French designer Adrien Colombié, founder of Creatives Without Borders, tells us about his new book Humans Of The World and shares more insight on his organisation that is bringing creatives from all over the world together.

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There’s one common belief that unites all creative talent in this world: creatives have the ability to change the world through great ideas and even better design. The creative talent pool however is saturated in the well-developed parts of the world, making it inaccessible for organisations that are situated in the developing or under-developed countries. It is this inaccessibility and the growing need for designers, thinkers and doers in these parts of the world, that led to the formation of Creatives Without Borders (CWB).

CWB is a global non-profit that connects designers, thinkers and doers with nonprofit associations in need of creative expertise. The organisation, headquartered in New York, believes in providing organisations who may not have the resources with access to the best creative talent, from designers to web developers, to assist with projects like designing brochures, catalogues, websites, photography and more to ultimately raise awareness and funds for these organisations – all within a click away.

The mechanics of CWB are fairly simple.

CWB first selects and presents problems identified and registered by nonprofits on its website. Creatives can then submit their solutions, ideas and sketches, combined with their bio and overall motivation to bring the project to life. An international jury composed of accomplished creatives and development experts will then review and select the best idea that will generate the best solution for the the biggest impact.

Credits: Creative Without Borders

Founded nine months ago, the organisation is growing its reach to creatives worldwide. And to raise funds and awareness for CWB, one of the founders French designer Adrien Colombié is publishing a book titled Humans Of The World. Inspired by Humans of New York, this book is a visual survey of Colombié’s year-long travel to 27 countries with portraits of the people he met along the way, accompanied by quotes, stories, and personal notes.

desktop catches up with Colombié to learn more about Humans Of The World and CWB.

Where did you get the inspiration for Humans Of The World? 

The inspiration came when I was working at Mother New York, and at the same time, the Facebook page Humans Of New York was thriving. Coincidentally I was reading The Proust Questionnaire. It took weeks for me to reach the final concept, but it’s certainly a mix of all these elements and also a passion for people. Traveling is not just about landscapes; it’s about the people you meet on the way. I wanted to make sure I challenged myself on the trip, to push myself to get out there and meet people.

Credits: Humans Of The World

A year of travels; what were your highest highs and your lowest lows?

Honestly, I’ve got a lot of highest highs!  From summiting the Aconcagua (7000m mountain), the Kilimanjaro and Mt Fuji for sure, but also cruising from Cartagena (Colombia) to Panama by the San Blas Island alone on a 40m long boat with an old-school Swedish captain smoking cigars, drinking rum, listening to his crazy stories!

Crossing India from the east to west by motorbike was definitely something as was spending Christmas in Havana with my two sisters. So many things! No ‘lows’ that were so extreme to be deemed ‘lowest lows’. That’s something I learned while traveling; enjoy the lows, embrace them. There are no highs without lows. I was in Nepal when it was hit by the earthquake. That was tough, but we tried to do what we could and help the people. It was a very intense but interesting experience.

The funds from Humans Of The World is channelled to support Creatives Without Borders (CWB). Tell us more about CWB. How did this organisation come about and what is its mission?

I had the idea of creating a platform connecting creatives and non-profits in need of creative expertise in Africa. I crossed paths with a lot of volunteers in many countries – came across a lot of issues they had. I had plenty of creative ideas to help to solve these issues. I thought, instead of simply asking for money, we could make things; create value for humans and generate resources to help them grow. To me, creatives have super powers. They can fuel interest, focus and light to a concept, ideas and solve problems. Until now only companies and large organisations were able to profit from these super powers – now underserved communities too

Credits: Creative Without Borders

How many members do you have in that organisation? How many live projects to date?

Nine months ago it started with two of us. Right now there are 10 of us in the CWB family and we’re still growing! Since our inception, we’ve connected over 10 non-profits with creatives, making it possible for both parties to work on amazing projects and gain valuable humans experience via their interactions. Our next step is to create corporate partnerships to finance Creatives Without Borders and take us to the next level.

What are the challenges of running this organisation? How do you overcome them?

There are so many challenges, and everyday new ones pop up. We have team members – and projects – all over the world, so we need to constantly overcome communications and project management issues. The time difference alone can be a headache! But that is also the beauty of being so connected now – just like our team, creative can work on projects located all over the world. A few hiccups sometimes, but for the most part it is quite amazing to think of the reach we are capable of.

The whole team works pro bono so they have work, study, projects. Because of that we understand that CWB cannot always be their number one priority; of course we respect that. Thankfully though, everyone brings so much passion to CWB, and strives to make it work, so we always find solutions.

Credits: Creative Without Borders

Credits: Creative Without Borders

If you were to asked to plug CWB to creatives in Australia, what would you tell them? 

I would simply ask them to remember their motivations for going into this field. What exactly was the purpose of their passion? Their ultimate goal? For me, and most of the creatives I know (not to say all of them), we had a common goal: to change the world. Make a positive impact. Somehow, we tend to give up halfway, whether it gets too hard, or the path to our dream gets cluttered with other distractions. CWB wants to clear that path, to bring the focus back to the what you were first passionate about. It can be a reality!

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To learn more about Creative Without Borders or to register your interest as a creative, click here.