User Centered Designer: Christine Wisnieski
Introduce the designer selected and the reason for selection
Christine Wisnieski is a graphic designer based out of Cleveland, Ohio. Since opening her own multidisciplinary design studio in 2011, The Studio of Christine Wisnieski, she has designed logos, websites, prints, and signage for some of Cleveland’s most iconic landmarks. Christine studied visual communication design at Kent State University. Upon graduation, she decided to pursue and grow graphic design in the Cleveland area. Since founding her business seven years ago, she estimates 85 percent of her clients are Cleveland based. I chose to write about Christine because she not only is an intuitive designer that does a lot around Cleveland but is also a wonderful neighbor.
Describe the project where the practiced user centered design
In 2015 the Studio of Christine Wisnieski was hired by developers to create presentation booklets to obtain funding from banks and corporate entities for a multi-purpose apartment complex in Ohio City called Quarter. Instead of the traditional powerpoint presentation, she wanted one that would interact with the funders and sell a narrative about the diverse neighborhood. She created a booklet which constructed an inspirational story that the funders could connect with.
As the development continued, she worked alongside the architects and developers to not only brand the apartment complex but also to create a new community that would thrive in the neighborhood itself. She hired a team to do a study on the types of people that were moving to Cleveland and specifically in the Ohio City neighborhood. The study found that there was a huge market of people moving in from out of state for jobs, education, and fellowships.
From this stage, she began to help design the interiors of the apartment complexes. She worked beside architects and interior designers to help brand a visual aesthetic for Quarter’s interiors and advertisments. Based on the study, they mocked up different profiles of who would be the core tenants of spaces. From there she helped pick out some of the interior furnishings and created a visual brand for the building itself. Unlike most downtown apartment complexes she believed it was important to be an “every day instead of an evening.” This every day branding helped established a welcoming environment for all of the future tenants.
Another vital user-focused aspect of this project was the neighborhood that these apartments were going to be in. Ohio City is an up and coming neighborhood of Cleveland with many restaurants, stores, and widespread sense diversity. She believed that it was just as important to design for the neighborhood itself as it was for the future tenants, so she pitched ideas for ice cream socials, mural contests, and other events. This apartment complex also provides the community with a grocery store, dog park, and an early childhood education school. All of these user-focused ideas helped the developers gain aprroval from the neighborhood.
What user-centered design principles and methods did the designer utilize?
Christine used an inspirational narrative and created a visually appealing booklet that helped relate the funders to the development. She also hired a team to do a demographic study on the types of people moving into Cleveland. This study helped her create the visual aesthetic and branding for the apartments.
Who is their target audience? gender, generation, culture profession?
After the case study was conducted it showed that a great number of people were moving to Cleveland for jobs, education, and fellowships. This study allowed the developers, architects, and design teams to market the apartments towards people in the 25 to 60 year old range. They developed around 25 different apartment layouts to accommodate for each tenants’ needs and created a clean design for the interior to evoke a welcoming environment.
How did practicing user-centered design add value to the project as a whole?
User-centered design helped this project gain funding, draw approval from the neighborhood, and predict the needs of the future occupants of the spaces. Christine’s presentational booklet, which focused on giving an inspirational narrative to the funders rather than a purely factual pitch, helped start up the developer’s construction process. Her demographic study was used to inspire the interior design of the apartments and model them for the future renters. Even the neighborhood around the apartment was considered and influenced the design during the construction process. User-centered design helped this project be successful from the start to the very end because it connected the audience to the apartment complex.
Key takeaways from this assignment
After interviewing Christine over the phone, I was surprised to see just how much she was involved with in the entire process. Her design studio was active from the foundation to the opening of the apartments. I found it interesting how much collaboration went on between the architects and designers in the process. It made me realize how much the fields really work together and how the future is going to be even more interdisciplinary. Christine’s small studio considered every aspect of this project which lead to their great success.
Sources
Wisnieski, Christine. Personal interview. 23 September 2018.
