get the facts, jack!

suzanne and i continue to work on our book manuscript by the same title as this blog. we're profiling the various projects over the last five years...and we'd like to get some thoughts from you about whether the "fact sheet" we've developed makes sense. let us know what you think about the following.

PROJECT : close to home

LENGTH : 1 semester

TYPE : exhibit design

SCALES : complex/intermediate/basic
large/medium/small
place/building/space/object/graphic/experience
academic credit/grant-funded/volunteer

SKILLS NEEDED : basic building techniques
material qualities and limitations
good knowledge of digital graphic design software

SKILLS LEARNED : professional communication approaches
confidence and competence in design
celebration of local design history
oral history approaches
writing for a specific audience

DELIVERABLES : 2 gallery installations
12 information kiosks throughout the community
1 website
events

KEY IDEAS : teamwork
design/build
space planning
informational graphics
interpretation of historical data
material culture
social networking

CORE PARTICIPANTS : 18 third and fourth year design students, 1 faculty
(working with other students and community partners)

TOTAL CONTRIBUTORS : 174 students in 6 classes
34 community members
972 exhibit attendees
2 industry partners
2 community foundations
1 non-profit organization
2 universities
3 departments
4 faculty
1 advisory board
1 design review team

COMMUNITY BENEFITS : appreciation for modern design
understanding the work of a local designer in context
the richness of university-community partnerships
sharing stories across generations

suzanne is so good at diagramming that she "converted" each project to a storyboard...she will scan that art and post it in a separate post. book writing is hard work!

our location for this community by design session: CARIBOU COFFEE, friendly center.