Public Project: Design Advocacy & GradComD

By Josh Eriksen, GradComD student

In 1964, and then again in 2000, groups of designers formed a collective voice in manifestoes titled First Things First.

The manifestoes stated that there are more worthy pursuits for design outside of the commercial applications it is typically relegated to and called for a priority shift in "favor of more useful, lasting, and democratic forms of communication." These manifestoes presented a dialogue that design should be used to create visual discourses that provide an altruistic benefit to society. These sentiments have since transcended and are now part of a larger ideology, and pedagogy, known as design advocacy.

Design advocacy is an educational trend garnering much attention for its ability to introduce design students to real-world issues and allow them an opportunity to develop a design solution. Often times, design courses focus on solutions for fictitious scenarios, and while the lessons are important, they lack real-world implications. This is where design advocacy differs dramatically.

The Public Project initiative, spearheaded by Pratt GradComD instructors Jean Brennan and Gala Narezo and formally introduced in Fall 2011, offers opportunities to connect students with local communities or causes. Centered around themes of social practice, research, and entrepreneurship, students engage in opportunities to apply design to real world challenges.

This past summer, seven GradComD students led by Jean Brennan, partnered with PAUSE (People Art Urban Space Engagement) and took to the streets in the city of Poughkeepsie, New York. PAUSE aims to rethink and reclaim urban space through dynamic artists and other community partnerships. Jean mentions the importance of establishing a local liaison who can create context for the project and provide a communicative vehicle with the local community. Matthew Slaats, Director of PAUSE, provided this connection in Poughkeepsie through his thorough knowledge of the area and acquaintance with local residents and organizers.

The Middle Main neighborhood of Poughkeepsie suffers from high incidences of crime, poverty, and vacancy and is now the focus of a revitalization project headed by the Hudson River Housing authority. The goal is to redevelop Middle Main through residential development, fostering resident pride and increasing private investment in the local community. Public Project's piece in this revitalization was to bring a design intervention to the streets of Middle Main "to act as a catalyst for community engagement."

After weeks of collaborative design charrettes and workshoping ideas, GradComD students filtered their concepts into four distinct projects. Two of these projects—Embracing the Obvious and What Makes You Smile?—were staged as interventions on Middle Main; the other two were presented as longer term concept proposals to PAUSE.

Embracing the Obvious created zip-tie murals on existing and non-functional structures such as derelict fences. This innovative approach to creating a mural proved to be interactive in it’s tactile nature, durable (it still remains!) and added color to "tag" the area known as Middle Main.

What Makes You Smile? set up a station to interact with passerbys. They offered conversation, a simple form with space for a drawing or written response, and took portrait photographs of each participant. This exercise acted as a vehicle to create a conversation regarding the perceived assets of the neighborhood. This group returned two weeks later to create a temporary installation in an empty lot with photos and words collaged together from the gathered responses.

Student Radhika Unnikrishnan was part of the What Makes You Smile? project and added, “We wanted to foster ownership of the local area by using images and words from the people who live there. We wanted them to focus on the positive aspects and then celebrate those visually.”

The other two concepts presented to PAUSE during the final critique were:

1. Cottage Industries: a proposal to pursue grants to start a cottage industry using the skills of the local residents

2. Design Squad: a local high school after-school club that would be tied to students at Vassar College.

As for the students’ experience? Two that I spoke to were very pleased with the Public Project initiative and took away unexpected and inspiring lessons from their experiences. “Seeing the positive reactions from the community made for an intense and emotional experience,” said student Elisabetta Di Stefano. “We don’t have many [design] opportunities that involve community. Doing collaborative projects with other students and the community is what attracted me to the class. It made me sensitive to real-world issues that I never could have learned from staying in the classroom.”

For additional information on the Public Project initiative and images of the Middle Main projects, be sure to check out the following website.

The following is a complete listing of GradComD students who participated in Public Project during summer 2011: Jennifer Shepard, Kelly Cunningham, Garrett Traya, Elisabetta Di Stefano, Lisa Anastasio, Radhika Unnikrishnan, Sky Davis, Guy-Serge Emmanuel

Photo courtesy of Public Project