As the Community Outreach Director for AIGA Seattle (the Seattle Chapter of the Professional Association for Design), I chaired AIGAs participation in the inaugural Seattle Design Festival, “Beneath the Surface” in September 2011. Our committee crafted the idea of Design Marks—a trail of 8-foot-tall location markers where viewers experienced how the design of Seattle’s urban landmarks influenced the city’s culture, and how that culture, in turn, influenced design. Twenty-five of the city’s leading design firms were invited to design an individual marker as well as a short companion video. The Design Marks were temporarily installed in a variety of Seattle neighborhoods for two weeks during the festival. Each firm’s design was printed on waterproof canvas, which was wrapped around a three-foot sonotube and sealed.
My design firm, aftertheimage, was among the participants. For my Design Marker, I chose to revisit the Belltown neighborhood where I had photographed and documented the wall surfaces 30 years prior. Urban development had dramatically changed Belltown and many longtime members of the community were still concerned about its future. With this in mind, I created a two-sided Design Marker which spoke to Belltown’s past, present, and future. On one side, viewers could experience the bygone culture of Belltown in the 1970s and 1980s; on the other side, I asked viewers to participate in designing a future Belltown by texting me their ideas. I then printed the texts and adhered them to the Design Marker, covering the image of a highrise building in construction. It was my hope that the current community’s input would help shape Belltown’s future.
Through a QR code, viewers were linked to a poetic video of the history of Belltown. You can view it here.
The video was a collaboration between aftertheimage and Weather Experience Design Group. Miles Strucker wrote and read the poem.
AIGA Design Marks Installation at Seattle Design Festival 2011, Installed in Belltown, Front side is history of Belltown
AIGA Design Marks Installation at Seattle Design Festival 2011, Installed in Belltown, Back side is current Belltown (2011) covered with messages from the community envisioning a future Belltown.
Details of Belltown of the past (front) and detaills of messages from the community envisioning a future Belltown (back).
As the Community Outreach Director for AIGA Seattle (the Seattle Chapter of the Professional Association for Design), I chaired AIGAs participation in the inaugural Seattle Design Festival, “Beneath the Surface” in September 2011. Our committee crafted the idea of Design Marks—a trail of 8-foot-tall location markers where viewers experienced how the design of Seattle’s urban landmarks influenced the city’s culture, and how that culture, in turn, influenced design. Twenty-five of the city’s leading design firms were invited to design an individual marker as well as a short companion video. The Design Marks were temporarily installed in a variety of Seattle neighborhoods for two weeks during the festival. Each firm’s design was printed on waterproof canvas, which was wrapped around a three-foot sonotube and sealed.
My design firm, aftertheimage, was among the participants. For my Design Marker, I chose to revisit the Belltown neighborhood where I had photographed and documented the wall surfaces 30 years prior. Urban development had dramatically changed Belltown and many longtime members of the community were still concerned about its future. With this in mind, I created a two-sided Design Marker which spoke to Belltown’s past, present, and future. On one side, viewers could experience the bygone culture of Belltown in the 1970s and 1980s; on the other side, I asked viewers to participate in designing a future Belltown by texting me their ideas. I then printed the texts and adhered them to the Design Marker, covering the image of a highrise building in construction. It was my hope that the current community’s input would help shape Belltown’s future.
Through a QR code, viewers were linked to a poetic video of the history of Belltown. You can view it here.
The video was a collaboration between aftertheimage and Weather Experience Design Group. Miles Strucker wrote and read the poem.
AIGA Design Marks Installation at Seattle Design Festival 2011, Installed in Belltown, Front side is history of Belltown
AIGA Design Marks Installation at Seattle Design Festival 2011, Installed in Belltown, Back side is current Belltown (2011) covered with messages from the community envisioning a future Belltown.
Details of Belltown of the past (front) and detaills of messages from the community envisioning a future Belltown (back).