“Why design now?” is the title question posed by the 2010 National Design Triennial, opening Friday at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. The fourth in the popular series of triennials established by the museum in 2000, this edition focuses on design that addresses themes of environmental sustainability and social change. Curated by Ellen Lupton, Cara McCarty, Matilda McQuaid and Cynthia Smith, the survey covers work from 2006 to 2009 and includes 134 innovations like Twitter, the iPhone, Kindle, the XOXO laptop for One Laptop Per Child, interactive visualizations for The New York Times, and Masdar, the experimental car-free community planned for the United Arab Emirates. Previous triennials have focused on projects created in the U.S. or abroad by American designers; this edition goes global, including designers and projects from 44 countries around the world.

Pentagram's Green Patriot Poster campaign is one of the graphic design projects selected for the triennial, and they have designed the catalogue accompanying the exhibition.