I went through the 80,000 hours (https://80000hours.org) course and felt inspired to do work that matters (rather than just design some stuff for boring corporate companies). As a designer, what would be a pressing problem that I could work on and potentially even get compensated for the work in order to stick with it and pay the bills (so helping out a nonprofit with design might be fun, but it's not sustainable)
I work for a company called Mark43.<p>We make software to help police officers do their jobs more efficiently - our applications literally help save lives. There's a lot of interesting design challenges - for example, emergency dispatchers look at our CAD (computer aided dispatch) software for many hours on large monitors.. how do you design it so their eyes don't get tired?<p>And then cops look at the same software on their laptops, as they're driving to respond to an emergency.. how do you make a notification "suspect is armed" stand out so they notice it among all other data?<p>We are looking for designers to help us solve these and other problems:<p>Product Designer: <a href="https://www.mark43.com/careers/700918/?gh_jid=700918" rel="nofollow">https://www.mark43.com/careers/700918/?gh_jid=700918</a><p>Sr. Product Designer: <a href="https://www.mark43.com/careers/119568/?gh_jid=119568" rel="nofollow">https://www.mark43.com/careers/119568/?gh_jid=119568</a><p>(New York City)
Healthcare user experience sucks. Last century kind of sucks. Find a job at Cerner or Epic who account for more than half of all hospital information systems and help clinicians avoid tragic errors, make faster and better decisions, understand health records more clearly, capture ideas/observations/memories.
<i>(rather than just design some stuff for boring corporate companies)</i><p>Picking a company you can believe in and going to work for their design department is probably the best way to make a positive difference in the world while also being able to pay the bills. Plenty of companies are doing "good work" in the world. The world would be a vastly worse place without <i>business as usual</i> for all kinds of products. Improving some of those products can make a meaningful difference.<p>There is plenty of time to think about how to make a really serious difference. It doesn't have to be solved today. After you get a bit of experience, you can pivot to something that you feel fits that criteria.<p>I tend to not like these types of questions because a bunch of internet strangers are generally speaking not somehow magically more qualified than you are to decide how to make a "real" difference in the world. The short list of people with such answers are typically working on them in some way and it often doesn't pay the bills.<p>Best.
There's a general design problem of translating abstract massive problems (like world hunger) into something bite sized that people can relate to and act on (like feed one starving child). Vast problems like climate change, water shortages, human trafficking, drug abuse, systemic poverty, lifelong education, criminal justice. If you can help on this challenge, you can drive change and make a career for yourself.
City Planning software is something I've been humming over a lot and for a long time. It's a perfect problem for computation with statistics - figure out practical actionable things for cities to do when optimising for things like walkability, public transit available, available storefront-rentals, et cetera. The world is catching up on the western nations, and the millions of cities joining the global middle class can be billions of dollars more efficient. A true way to better the world. The computational parts are doable (I'll be tech cofounder if required - not a visual artist though) but how is it best used?
I'm guessing you have very high earning potential. It is almost certainly the case that the most impact you can have is achieved by focusing on earning as much money as possible and donating as much of it as possible to organizations optimized for making impact. But most people seem to want to optimize the feel-good hands-on impact instead of the total objective impact.
Anything in the public sector, like utilities' and local governments' websites (<i>cough</i> DMV), websites for your local library system, websites for your local law enforcement and/or hospital, public schools. The usability of these sites tends to suck because they're subject to budget cuts, even though thousands of people have no choice but to depend upon them.
Many people are making suggestions, I'll make a meta-suggestion:<p>Try and rank your options, and remember that it'll probably look like a power law distribution.<p>See the two graphs under this section: <a href="https://80000hours.org/career-guide/world-problems/#how-to-work-out-which-problems-you-should-focus-on" rel="nofollow">https://80000hours.org/career-guide/world-problems/#how-to-w...</a><p><i>Many of the companies suggested sound good, though if you're really optimizing for impact, the best one will probably have more impact than all the other suggestions combined.</i> No pressure!
Content for school kids aged 5 to 9. There isn't much out there for them. Anything interactive and imaginative.<p>Take a look at the curriculum for ideas of what teachers want to teach, most schools have laptops, chromebooks or iPads.
If there is a cause or issue you feel strongly about, is there a way to illuminate or explain this issue using a combination of graphics and text, in a way that doesn't mislead?<p>I'm not a graphic designer, but during the recent UK election, I created a site to dissuade people from voting for the Conservative party. One issue I wrote about was our method of voting in the UK. Here is a (fairly rubbish) graphic trying to highlight the results of the 2015 UK election. The fact is that many people simply don't know how our electoral system works or what it's flaws are. Is this diagram clear without any context? (Probably not!)<p><a href="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*OXaiFJ49RtESX0QjljGNfA.png" rel="nofollow">https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1000/1*OXaiFJ49RtESX0Qjl...</a><p>Here is the article in which the graphic appeared giving additional context:<p><a href="https://medium.com/@dontvoteconservativeuk/uk-general-election-2017-why-we-need-to-change-our-method-of-voting-74ac31789910" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@dontvoteconservativeuk/uk-general-electi...</a><p>Often it's impossible to explain a topic or idea without supporting visuals.<p>Being able to explain things clearly with both text and graphics (whether for campaigning or teaching or persuasion) is a really valuable skill.<p>If that appeals to you, perhaps this is an avenue you could pursue? But you'll have to find the cause, topic or idea that inspires you.
I always wanted a (relatively) simple mobile application to navigate public transportation in different cities. Basically an interactive map for public transport. They'd be easy to read, easy to understand how connections work, etc. Every city (or even every agency within a city) uses different, and often horrible, diagrams of their lines, like MUNI vs BART in San Francisco.<p>This is 90% designers problem. The engineering side of this is easy. Hard to say how you'd pay money for it, but if your maps are good, some cities may agree to pay to officially use them.<p>Google maps kind of does this for you (if you do "directions") but I just don't understand why it doesn't work... It gets me to a subway station and I start searching for the maps on walls.<p>But if done well, millions of people will be thanking you every day.
We (Zenysis) are a recent YC startup using technology to help Ministries of Health prevent epidemics and distribute vaccines in developing countries. Happy to talk if you want to learn more!<p>EDIT: We're in public health, but compensate competitively, offer significant equity and provide top-notch benefits.<p>Job posting on HN: <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13727071" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13727071</a><p>Designer role: <a href="http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zenysis.com/designer.html</a>
Hey there... There are a LOT of ideas out there (for example, I have a vision of a mentoring platform that is stuck in my head).<p>The thing is... like others on this thread have said, there is a ton of demand. So what interests you?<p>I have been getting involved with local politics recently, and there is a HUGE need for designers for political clubs, and organizations.<p>I'd say find something you are passionate about and start volunteering, and if you want to help Progressive Democrats then DM me!
Healthcare! My company is currently looking for a designer that wants to make healthcare beautiful, easy to use, and less error prone. If you really want to dive into a company that is making a difference and really cares about changing things for the better shoot me an email benjamin at triceimaging.com
Americans are dying because our healthcare is too expensive. Not the insurance but the actual tests and procedures. They're all crazy expensive compared to anywhere else in the world. Graphics that really show this clearly could generate political momentum for fixing that.
Does "graphic designer" essentially mean an artist whose job is to create aesthetically pleasing images, or does it encompass UI/UX as well? Most of the advice here seems to assume the latter, but I would not have thought that was the case.
A lot of great suggestions in this thread. To add to those, I want to talk a bit about how to form a strategy that will help you achieve these goals.<p>First, not every world problem is solvable with design. Being aware that you are one facet of the solution is both comforting and overwhelming. To have broad impact you often need a team of experts to cover the pipeline from end-to-end, so that means things like solving for the terrible Heath Care experience in the US or UK require massive reformations in how that industry has been run for almost 100 years. On the bright side, there are lots of private clinics aiming to solve this - One Medical is a great example (I promise I dont work for them, just a fan of their approach). If you have the motivation to aim for this level of impact that is awesome, but most likely wont be available to you until you have several years of experience under your belt and area ready to move beyond graphic design and into a role as creative director (like Jony Ive for example).<p>The good news? You can start planning for that career path today. Start small by targeting industries that you already have experience with, even if that experience is indirect. Got a passion for food culture? Maybe run with that. Seek out reputable companies that are trying to perfect food distribution to restaurants and grocery stores. From there you will start to see the pain points that cause issues like food deserts in inner city areas. Start to slowly invest time on the side volunteering with non-profits and groups that are actively trying to solve for these oversights in the food distribution system. See whats holding them back from making big changes. Regardless of what industry you focus on, assume you will always be spending time on the side volunteering with activist/non-profit groups that are already targeting the crisis at hand.<p>Your journey now is to marry your charitable 'side-job' with your full-time job, and your choices will hinge on reducing the gulf between the two. One day, they can be one and the same job - and youll see the path towards that goal unfold for you as you roadmap your steps to achieve that goal. Sometimes this means creating your own company - but it certainly doesnt have to be that way. Lots and lots of private companies are stepping up to offer people another option than the current, broken norm, such as One Medical that I mentioned above.<p>Lastly, Ill echo what others have said about donating your earnings. Ill take that a step further and suggest the idea of working a charity initiative into your regular earnings model. If you are working for yourself - this is a great opportunity to build your passion for giving into your pricing. I love seeing places that actively advertise how much they donate and incorporate a breakdown of that cost into their payment model. The invoices they provide will outline exactly how much of your payment is donated and to what organization. By doing this, these companies are not only making a positive impact, but they are fostering a culture within their industry that values giving-back. Often clients will seek them out specifically because they want to support a company that values altruism and sees it as a sustainable business model.<p>Sorry for the novel-length post! Ill close with this: just remember - always ask yourself what you can do TODAY, however small it may seem. You may not be Elon Musk, but the path to that kind of impact is created step-by-step with every small interaction. Every relevant experience is a learning experience. Volunteer, find an open-source project, talk to others who are trying to solve problems too, and network with like-minded people. We all start out as little cogs in a big machine, but together we can change the system, one step at a time.
Are you passionate enough to work for low pay or free? I would like to build some web apps to display information about pollution and climate change. If we made it good enough, it would be a great tool for everyone around the world to visualize the problem. Obviously I would not make any money - just something that needs to get done if we are to have any hope of convincing the public that we need climate change policy review.<p>What say you?