Intersections in Design and Community:
a collaborative venture between student designers and the Buffalo locale
Focusing on the role of visual communication in the local community, I would like to propose a roundtable discussion with senior design students at UB and their community collaborators. The students will be undertaking semester-long projects involving a skills exchange with a wide range of local organizations, interest groups, non-profit service facilities and cottage industries around the Buffalo area. The students will be working in small groups and responsible for determining where a need for their skills in communication design can be implemented. How to facilitate a knowledge exchange that engages theories of hospitality and encourages an equable platform for social interaction will be explored. Throughout the project students will be addressing issues concerning information hierarchies and their relationship to content creation, stylistic trends and technological spectacle, sustainable networks and alternative dissemination strategies.
If anyone is currently working on a related student project I would be interested in developing an online student discussion forum so students can further dialogue about their experiences during the process.