Proceedings of the 9th International Conference Senses and Sensibility 2017, Funchal, Madeira 24-27 October 2017 98 Impact practices: Communication & Design Case studies Cristina Pinheiro a,b Isabel Farinha a,b and Ana Margarida Ferreira a,b a IADE, Universidade Europeia, Laureate Universities, Lisbon, Portugal b UNIDCOM/ ID:Co.Lab {cristina.pinheiro; isabel.farinha; ana.margarida.ferreira}@universidadeeuropeia.pt ABSTRACT This paper presents two research projects developed in the context of IADE Research Group ID:Co.Lab/ UNIDCOM which have already been implemented: L3 Project and Atelier Ideal Project/Association Renovate Mouraria. These impact practices combining public interest, design and social entrepreneurship were elaborat- ed as collaborative projects between students and vulnerable local communities. Through these case studies, we aimed at answering the following question: how can designers and advertisers accelerate vulnerable com- munities’ growth by shaping financial sustainability and social impact products. L3–Lisbon community-based Learning Laboratory (Lisboa Laboratório Comum de Aprendizagem) is a collaborative and transdisciplinary project whose objective was to develop the training of university students in the areas of engineering, design, social sciences and humanities. We present here two brand design projects. The main goal of Ideal Atelier Pro- ject/Association Renovate Mouraria was the construction of a research and development project created in a co-creation process according to a communication & design approach promoting and guaranteeing sustainabil- ity, in order to (1) enable local merchants, through an individualized monitoring program in the areas of com- munication, image, business management, the creation of moments of sharing good practices and networking; and (2) promote the local commerce of Mouraria by creating a tourist route and a pop up event. For students, the intense emotional interactions and awareness of the real contribution, skills and positive impact of their work, by the implementation of these projects in the relevant communities, were the most relevant outputs of this experience. Keywords: Collaborative Learning, Co-Design, Sustainability, Social entrepreneurship, Brand design. INTRODUCTION “Why must we take responsibility? Because we can”. David Berman This paper presents two sustainable case studies of applied research-L3 Project and Atelier Ideal Project/ Asso- ciation Renovate Mouraria. With them we have tried to accomplish some specific aspects, such as: understand- ing what the communities are looking for; target audiences; partners, type of products and services they need; promote design practices focused on causes of social impact and helping the disadvantaged communities through the design practice with pro bono work. By creating guidance in the context of social innovation we are, for one hand, able to provide a communi- cation & design solution-oriented project trough participation and experience to underserved communities. And, for another hand, we are strongly motivated to develop distinctive communication & design practices as teaching tools for our bachelor, master and PhD courses at IADE-Universidade Europeia. The research applies an interactive and collaborative methodology.