When I think of the reason behind design, I think of ideas and concepts that change the way something is viewed; keeping this in mind, using current events to make something better, or to make something useful can become something beautiful, and even further - profitable. When Japan was stuck with the recent earthquake disaster, the product and marketing giant Muji took this world known event and made something everyone can keep near to make them feel safer - more prepared. "Itsumo, Moshimo". Whenever, Whatever, a line of emergency kits were released just in time, with the idea of being ready for any event that might come up is extremely prevalent in society. The thing that I like the most about these new survival kits is that they mix functional attributes with good design. Each kit is thought out so that they will fit into the space they are designed for without standing out, like clear plastic cases to use in an office environment, and cute kid sized backpacks complete with colouring books to keep in a house with young children. Before releasing the kits, Muji posted questions on Facebook and Twitter to receive crowd sourced feedback, looking for ideas on what people would find most useful in each situation, what to put in the kit, how much space should be left in each kit to allow for personalized items to be added to each kit. Asking these questions just sparked interest in the to-be-released emergency kits, a smart marketing direction for the company to take pre-release.
Take a look at some of the kits, and you can also visit the website (although its in Japanese, you can still navigate the links to see some more pictures).
source: http://www.japantrends.com/