Awards

Ideas that Matter Grant · Sappi

Sappi Fine Paper North America’s Ideas that Matter competition is an innovative annual award program that provides monetary support to produce the creative ideas of designers working for social good. Through this initiative, Sappi aims to inspire others to contemplate “the greater good” by financially supporting the meaningful ideas behind the aesthetics of design.

2014 Ideas that Matter award

In 2014, Natacha Poggio received her second Sappi Ideas that Matter grant, one of nine recipients. This time, her proposal Prosthetics Training Across Borders (PTAB) was a transdisciplinary initiative in collaboration with LIMBS International (a global nonprofit organization committed to restoring mobility through sustainable, affordable prosthetic solutions) and Physical Therapy Prof. Diana Veneri, in the University of Hartford Dept. of Rehabilitation Sciences. Veneri’s graduate students had developed protocols for the rehabilitation process of above-knee amputees—to help them understand how to wear and care for their new prosthetic device and thereby successfully regain mobility. These materials needed to be designed with information visualization in mind, especially for patients with limited literacy skills. Poggio’s artistic direction as well as her experience in global health communications was instrumental for crafting consistent educational materials. Under her guidance, a Design Global Change team (Megan Johnson and Jerlyn Cespedes) designed step-by-step posters and take-home patient brochures to facilitate the rehabilitation process for a wide audience. Poggio designed a manual that facilitate communication between local practitioners and their patients.  These educational materials have been distributed in Latin America and Africa (where LIMBS International has partner clinics).

2010 Ideas that Matter award

In 2010, Natacha Poggio received her first Sappi Ideas that Matter grant, one of twenty-seven recipients. (On behalf of Design Global Change), her winning proposal Bringing girls into focus received $5,000 to produce a gender equality campaign for high schools in northern India, to raise awareness of women’s important roles in rural communities through the use of interactive educational materials. The campaign benefited the local chapter of Navjyoti India Foundation (a nonprofit organization serving over 12,000 people in Haryana, India). Under Natacha Poggio’s creative art direction, a team of Hartford Art School alumni (Constanza Segovia, Parker Hu, and Tomasz Kazmierczak) designed a set of 30 cards depicting Indian men and women in various roles (collecting water, farming, selling goods, etc.). These cards were conceived to trigger conversations about gender issues among high school youth and were accompanied by a teacher’s guidebook. Navjyoti staff distributed the materials through their service network, spreading the message of youth empowerment and gender equality.