Image courtesy The Sage Libraries on Flickr

Interesting word, Design. Where did it come from?

Design is two words, actually, and is blended from Latin, Old English, Irish and more. De- comes from a few sources, but mainly it means To. Sign comes from designate or specify. And when you put them together you “create, execute, or construct according to plan.” (m-w.com)

There are so many ways to help when disaster strikes and the quickest and easiest way is to send money. It seems to be a knee-jerk reaction for all of us but it left me thinking about the hard work of re-building and who was going to do that in Haiti. I know that search and rescue/recovery is still going on, and it may be weeks before that is complete, but it’s time to act quickly and for us designers to offer up our expertise in sweat equity.

Architecture for Humanity is our very best option because 88% of it’s funds are directly funneled back into construction projects. I just offered my services for an indefinite amount of time. It’s kind of scary, but I think it’s really what I’m meant to do because I’ve always imagined helping for non-profit rather than profiting from non-sense.Architecture for Humanity is focused on a long-term reconstruction effort and partnering with Yele Haiti, AIDG and more by supplying pro-bono construction work. AFH has set up a Earthquake Reconstruction page, so please, take a look.