AIGA Chicago 2019 Community Grant: Recipient Updates
This year, AIGA Chicago awarded $20,000 in community grants and community-driven design residencies.
Just as AIGA Chicago exists to embrace, amplify, and advance designers and the role of design in our community, so did the winning proposals. The awardees below address at least one of AIGA Chicago’s areas of civic engagement: diversity, women’s leadership, violence prevention, and education for all ages. Above all, the common denominator between the projects below is that they aim to harness the power of design to impact real change.
We asked our grant recipients to keep us up to speed on their progress, and we’re pleased to share some of their updates with you all.
Abigail Snodgrass: Perceptions Can Influence Our Ability to Enact Social Change
2019 Community Grant Award won
Follow Your Heart
Project description
“The suburbanization of poverty increases every year across the country. In Lake County IL, populations living in poverty increased by 151% from 1990–2014. However, 82% of Illinois foundation funding remains focused on urban issues of Cook County. United Way of Lake County (UWLC) is one of the few non-profits in Lake County working to end the cycle of poverty through educational programming for all ages, and one of the only organizations providing early education programs.
Seeing the impact UWLC is making first-hand, it’s is one of the most reliable ways to galvanize members of the community to take action. However, multiple barriers ranging from a volunteer’s busy work/life schedule to UWLC’s capacity to allocate additional resources to hold events for volunteers make first-hand experiences difficult. To break-down these barriers, we are creating an Immersive 360º Virtual Reality (VR) Volunteer experience. VR has shown to increase genuine empathy by connecting people and ultimately shifting our perceptions of each other.
Through this medium, our goal is to dispel the perceptions of educational inequity as a primarily urban problem and increase the funding resources for United Way of Lake County.”
Progress since May
“June became a month of action. We held our kick-off meeting during which we drafted a preliminary storyboard, filmed our first day of UWLC’s Kindergarten Countdown Camp and outlined our next filming goals. By August, we defined what an authentic volunteer experience is for UWLC how it will translate to VR. Then we embraced a collaborative process and Post-it notes to delve into each voice that will ultimately weave our story it into a strong narrative.
Filming 360º has been filled with the excitement and energy of the teachers and students. As we move forward, focusing our narrative will be the challenge. Within one hour of filming a student asked his teacher to take a pencil home. She said yes, but not until the end of the program due to the limited amount of supplies. The exchange was quick, but I was struck by the significance of a single pencil for both the student and teacher.
Due to the timing of the UWLC’s programs, we had to hit the ground running fast. Jumping in quickly and completely immersing ourselves into UWLC has been exhilarating. Being able to witness the beginning of a program and the challenges they face has been invaluable.”
Nicolette Stosur-Bassett: Designing Society Podcast
2019 Community Grant Award won
Labor Of Love
Project description
“Over the past 50 years, “design” has expanded from a product-based practice to one in service of the technological and social realities of the 21st century. As a result, a new praxis has emerged that focuses on utilizing design to impact social construction and relationships — this is called “social design.” As the definition of design has evolved, its application has extended to previously unrelated sectors and industries, many of which are inherently social in nature. Despite this notable shift, limited platforms currently exist that converse on and critique the practice of social design specifically.
To combat the complex challenges our world faces today, it is necessary to educate current design practitioners and existing/future students with the skills they will need by expanding awareness and knowledge of the social design praxis. Designing Society, a limited podcast series, aims to create a resource platform for this critical conversation by interviewing design professionals whose practices regularly engage communities, social systems, and power dynamics. The podcast will contribute to ongoing professional efforts to codify a social design methodology; spotlight Chicago design practitioners; advance thought leadership in an emerging field, and inspire critical discourse among design professionals and university students.”
Progress since May
“I revised and finalize my shortlist of intended podcast speakers, shifting my focus from all Chicago designers to several who I heard speak at the Design+Diversity conference at Columbia.
To prepare for podcast interviews, my process will include: Defining the podcast interview structure to get the most out of every conversation. Identifying key points that will be consistent throughout, and also areas to dig deeper into each designers’ field of expertise; as well as designing a one-sheet podcast overview/list of speakers/outreach copy and sharing with guests via email.
In the next month, I aim to define the podcast structure and research the bodies of work of my first few podcast guests to craft informed, intelligent questions for our conversation. I will also begin to draft content for the one-sheet promotion.”
Pouya Ahmadi: Amalgam Op.III
2019 Community Grant Award won
Labor Of Love
Project description
“Amalgam is a transdisciplinary-journal that explores the intersection of typography, language, and visual arts. The inaugural issue Amalgam Op. I was launched in May 2018 and was featured on It’s Nice That, Fonts In Use, and The Design Museum of Chicago. Amalgam Op. III will continue to investigate the possibilities that lie in the periphery of the field of graphic design — possibilities that have either been overlooked or systematically dismissed by mainstream design platforms — by focusing on minority and oppressed groups.
The theme of the second issue revolves around alternative modes of design practice and theory. It features work by diverse groups of designers, linguists, and artists aiming at expanding the scope of the field of graphic design and typography. The contributions range from essays to conversations, transcribed performances to poetry, and more.”
Progress since May
“For the past few months, I have been collecting contributions for the upcoming issue of the journal. So far, I have received contributions from Chris Lee, Elham Namvar, Fiona Ross, Devin King, and Shahab Tondar. I am currently working on the design of the journal and simultaneously collecting the remaining contributions.
The design process is going well, although it is challenging to get contributions in a timely manner since most contributors are active designers and artists handling multiple projects at the same time. Simultaneously, I am working on the design as I continue to collect our contributors’ content.”
Be on the lookout — in the coming months, we’ll continue to share more details and progress updates about more of the projects awarded. Learn more about our 2019 Community Grant and get involved.
