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Creative Collaborations: Using Design Thinking to Promote Multi-modal Transportation Design is a tool that shapes messages through strategies such as branding, communications, infographics, signage, and interaction. Design is also a process that uncovers public perceptions and behavioral barriers. In this case study, the City of Chattanooga’s Transportation Department collaborated with junior graphic designers at UT Chattanooga to use “design thinking” to promote multimodal transportation. The result is a robust public service campaign based on research methods such as expert interviews, user testing, and empathy studies. Students learned how to design for public good while allowing their work to shift their own perceptions of transportation in a growing city. Learning Objectives: Participants will understand the basic concepts of graphic design as it relates to transportation. Participants will be able to brainstorm ways in which design and communication could improve transportation in their areas. Participants will be able to identify communication gaps for transportation in their communities. Participants will understand technologies for online communication and marketing of transportation. Presenter(s) Presenter: Blythe Bailey City of Chattanooga Co-Presenter: Jenny Park Chattanooga Regional Planning Agency Co-Presenter: Aggie Toppins University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
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Creative Collaborations: Using Design to Communicate Transportation
Blythe Bailey City of Chattanooga Transportation Department
Aggie Toppins University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Jenny Park Regional Planning Agency
Who We Are, What We Did
The Chattanooga Context
Communication Needs in Planning Efforts
Design Thinking/Our Project Process
Introduction to the Public
Future Opportunities
Setting the stage
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The structure of the city
Public Space
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Getting where you need to go
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Transportation Design
Protected Bike Lane
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A Train City
Bicycle Transit
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Mode Choice by necessity
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Great cities
How do we prevent congestion?
How do we improve access?
*2040 Regional Transportation Plan
How do we fill the gaps?
*2040 Regional Transportation Plan
What about communication gaps? *2011 pedestrian intercept survey of 900+ UTC students
How are people commuting in Chattanooga? *2012 ACS Journey to Work data
Drove Alone 78.5%
Public Transportation 1.8%
Bicycle 0.9%
Walk 3.5%
Telecommute 3.5%
How do we ask people to shift modes?
The Design Thinking Process UTC students emulated a professional graphic design studio based on a “design thinking” methodology.
Graphic design is the practice of giving visual form to communication with respect to content, audience, and context. Design thinking is a process that combines empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality in analyzing various solutions to the problem.
The Design Thinking Process Thinking and making are the left and right hands of a studio practice. Doing preliminary field research and testing studio-based work in the context of the world are part of design thinking. Making in the studio and testing out of the studio are overlapping phases of the process.
IN STUDIO OUT OF STUDIO
SYNTHESIS
Group think: Brainstorm possibilities
Sketching, rough prototyping
Visual refinements: digital design
Narrow and focus concepts
Develop refined prototypes
Finalize visual systems
Listen to expert speakers
Participate in an empathy study
Conduct a site audit
Interview and observe audiences
Develop and test sacrificial concepts
Develop criteria
(comm. objectives)
Critique work
Develop guidelines
Project Brief The students at UTC were given a project brief with the following questions:
How do we communicate to the citizens of Chattanooga that multi-modal transportation is important?
• What is multi-modal transportation? • How does it help people? How does it help Chattanooga?
How do we help citizens of Chattanooga make better use of multi-modal transportation including busing, biking, and walking?
• What barriers stop people from biking, busing, walking? • What systems exist and how do we connect people better to them?
Research: Draw on Experts We invited a series of guest speakers to teach the students new skills related to the project and to share their knowledge and experience on the topic of multi-modal transportation.
Jenny Park & Blythe Bailey
City of Chattanooga Sign Shop
Code For America Fellows
River City Company
Divvy Bikes (Chicago Bike share)
Green Trips
CARTA
Divvy Bikes (Chicago)
City of Chattanooga Sign Shop
Research Methods: Empathy Study We spent one of our class sessions riding bikes together.
Group bike ride (before)
Group bike ride (after)
Research: Site Audit Students split into groups to experience city terrain first hand. They walked, biked, and drove various routes from a pilot neighborhood (Highland Park) to downtown. In so doing this, they determined new fast, flat, and calm bike routes near bus lines.
Research Methods: Talk to Real People At crucial points, we talked to people about our project to get real-world criteria for evaluating our work
Students interviewed people about behaviors and perceptions regarding bus and bike transportation Students shared prototypes with the public to get feedback and test different messaging strategies
“Bike City” show
Code Across America
Design Methods Students processed research findings in the studio turning insights into visual form. Learning through making, students narrowed focus and refined ideas until, over time, they had reached a final solution.
Group think: Brainstorming
Sketching, Prototyping, Creative Writing Exercises
Rough Digital Designs
Client Presentations/Formal Critiques with Guest Experts
Refined Digital Designs
Develop Sacrificial Concepts for Field Testing
Final Designs
Develop Brand Guidelines and Systems for Production
Early phases While the students were still researching the social context in which the campaign would live, they began externalizing their thoughts with brainstorm sessions, sketches, and rough design ideas. They asked:
How should this campaign look and sound?
Who is delivering this message?
What experience will the viewer have with this brand?
Brainstorming
Early rough ideas
Shaping Personality After initial brainstorming and sketching, the students narrowed their focus. They grouped ideas and began differentiating one concept direction from another. They developed five concepts to share. Each concept met the requirements of the project, but in very different ways.
Concept 1: Playful, Future-facing, Guerilla
Concept 2: Familiar, Charming, Accessible
Concept 3: Official, Sophisticated, Minimal
Concept 4: Edgy, Futuristic, In-the-know
Concept 5: Eco-minded, Forward-thinking, Aspirational
Concept 1
Concept 1: Signage Roughs
Concept 1: Print Communications Roughs
Concept 1: Interactive Mobile App Roughs
Concept 2
Concept 2: Signage Roughs
Concept 2: Print Communications Roughs
Concept 2: Interactive Mobile App Roughs
Concept 3
Concept 3: Signage Roughs
Concept 3: Print Communications Roughs
Concept 3: Interactive Mobile App Roughs
Concept 4
Concept 4: Signage Roughs
Concept 4: Print Communications Roughs
Concept 4: Interactive Mobile App Roughs
Concept 5
Concept 5: Signage Roughs
Concept 5: Print Communications Roughs
Concept 5: Interactive Mobile App Roughs
Formal critique
Code Across America
Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.
Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode
Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.
Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode
Concept 2: Official, Inspiring, A social movement
• Aspirational messaging • Photographic
Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.
Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode
Concept 2: Official, Inspiring, A social movement
• Aspirational messaging • Photographic
Concept 3: Energetic, Efficient
• Expedient messaging • Pictographic • Minimalistic
Field Testing Students discussed sacrificial concepts with citizens of Chattanooga from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Each student spoke with three to six people about their ideas. Questions included:
What is the main message of this brochure and ad? What stood out to you?
Do you feel more informed about your transportation choices?
Is this applicable to you? If not, who do you think the brochure is talking to?
How does this campaign come across to you?
Which one resonates the most?
What we learned Students took these insights to the client:
1. People have a sense of what looks “official” (from gov’t) and thus “credible.”
One campaign “looked real,” while others would be pushing the envelope.
2. Photographs must be extremely inclusive to be relatable (and yet it is
obvious when photographs attempt to show all kinds of people at one time).
3. People don’t like to read more than a few sentences.
4. No one wanted to feel like the City was “trying to take away my car.”
5. People responded more when they felt their intelligence was respected.
6. They wanted to be pointed to places to learn more.
Final Formal Critique
Selected direction
PSA Series
PSA Series
PSA Series
PSA Series
Informational Brochures
Informational Brochures
Custom Pictograms
Custom Pictograms
Pavement Markers
Neighborhood Signage
Introducing the Campaign to the Public At the end of the semester, the students designed and built an exhibition which was held in Highland Park, the pilot neighborhood for the project. They also set up a presentation for a group from the Next City Vanguard Conference in our studio classroom.
“This Way” exhibition
Next City Vanguards
Next Steps
Hire a student for an internship to implement campaign
Slowly roll out the program as funding allows
Put banners up in new community projects
Lessons Learned
Have realistic priorities
Pie-in-the-sky concepts eventually succumb to practical constraints
User testing turns up unexpected results
Collaborations with college students grow invested citizens
Thank you!
Blythe Bailey, Administrator City of Chattanooga Transportation Department [email protected] Jenny Park, Senior Planner Chattanooga-Hamilton Co Regional Planning Agency [email protected] @jennypark Aggie Toppins, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design University of Tennessee at Chattanooga [email protected]