Ashley Davis

Design is an ever-evolving discipline that continues to transform just as the world and the individuals within it proceed to change. Design is not only about creating logos and killer advertising campaigns or pumping out shiny pamphlets with amazing fonts; it's much, much more. Designers are problem solvers, and it's becoming increasingly evident that the same kind of careful design attention that's being applied to products and advertisements should also be applied to social contexts. As designer John Heskett wrote, "Very few aspects of the material environment are incapable of improvement in some significant way by greater attention being paid to their design."

Here at Herron School of Art & Design, Visual Communication Design students are learning how to adapt to the evolving field of design, allowing everyday people to be proactive informers in our quest to address problems and achieve solutions. In the classroom, we learn about the nature of design and the processes and methods needed to

achieve satisfactory solutions. Through participatory learning sessions, we engage each other and gain new understandings of key design principles. But even then, how do you develop your sensitivity as a designer; how do you understand the correct way to respond to a given situation? It's obvious: by doing. But often when that time comes, you're sitting in your ergonomic chair at your first real job, thinking, man, what do I do now?

Stepping outside the classroom and actually doing can often be a very scary idea. We all want to go to school to be able to land that great job the moment our newly educated feet hit the pavement, but in reality, how do you transfer what you've learned in the classroom to the real world? This is where experiential learning comes in, providing students with the opportunity to engage and apply classroom knowledge through hands-on experience. In partnership with the Super Bowl Legacy Project, IUPUI has launched a new program, which aims to increase student and faculty involvement with the Near East Side of Indianapolis. As part of the IUPUI Legacy Project, Herron graduate students in VC Design are using design process skills and methods in order to gain a holistic understanding of the Near East Side. To better understand potential solutions, we must first understand the context that has fostered the problems of development facing this community.

This project allows us, as students, to not only gain confidence in our abilities as designers, but also to positively impact the community. Our passion about design, coupled with the passion of those working at organizations like the John H. Boner Community Center, is a promising new partnership that will hopefully lead to positive changes in areas like communication, health, wellness and education.

So far we've been focused on how individuals within the Near East Side contextualize their community, going on a tour of the neighborhoods, engaging with schools, businesses and churches within the community, and questioning residents. We're learning to set aside anxieties and understand what works when and where, what language to use, what tools and methods work, and even how to approach different individuals. We're not afraid to get our hands dirty, or, in our case, our feet, trekking through the Legacy Center construction site with cameras and hard hats. We set up meetings, approach strangers, ask questions and aren't afraid to get messy. And that's the key to all of this: as we learn more about the Near East Side, we learn more about ourselves and our professions, and all while helping the community.