg of Project M

Good design does good: John Bielenberg’s Project M-ers are changing the world one simple, unexpected, well-executed idea at a time.

John Bielenberg’s creative vision has earned significant recognition throughout his 28-year graphic design career. His most profound accomplishments, however, are today taking shape as a mentor to budding designers who channel their creativity to help those most in need.

Six years ago John founded Project M (projectmlab.com), an intensive, annual summer program where young designers, writers, filmmakers, and photographers come together as strangers to take on meaty projects that affect people and communities around the world. John challenges his “mash up” of volunteers to bridge the gap between design-for-design’s-sake and its ability to change lives. “I want them to understand how smart, simple, well-executed design ideas can make a significant, positive, and sustainable impact on things they care about,” he says.

And they do. With unbridled enthusiasm and using a maverick “think wrong” approach, Project M-ers have left their marks in East Baltimore; Belfast, Maine; New Orleans; Costa Rica; and Ghana. Together they have worked to transform urban parks, preserve rainforests, promote micro-financing, and help Gulf Coast designers displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Recently, John led Project M to one of the poorest communities in America: Hale County, Alabama.

When asked, they all have the same thing to say about Project M: “absolutely, positively, life changing.”

http://www.goodmagazine.com/section/Features/real_world_studio