Design Thinking Showcase at UWM Kenilworth

Designers naturally focus on product development, marketing and advertising. But this year, Adream Blair-Early and Amy Decker of UWM’s Department of Art and Design charged their 37 graduating seniors to look beyond commerce and think about storytelling in Resolution 2013: Intersections of Milwaukee. The show runs 5:30-9 p.m. Friday and noon to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3-4, on the sixth floor of UWM’s Kenilworth Building,1925 E. Kenilworth Place.

The students began by choosing Milwaukee “makers and shakers” to interview and photograph. They created designs to visualize the intersections where the people shaping the city connect. Through innovative design, the students present both well known and lesser-known people who are woven into the fabric that makes Milwaukee the special place that it is. Blair-Early and Decker believe that these projects teach more than good visual design. They embed the concept of design for the common good.

Of course these students must understand the visual elements of design, color theory, composition, problem solving. And of course they are prepared to enter the world of commerce. But they will enter that world with a broader understanding of community, of how layers of citizens contribute to the fabric of the community. Change for the common good needs design for the common good so we are all aware of how Milwaukee thrives.

The theme of these capstone design projects aligns with the goals of AIGA, the American Institute for the Graphic Arts, the national organization for professional designers. AIGA promotes Design for Good as “a platform to build and sustain the implementation of design thinking for social change,” a concept gaining strength in the new world of global citizens.

Good design always asks: What is not but could be? Design Thinking goes beyond its applications in graphic art or industrial design. Design Thinking is a way of solving problems involving safe drinking water, public health, skills gaps, classroom teaching, shelter for the homeless, and beyond. The goal at UWM is to graduate students armed with the Design Thinking mindset. Yes, design that product and sell it — but while you do it, change the world.

— Lee Ann Garrison is director of the Design Research Institute at UWM