Design Center Brainstorming Meeting

Thank you to those who could make it tonight. Your ideas and feedback are very helpful. To those who couldn’t make it, read below and hopefully this will make you feel like you didn’t miss out.

This summary sheet was given out at tonight’s meeting.

A group of us met tonight and I first provided an overview of what stage the design center is at this point. For many years, the concept of a design center has been discussed. A group is now working to create one for the city of Baltimore.

7/26/08 There was a brainstorming session about the concept of a design center. Six white papers were written. The group (about 60 people) took the ideas of these white papers and summarized them into lists of WHY, WHAT, WHO, HOW and NEXT STEPS (see page 4-6 of the summary sheet).

7/29/08 A follow up meeting with a smaller group was held. A working group and a rebel group was formed. The working group’s main task was to start getting some “design center tasks” organized and started. The rebel group is a group to “stir up trouble,” perhaps bring attention important topics to the city of Baltimore and keep us from sinking into bureaucratic morass. The rebel group is now known as “Design Conversation.” They meet the first Wednesday of each month. (See the right sidebar of this site for the next meeting time and location).

9/3/08 The first Design Conversation meeting was held, about 40 people attended. Anyone and everyone is welcome to these meetings. You do not have to be a designer. September’s meeting topic was “Making Sustainability Visible.” Since this was the first meeting, it mostly composed of various people/organizations making announcements. It was great to hear about the various sustainable events happening, but there was not much conversation happening. So October’s meeting changed format a little.

9/8/08 The working group got three schools together.

• Mary Anne Akers, Dean of Morgan State Architecture
• Garth Rockcastle, Dean of UMCP Architecture
• Fred Lazarus, President of MICA

All three schools agreed to participate, but they stressed they do not want to lead or dictate the process. They suggested a steering committee be formed. They agreed to provide seed money for the steering committee to find and hire a facilitator (role to be determined.)

9/17/08 The design center group met and reviewed all recent events from Design Conversation and the working group. A steering committee was formed. They will now be meeting on the third Wednesday of each month. These meetings are open to the public, so come anytime! They are currently being held at the Neighborhood Design Center from 6-8pm.

10/01/08 The second Design Conversation meeting occurred. The topic of discussion was “Shrinking Cities.” Baltimore is a shrinking city. It used to once have 1,000,000 people, now it is down to 600,000, so what do we do with all of the vacant lots and decaying buildings? Is there a way to make them usable through design? Check out my blog post to read more. Dan D’Oca from Interboro Partners also spoke about the research his group conducted on Detroit, another city with population decline.

10/9/08 I held a meeting specifically for graphic designers interested in the design center. The majority of the design center group is composed of architects. I am one of the few involved that are from a different design profession. It is very important to the entire group to have input from people from all design professions, so I thought it would be good to have a brainstorming session with graphic designers to get their input. Ideas discussed are at the end of this post.

10/15/08 This is the next steering committee meeting. You are all welcome to come. I will be reviewing our options for a community website. We will also be discussing the facilitator role and begin forming a vision statement and mission statement.

Frequently Asked Questions:
Do we know where the center will be? No, not yet. That is on the to-do list. As you see, we are at the VERY beginning stages of this process. It could be 1-3 years before we have an actual building. I think it would be great to start small and get something up in a year, but that is just my personal thought.

What is the design center’s purpose? I think this will be more defined when we form a vision and mission statement, but these are some of the things we see the design center doing:

• It will be a resource for the entire community. It will welcome people from all professions.
• This will be a place for connection, collaboration, communication and education.
• The center will be a central location for designers from all disciplines to use as a resource.
• In turn, the community can also use the center to learn about design, find designers and educate designers about their needs.
• This place can be a location for students to connect with design professionals.
• Non-profits and businesses can use it to find design professionals too.

Is there a website? Sort of. Again we are at the early stages. You currently can go here. I am working on getting a community site for the group, something like CollectiveX but more robust.

What can I do? For now, send me your thoughts and ideas. Tell me if you are interested. If you are interested in helping with a particular thing, let me know. I will add all of this to the list and contact you when we are ready. Please know it may be a while before we are ready. Like I mentioned before…we are at the early stages of this. And also come to the meetings!

These are the ideas we brainstormed at tonight’s meeting.

• We can get free books for the library from the Library of Congress. It was heard they provide free books to non-profits.
• Technical equipment available (printers, binding machine, etc…expensive things that freelancers and small studios can’t purchase on their own) for professionals.
• Resource for finding designers including work examples in tangible formats at the center.
• Paint Out or Create-A-Thon type event, event where artists or design professionals work in a short period and/or out in the community. Work is then used for non-profit or on exhibit.
• Concept of membership fees and non-membership fees for design professionals to use conference rooms, office space and equipment.
• Studio/artist studio tours.
• Poster contest to promote a Baltimore event with an exhibit of all submissions.
• Critique sessions involving a mix of designers from several professions. Example, an industrial designer will provide different feedback on a logo than a graphic designer. A print designer can provide typography feedback for a web designer, etc.
• Round table/panel discussions/educational seminars/demonstrations…sharing of information. Example: panel of clients that hire designers discussing what they want and look for in designers.
• An art show before the center is completed. In Washington DC, each year a building stops construction before completion (it’s still in concrete, no walls, etc.) and designers/artists each get their space to create and exhibit work and a reception is held for the community. The show is up for several weeks. This could be a great publicity opportunity for the center.
• Career center that helps in both directions for the talent and for the community.
• Connect the design center with social justice and sustainability.
• Youth community groups collaborate with the center.
• Bookstore that showcases all types of design. Example, it is very difficult to find books locally on environmental graphics.

Thanks again to all who attended!