Creative Collaborations: Using Design to Communicate Transportation

Blythe Bailey City of Chattanooga Transportation Department

Aggie Toppins University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Jenny Park Regional Planning Agency

Who We Are, What We Did

The Chattanooga Context

Communication Needs in Planning Efforts

Design Thinking/Our Project Process

Introduction to the Public

Future Opportunities

Setting the stage

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The structure of the city

Public Space

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Getting where you need to go

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Transportation Design

Protected Bike Lane

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A Train City

Bicycle Transit

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Mode Choice by necessity

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Great cities

How do we prevent congestion?

How do we improve access?

*2040 Regional Transportation Plan

How do we fill the gaps?

*2040 Regional Transportation Plan

What about communication gaps? *2011 pedestrian intercept survey of 900+ UTC students

How are people commuting in Chattanooga? *2012 ACS Journey to Work data

Drove Alone 78.5%

Public Transportation 1.8%

Bicycle 0.9%

Walk 3.5%

Telecommute 3.5%

How do we ask people to shift modes?

The Design Thinking Process UTC students emulated a professional graphic design studio based on a “design thinking” methodology.

Graphic design is the practice of giving visual form to communication with respect to content, audience, and context. Design thinking is a process that combines empathy for the context of a problem, creativity in the generation of insights and solutions, and rationality in analyzing various solutions to the problem.

The Design Thinking Process Thinking and making are the left and right hands of a studio practice. Doing preliminary field research and testing studio-based work in the context of the world are part of design thinking. Making in the studio and testing out of the studio are overlapping phases of the process.

IN STUDIO OUT OF STUDIO

SYNTHESIS

Group think: Brainstorm possibilities

Sketching, rough prototyping

Visual refinements: digital design

Narrow and focus concepts

Develop refined prototypes

Finalize visual systems

Listen to expert speakers

Participate in an empathy study

Conduct a site audit

Interview and observe audiences

Develop and test sacrificial concepts

Develop criteria

(comm. objectives)

Critique work

Develop guidelines

Project Brief The students at UTC were given a project brief with the following questions:

How do we communicate to the citizens of Chattanooga that multi-modal transportation is important?

• What is multi-modal transportation? • How does it help people? How does it help Chattanooga?

How do we help citizens of Chattanooga make better use of multi-modal transportation including busing, biking, and walking?

• What barriers stop people from biking, busing, walking? • What systems exist and how do we connect people better to them?

Research: Draw on Experts We invited a series of guest speakers to teach the students new skills related to the project and to share their knowledge and experience on the topic of multi-modal transportation.

Jenny Park & Blythe Bailey

City of Chattanooga Sign Shop

Code For America Fellows

River City Company

Divvy Bikes (Chicago Bike share)

Green Trips

CARTA

Divvy Bikes (Chicago)

City of Chattanooga Sign Shop

Research Methods: Empathy Study We spent one of our class sessions riding bikes together.

Group bike ride (before)

Group bike ride (after)

Research: Site Audit Students split into groups to experience city terrain first hand. They walked, biked, and drove various routes from a pilot neighborhood (Highland Park) to downtown. In so doing this, they determined new fast, flat, and calm bike routes near bus lines.

Research Methods: Talk to Real People At crucial points, we talked to people about our project to get real-world criteria for evaluating our work

Students interviewed people about behaviors and perceptions regarding bus and bike transportation Students shared prototypes with the public to get feedback and test different messaging strategies

“Bike City” show

Code Across America

Design Methods Students processed research findings in the studio turning insights into visual form. Learning through making, students narrowed focus and refined ideas until, over time, they had reached a final solution.

Group think: Brainstorming

Sketching, Prototyping, Creative Writing Exercises

Rough Digital Designs

Client Presentations/Formal Critiques with Guest Experts

Refined Digital Designs

Develop Sacrificial Concepts for Field Testing

Final Designs

Develop Brand Guidelines and Systems for Production

Early phases While the students were still researching the social context in which the campaign would live, they began externalizing their thoughts with brainstorm sessions, sketches, and rough design ideas. They asked:

How should this campaign look and sound?

Who is delivering this message?

What experience will the viewer have with this brand?

Brainstorming

Early rough ideas

Shaping Personality After initial brainstorming and sketching, the students narrowed their focus. They grouped ideas and began differentiating one concept direction from another. They developed five concepts to share. Each concept met the requirements of the project, but in very different ways.

Concept 1: Playful, Future-facing, Guerilla

Concept 2: Familiar, Charming, Accessible

Concept 3: Official, Sophisticated, Minimal

Concept 4: Edgy, Futuristic, In-the-know

Concept 5: Eco-minded, Forward-thinking, Aspirational

Concept 1

Concept 1: Signage Roughs

Concept 1: Print Communications Roughs

Concept 1: Interactive Mobile App Roughs

Concept 2

Concept 2: Signage Roughs

Concept 2: Print Communications Roughs

Concept 2: Interactive Mobile App Roughs

Concept 3

Concept 3: Signage Roughs

Concept 3: Print Communications Roughs

Concept 3: Interactive Mobile App Roughs

Concept 4

Concept 4: Signage Roughs

Concept 4: Print Communications Roughs

Concept 4: Interactive Mobile App Roughs

Concept 5

Concept 5: Signage Roughs

Concept 5: Print Communications Roughs

Concept 5: Interactive Mobile App Roughs

Formal critique

Code Across America

Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.

Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode

Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.

Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode

Concept 2: Official, Inspiring, A social movement

• Aspirational messaging • Photographic

Finessing Messaging Strategies Students then worked to incorporate the feedback they received from clients (Blythe, Jenny, and their internal team) and from the public (those who attended Code Across America). The next step was to narrow the focus one more step and create “sacrificial concepts” — ideas that looked finished but were meant to solicit quantifiable responses from the public. Students showed ads and brochures in one-on-one conversations.

Concept 1: Playful, Accessible, Familiar • Narrative-based messaging • Incorporate a Mascot • Color-coded by mode

Concept 2: Official, Inspiring, A social movement

• Aspirational messaging • Photographic

Concept 3: Energetic, Efficient

• Expedient messaging • Pictographic • Minimalistic

Field Testing Students discussed sacrificial concepts with citizens of Chattanooga from a wide range of socio-economic backgrounds. Each student spoke with three to six people about their ideas. Questions included:

What is the main message of this brochure and ad? What stood out to you?

Do you feel more informed about your transportation choices?

Is this applicable to you? If not, who do you think the brochure is talking to?

How does this campaign come across to you?

Which one resonates the most?

What we learned Students took these insights to the client:

1.  People have a sense of what looks “official” (from gov’t) and thus “credible.”

One campaign “looked real,” while others would be pushing the envelope.

2.  Photographs must be extremely inclusive to be relatable (and yet it is

obvious when photographs attempt to show all kinds of people at one time).

3.  People don’t like to read more than a few sentences.

4.  No one wanted to feel like the City was “trying to take away my car.”

5.  People responded more when they felt their intelligence was respected.

6.  They wanted to be pointed to places to learn more.

Final Formal Critique

Selected direction

PSA Series

PSA Series

PSA Series

PSA Series

Informational Brochures

Informational Brochures

Custom Pictograms

Custom Pictograms

Pavement Markers

Neighborhood Signage

Introducing the Campaign to the Public At the end of the semester, the students designed and built an exhibition which was held in Highland Park, the pilot neighborhood for the project. They also set up a presentation for a group from the Next City Vanguard Conference in our studio classroom.

“This Way” exhibition

Next City Vanguards

Next Steps

Hire a student for an internship to implement campaign

Slowly roll out the program as funding allows

Put banners up in new community projects

Lessons Learned

Have realistic priorities

Pie-in-the-sky concepts eventually succumb to practical constraints

User testing turns up unexpected results

Collaborations with college students grow invested citizens

Thank you!

Blythe Bailey, Administrator City of Chattanooga Transportation Department bailey_b@chattanooga.gov Jenny Park, Senior Planner Chattanooga-Hamilton Co Regional Planning Agency park_jenny@chattanooga.gov @jennypark Aggie Toppins, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design University of Tennessee at Chattanooga augusta-toppins@utc.edu