Leyla Acaroglu

The Anatomy of Action is a collaboration between the UnSchool and the UnIted Nations Environment Programme. It's a free online campaign toolkit that outlines the top level changes any individual can make to support the growing shift to global sustainability.

There are thousands of possibilities, and we combed through them all. The data showed that if enough people make changes in a few key areas, the global momentum of our collective action will address the pressing social and… Show more

The Anatomy of Action is a collaboration between the UnSchool and the UnIted Nations Environment Programme. It's a free online campaign toolkit that outlines the top level changes any individual can make to support the growing shift to global sustainability.

There are thousands of possibilities, and we combed through them all. The data showed that if enough people make changes in a few key areas, the global momentum of our collective action will address the pressing social and environmental issues around us. By making individual changes to what we eat, what we buy, how we invest our money, how we move and what we aspire to, we will change what and how our world works.

This project conducted an extensive review of the scientific data on what actions, when taken individually and accumulated across the globe, can and will have positive impacts on the health and sustainability of our planet. The collected data was synthesized into a list of 15 everyday actions across 5 lifestyle themes to share what does, and does not*, make a difference in the world, and how we can best focus our collective and diverse energies on making change happen through the lives we lead. Show less

A FREE interactive educational toolkit for upper secondary high school educators and students to integrate circular thinking into the classroom. Created and produced by us for Walki Group and Co-Founders for use in the Finnish Education System.

We created this free toolkit after thousands of hours of workshops and trainings with groups around the world. It is designed for professionals interested in applying systems based circular economy solutions to their product, service or company.

Designercise is an active ideation toolkit, designed to enhance flexible and creative thinking through 20 brain busting short productive disruptions into everyday thinking. The toolkit, designed to enhance divergent and flexible thinking, combines cognitive sciences and design thinking techniques to create high energy exercises for professional play.

Discover how to activate your everyday superpowers for making a positive, purpose-filled impact on the planet today! 12 everyday Superpowers that everyone can use to make change!
We put together this toolkit of everyday superpowers so every active citizen of the world who wants to participate with more purpose in the construction of the systems around them can.

The 12 powers are based on a wealth of scientific data in our Disruptive Design Method and provides practical advice on how… Show more

Discover how to activate your everyday superpowers for making a positive, purpose-filled impact on the planet today! 12 everyday Superpowers that everyone can use to make change!
We put together this toolkit of everyday superpowers so every active citizen of the world who wants to participate with more purpose in the construction of the systems around them can.

The 12 powers are based on a wealth of scientific data in our Disruptive Design Method and provides practical advice on how to activate them. Show less

In Collaboration with AIGA Women's Lead Initiative, The Gender Equity Toolkit evolved out of a year-long research project into what the limiting things within the design industry were that are preventing women from progressing to positions of leadership. The resulting toolkit tackles three key areas that emerged from the research process: leadership resilience training, empathy building, and connection forming.

The Disruptive Design Methodology set is designed to provide the knowledge that a creative change maker needs to activate positive social change through their productions in the world. It includes 12 parts that range from systems thinking to gamification and game theory – all synthesizing complex theories into one- hour knowledge sessions that build on each other to create a strong foundation for a change-making practice.

The methodology provides a detailed and in-depth exploration of… Show more

The Disruptive Design Methodology set is designed to provide the knowledge that a creative change maker needs to activate positive social change through their productions in the world. It includes 12 parts that range from systems thinking to gamification and game theory – all synthesizing complex theories into one- hour knowledge sessions that build on each other to create a strong foundation for a change-making practice.

The methodology provides a detailed and in-depth exploration of critical thinking practices, empowering participants to understand and creatively intervene in complex and divergent real-world systems. It can be applied to any problem arena and is based on a combination of Systems Thinking, Sustainability Sciences, and Design Thinking. Show less

Author of the interactive e-book The Good Design Guide. Over 100 pages of fun, easy to read and interactive content on design thinking and sustainability for design students and educators.

The Good Design Guide is jam packed full of fun, interesting and informative content on design thinking and sustainability. With over 100 pages, the e-book uses a unique interactive format that allows the reader to navigate through the content along their own inquiry path with each icon being an… Show more

Author of the interactive e-book The Good Design Guide. Over 100 pages of fun, easy to read and interactive content on design thinking and sustainability for design students and educators.

The Good Design Guide is jam packed full of fun, interesting and informative content on design thinking and sustainability. With over 100 pages, the e-book uses a unique interactive format that allows the reader to navigate through the content along their own inquiry path with each icon being an interactive button. The book covers; design problem solving, life cycle thinking, sustainable design strategies and poses a range of design challenges for the reader to solve. The tube map style home page allows for the reader to quickly navigate to areas of interest. Show less

The Game Changer Game is a fun and inspired group game for generating unique, game-changing ideas that creatively address social and environmental issues. It's a ready-made guided and playful process for outside the box idea generation, focused on solving real world issues and empowering teams. By applying gamification to the creative process, Game Changer Game challenges players to think from different perspectives and through new lenses.I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and… Show more

The Game Changer Game is a fun and inspired group game for generating unique, game-changing ideas that creatively address social and environmental issues. It's a ready-made guided and playful process for outside the box idea generation, focused on solving real world issues and empowering teams. By applying gamification to the creative process, Game Changer Game challenges players to think from different perspectives and through new lenses.I'm a paragraph. Click here to add your own text and edit me. I’m a great place for you to tell a story and let your users know a little more about you. Show less

This interactive installation was commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) as part of the Sustainable Living Festival in 2014.

Have you ever wondered why there are no organ donor programs for dead laptops? In this interactive installation, members of the public were invited to join sustainability provocateur Leyla Acaroglu and her team of dead stuff dissections in a live autopsy of computer paraphernalia generated by National Gallery of Victoria, in a critical dissection… Show more

This interactive installation was commissioned by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) as part of the Sustainable Living Festival in 2014.

Have you ever wondered why there are no organ donor programs for dead laptops? In this interactive installation, members of the public were invited to join sustainability provocateur Leyla Acaroglu and her team of dead stuff dissections in a live autopsy of computer paraphernalia generated by National Gallery of Victoria, in a critical dissection of modern consumerism that also explored what lies hidden within the everyday things that fill our lives. What do you do with your e-waste? Show less

The Design Play Cards challenge, inspire and explore the opportunities for change through designing for sustainability with over 50 full colour cards!

Cards are an amazing medium since you can move them around and are restricted to creating the information on a small space, which helps to enforce a deep synthesis of the core knowledge. From the players' perspectives, this makes it quick and easy to get the info.
The DPC has 50 cards broken up into 3 decks, Design Problems (which… Show more

The Design Play Cards challenge, inspire and explore the opportunities for change through designing for sustainability with over 50 full colour cards!

Cards are an amazing medium since you can move them around and are restricted to creating the information on a small space, which helps to enforce a deep synthesis of the core knowledge. From the players' perspectives, this makes it quick and easy to get the info.
The DPC has 50 cards broken up into 3 decks, Design Problems (which challenge you to think about a design problem, from toasters burning toast to electronic waste recycling); Design Strategy (which are all the eco-design ideas, from Design for Disassembly to Design for Modularity, which help frame the thinking to address the problem); and Design Inspiration (where several case studies are provided for the player to think through how someone else solved the problem).

Solve real world 'wicked' problems with the Design Problem cards​, be inspired by solutions in action with the Design Inspiration cards and discover opportunities for change with the Design Strategy cards.

Created by Eco Innovators to help educators and students learn about sustainability in a fun and challenging way. The deck includes 50 playing cards designed to challenge, inspire, and inform designers about sustainability opportunities in product development. There are a number of ways the cards can be used in group play and design challenges through to a reference set.

Winner of a CORE77 Design Education Award 2013 Show less

A collaborative project between an architectural firm, a bespoke furniture maker and us has resulted in an unique and innovative award winning interior design

The UnWaste bookcase, a collaboration between architect Ben Milbourne (Bild Architecture), eco-designer Leyla Acaroglu (Eco Innovators) and David Waterworth (Against the Grain); is the inventive response to a challenging brief and an adventurous client.
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The UnWaste Bookcase demonstrates the innovation possible through… Show more

A collaborative project between an architectural firm, a bespoke furniture maker and us has resulted in an unique and innovative award winning interior design

The UnWaste bookcase, a collaboration between architect Ben Milbourne (Bild Architecture), eco-designer Leyla Acaroglu (Eco Innovators) and David Waterworth (Against the Grain); is the inventive response to a challenging brief and an adventurous client.
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The UnWaste Bookcase demonstrates the innovation possible through collaboration across disciplines. Alone, none of the collaborators would have arrived at anything like the finished project – but together, a truly innovative outcome was achieved. Proving how simple it is to find an innovative sustainable design solution that is functional, has great aesthetics and certainly in this case unique.

The Un-Waste Bookcase was awarded a 2012 Melbourne design Award, a finalist in the 2012 Premiers Sustainability Awards and is shortlisted for an IDEA award.
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It has also been featured in many design magazines including Artichoke and Green Magazine as well as reviewed on multitude of blogs such as Treehugger, Trend Hunter, Apartment Therapy, inhabitat - just to name a few. Show less

‘How Ethical is Your Home?’ is an interactive exhibition that explores the different aspects of our homes that have social, ethical and environmental impacts. See what simple steps you can take to reduce your ecological footprint, promote fairer-trade and purchase more ethical items for your home.

This exhibition has been designed and curated by a team RMIT University students under the direction of sustainability advisor Leyla Acaroglu from Eco Innovators.

The exhibition… Show more

‘How Ethical is Your Home?’ is an interactive exhibition that explores the different aspects of our homes that have social, ethical and environmental impacts. See what simple steps you can take to reduce your ecological footprint, promote fairer-trade and purchase more ethical items for your home.

This exhibition has been designed and curated by a team RMIT University students under the direction of sustainability advisor Leyla Acaroglu from Eco Innovators.

The exhibition includes an array of interesting facts about general household items and lots of practical tips on how to be more fair, ethical and sustainable in the home.

Location: Federation Square Melbourne
Date: 3 and 4 December 2011
Time: 11am - 6pm Show less

In 2009, responding to an opportunity posted by the City of Melbourne, a small silver cylinder that had previously housed a newspaper stand was reimagined into a micro-entrepreneurial showcase of all things locally and sustainably made.

The project ran for two summer seasons and enjoyed thousands of customers, helping to shape the future of the City of Melbourne street trading policy. The same stand that housed the first re-use of these small spaces dotted around the Central Business… Show more

In 2009, responding to an opportunity posted by the City of Melbourne, a small silver cylinder that had previously housed a newspaper stand was reimagined into a micro-entrepreneurial showcase of all things locally and sustainably made.

The project ran for two summer seasons and enjoyed thousands of customers, helping to shape the future of the City of Melbourne street trading policy. The same stand that housed the first re-use of these small spaces dotted around the Central Business District is now a thriving crepe shop, with many other adaptive reuse cases popping up around Melbourne. Show less

The Repair Workshops was a five day collaborative exploration of the concept of ‘repair’. based on the Repair Manifesto.

In a meeting of minds, we paired technicians and creatives (artists, designers and craftspeople) to be apart of a collaborative public workshop as part of Melbourne's renowned State of Design Festival in July 2011. Inspired by the Repair Manifesto developed by Platform 21 in The Netherlands, we were given permission by the lovely folk there to re-design the manifesto.… Show more

The Repair Workshops was a five day collaborative exploration of the concept of ‘repair’. based on the Repair Manifesto.

In a meeting of minds, we paired technicians and creatives (artists, designers and craftspeople) to be apart of a collaborative public workshop as part of Melbourne's renowned State of Design Festival in July 2011. Inspired by the Repair Manifesto developed by Platform 21 in The Netherlands, we were given permission by the lovely folk there to re-design the manifesto.
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Over five days, the amazing 10 participants embarked on a creative exploration of how broken items can be re-invented with sustainability in mind. We salvaged over 2.5 tons of waste going to landfill by partnering with charities The Brotherhood of St Lawrence and St Vincent De Paul Society to salvage the items donated.

It ran for 1 week in July 2011 in the basement of the Historic Donkey Wheel House. The first 3 days were a closed collaboration between the repairers, whereby they tinkered away with the mounds of stuff we had collected. We then curated an exhibition of the works, had a bit launch party and auctioned off all the items to raise money for the awesome work done by Environment Victoria.
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We then opened our door to the public for the weekend of the 30th & 31st July 2011 – where over 500 people came through and we repaired over 70 items that members of the brought in for interactive repairing with the selected artists, scientists and designers.
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The project was all about engaging the public with repair and getting a dialogue started within the community about why products are designed to break and how we can embrace repair as a way of reducing consumption related environmental impacts. We certainly achieved out goals with 6 radios interviews, many magazine profiles and a bunch of coverage in the media - we got people talking about repair. We also inspired many new satellite projects to pop up showcasing repair and continue to work with the repair community.
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The Secret Life of Things series was born in 2009 and completed in 2011 with three animations. The first animation came to life thanks to the support of the British Council, and the project continued with the support of the Design and Technology Teachers Association (DATTA), who commissioned the development of a new animation specifically for high school design and technology students that covered the core curriculum topic area.

The Secret Life of Things is a set of short animated videos… Show more

The Secret Life of Things series was born in 2009 and completed in 2011 with three animations. The first animation came to life thanks to the support of the British Council, and the project continued with the support of the Design and Technology Teachers Association (DATTA), who commissioned the development of a new animation specifically for high school design and technology students that covered the core curriculum topic area.

The Secret Life of Things is a set of short animated videos exploring the hidden environmental impacts of everyday things. Each video comes with a free pack of learning resources to inspire and engage budding designers and product developers with life cycle thinking and eco-design. Show less

There are lots of myths about what is sustainable and what’s not, so we made an app to quiz people and bust some of those myths out there

Gamification is about using game design thinking in traditionally non-gaming situations. Its increasingly being used as a way of addressing shortfalls in education and as a powerful communication and engagement tool. We decided to develop an iPhone app using gamification as a way of overcoming some of the persistent myths about sustainability.… Show more

There are lots of myths about what is sustainable and what’s not, so we made an app to quiz people and bust some of those myths out there

Gamification is about using game design thinking in traditionally non-gaming situations. Its increasingly being used as a way of addressing shortfalls in education and as a powerful communication and engagement tool. We decided to develop an iPhone app using gamification as a way of overcoming some of the persistent myths about sustainability. Developed as a 'downtime' game, the player is required to answer 3 multiple choice questions before unlocking a 30 second fun round where they have to collect as many recyclables items as possible.

The game employs a number of processes to achieve the transfer of knowledge and key learning objectives. It is designed to be played only one or two times, before the player retains core concepts and information. The app has been downloaded thousands of times and has a 5 star review on iTunes.

The app is ready and waiting for you to download for FREE from iTunes!
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