Why Designers' Union?

The Design Uganda community is reaching out to all local designers, design enthusiast and entrepreneurs to discuss the ideas, prospects and problems in design and find answers to all these questions together. Join Our Design Uganda community HERE to get more information related to design in Africa.

Uganda needs a designers’ community in order to educate the general public on the significance and the carrying role of design in society. Design is not simply a beautiful surface, it is a complex system that involves deep analysis which results in thorough, clear and understandable solutions. Whether you are speaking of service design, logistic design or any other challenge that needs simplifying and adapting - design is the way of thinking, solving problems, making things simpler, better and more comprehensible.

Walking around in, for example, the streets of Kampala, you see tons of interesting bill-boards that should give you an idea of what these establishments offer. Unfortunately these signs are, on the most part, very difficult to read, especially passing them on a boda-boda, because, in some cases, they hold about five sentences. Eventually you feel overwhelmed - as if you were trying to read a phone-book, while running circles around it. Maybe even too often you see signs with misleading information, because the shop owner wanted to add something cool and original like "a cow with sun-glasses" to spice up the sign, even if he has a construction company.

Designer is the wizard who knows how to channel your communication and makes the according corrections and simplifications. A clear example would be traffic signs. Imagine designing a roundabout sign by using words instead of symbols, describing it will take sentences - think of the time your brain takes to register that information.

Read more about the importance of Design Uganda community and and how to better benefit the majority of Ugandan designers, the problems we are facing now and last but not least, the key we carry for unlocking the future of Ugandan design: 

The frustrating state of design in Uganda and why we need a design union (DANIEL MWESIGWA)

Design Uganda was co-established with Helen Kokk by Jaanus Sakkis, our design mentor, a designer and creative director who has done a variety of works around the world from product designs to visual identities, he focuses mainly on branding, startups and UI/UX. Follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Design Uganda partners Outbox, Garage48.