Inneract ProjectProgram Overviewand Goals

WHO WE ARE:

Bringing Design tothe Community

3Inneract Projects mission is to provide free

design education to inner-city youth and

their communities, to serve as a facilitator

to aspiring career designers and to mentor

youth to pursue higher education.

Inner-city youth have the least access and exposure to fields in design. IPs vision

is to provide students access to these fields in an inspirational college setting, at an

age when aptitude and curiosity can be best harvested. We do this by connecting

the design community with urban communities, schools and families in a

collaborative effort to help under-resourced youth achieve their highest potential.

Overview:

Inneract Project (IP) is a professionally-supported program that provides free

design classes and initiatives to inner-city youth, in order to introduce them to the

field of design and channel their creativity into viable career paths. Our program

includes 1) a Youth Design Academy, which is one 8-week class session per year

that provides students with hands-on design exercises 2) Learning Labs, which are

one-day interactive design education events throughout the year, and 3) Designed.,

an ongoing video series documenting designers, celebrities and everyday peoples

stories about design.

Inneract

Project

In the Bay

Area, the arts

create more

than 31,000 jobs

and generate 1.2

billion dollars

in economic

activity every

year.

4Youth Design Academy

Youth Design Academy (YDA) introduces middle school

students to basic principles of design. The program

emphasizes conceptual, analytical and creative thinking

through a sequence of design exercises that encourage

idea generation, exploration and creation.

YDA is structured as eight weekly classes, held on Saturdays

for four hours each at two locations in the Bay Area.

There are 16 students per location and classes are led by

two teachers and three teacher aides. During the 8-week

session, students work with teachers, who are current

design professionals, on exercises designed to develop their

creative potential through the exploration of various design

concepts, such as shape, form, typography, composition, and

prototyping. YDA seeks to serve inner-city middle school

students that are creative and have an interest in design or

art.that are creative and interested in design or art.

IP Learning Labs

Learning Labs are one-day educational events that feature

short lectures by design professionals, design-centric

workshops, and tours of design studios and museums. They

cater to everyone from students to their parents to the

broader community and aim to serve as an interactive and

engaging way to explore many facets of the design industry.

Learning Labs can supplement the Youth Design Academy

curriculum or be sampled on a standalone basis as an

introduction to the field.

Designed.

Design is all around us logos, architecture, furniture,

packaging, websites, technology, fashion, and endless other

places. The subject, however, is not taught in traditional K-12

education, so most peoples exposure to the field is limited

to their unknowing interaction with design in everyday

life. Inneract Project aims to educate the community about

design, the opportunity to pursue design as a worthwhile

and valuable profession, and how to leverage design to

solve real-world problems. IP is producing a series of short

videos documenting an ongoing conversation with designers,

celebrities and everyday people about the importance of

design and how much we rely on design in our everyday lives.

The videos aim to spark interest, spur conversation, and raise

awareness of the field of design. Videos will be available via

the Inneract Project website

InitiativeOverview:

California has

the most artists,

the largest

economy and

the least State

government arts

funding of any

state in the USA.

Primary Goals

61. Educating young people and their communities about

the field of design and potential design careers.

Design is all around us logos, architecture, furniture, packaging, websites,

technology, fashion, and endless other places. The topic / profession has

recently come to the forefront of the press and social media due to new

startups need for designers but it has always been, and will continue to

be, a fundamental discipline and process a way of thinking, an agent for

solving todays most difficult problems. The term design can refer to a job,

a function, or an industry designation but, at Inneract Project, we believe it

is a skill that everyone, regardless of profession, can and should leverage.

Design is not taught in traditional K-12 education. Some people come

across design in classes in college, but many arent exposed to it at

all besides their unknowing interaction with it in everyday life. There

often is confusion between the concepts of design and art.

Inneract Projects free workshops educate kids, their parents, and the

community about design, the opportunity to pursue design as a worthwhile

and valuable profession, and how to leverage design to solve real world

problems. IP creates a classroom experience with hands-on projects to

teach what it means to design something teachers work with students and

students work together in our small classes of 10-15 kids. Parents are also

encouraged to work with their children outside of class through Learning

Labs. This holistic approach creates a learning experience with relevant

context for students. Parents, families and community figures continue this

dialog with kids outside the classroom to make design more relatable.

2. Mentoring: Linking designers to underserved youth providing a place for

designers to give back and for youth to be mentored by real practitioners.

Inneract Project is run entirely by volunteers. Our education chair (one of the

12-person IP committee) works extensively with teacher volunteers (local

design professionals) to craft detailed lesson plans for each Youth Design

Academy session. Teachers leverage these structured lesson plans and their own

professional knowledge base to develop extensive curriculum centered around

problem solving using design concepts. In the classroom, designers teach kids

the fundamentals of design via slideshows and a sequence of in-class exercises.

During the course of the class, designers connect with students by passing on

their knowledge and introducing their own professional career. Some designers

Inneract Projects 3 Primary Goals

7have had previous teaching roles before IP, but many have not. They come away

from the experience knowing how to lead a class of students and how to interact,

mentor, and guide kids through the learning materials and potential career

trajectories. Most students receive one-on-one tutorials during IP class sessions

and are given ample opportunity to actively participate and ask questions. Our

teacher volunteers have provided very positive feedback on the IP classroom

experience and appreciate the opportunity to give back to their community.

Our middle school students are taught to think critically, collaborate with

other students and come up with creative solutions to problems. They

are exposed to a college setting at a young age, which may positively

influence them to pursue college in the future. Working with teachers who

are real practitioners in the industry provides students with role models

and real life examples of what a design professional does. Throughout our

program, students populate their own design portfolios with the work they

complete in the classroom. These portfolios are theirs to keep and take

with them to other educational programs and / or job opportunities.

3. Adding diversity to design communities to broaden the scope of

ideas, processes and solutions to problems in the world today.

Diversity is a concern that spans all design disciplines. We cannot efficiently

and effectively solve problems in the world today without the input of

diverse subsets of people. Diversity sparks creativity, brings new ideas

to the table, and broadens our perspectives. Inneract Projects mission

is to encourage minorities and lower income children to learn design

and contribute their experience and ideas to the field. Our program

works with young people, primarily from African American, Hispanic and

Asian decent, and from middle to low socioeconomic backgrounds.

Our founder, Maurice Woods, only discovered design after running out of

options when his pursuit of playing professional basketball did not pan out.

His love for drawing as a kid was his inspiration to pursue graphic design

as a career, even though up to the point of taking his first graphic design

class, he had never heard of the field before. Had he not been persistent in

perusing the course catalog to find courses of interest to him, Maurice may

never have majored in graphic design. Since starting in the field, Maurice has

brought unique perspectives to design projects he works on and has become

an advocate for more youth and minorities to get involved with the field.

Inneract Projects 3 Primary Goals

We must bring

design to the

community, and

you will see

more minority

representation

without having

to have a

special program

set aside.

The design

community

should probably

have more of

a presence

with youth at a

younger age.

8Maurice believes exposure is the key, relevancy is essential, and accessibility

seals the deal. We must bring design to the community, and you will see more

minority representation without having to have a special program set aside.

The design community should probably have more of a presence with youth

at a younger age. (http://www.aiga.org/design-journeys-maurice-woods/)

Modeling after Maurices life, IP aims to offer design avenues to children

at an early age, when creative interests can be fostered and developed

into career choices. Our intention is to develop programs that not

only teach kids design, but also educate communities, through video

documentaries, interviews, Learning Labs and sponsored events.

Inneract Project is rooted in bringing diversity to design. Not only are the kids

in our classes diverse (gender, ethnicity, socio-economics, skills & interests,

etc.), but we are specifically developing curriculum and programming that

makes design relevant to young people. Our programming strives to suit the

way young people live and centers around what is important to them. For

example, for a class project, we may ask students to design their own logos

and jerseys for a basketball team. Or we may ask them to design a CD cover

for a local music group. These assignments and ideas can bring design to

young people in a way that they can understand how design works for them.

The success of Inneract Projects programming for minority students depends

upon support from three key groups: mentors from the design community,

parents who understand what design is and what it can be used for, and

partnerships with community businesses and figures that can support our

mission and our efforts to bring more diversity to design, one student at a time.

When Maurice started design school, his interest was sparked by his love for

the arts. However, he stayed with design because of the inspiration he received

from Tony Gables work, an African American designer whose Malcolm X poster

proved the power of graphic design. Exposure, relevancy and accessibility are

key. Inneract Projects primary goals are rooted in these three principles.

Inneract Projects 3 Primary Goals