MICA Social Design

Greensboro 2010

admin — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 01:00:06 +0000

“Every Day Feels Like a Week”

A week long spring break alternative, the Alabama Blitz was a collaborative social design initiative between twelve student designers and the community of Greensboro, Alabama.

Our experience of community engagement, conversations, think-wrong sessions, challenges, pie and daily biking adventures lead to the production of two successful events: a community dinner and bike-build demo promoting Bike Lab.

Belfast 2011 Muck lab

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:24:31 +0000

Belfast Blitz 2011: Muck Lab

“It’ll Be Good”

The Maryland Union of the Cryptozoologically Knowledgeable (Muck Lab) was the result of a one-week Project M blitz held in Belfast, Maine. After several days of immersion and in response to the prompt “make Belfast cool for one night.”

Summoned by the Belfast Sea Serpent Society, MUCK Lab was charged with investigating the Muck Monster: a sea serpent known to live in local Kirby lake. On our final night in Belfast we exhibited video, photographic, and physical proof of the existence of the Muck Monster (or Mel, as we affectionately call him). The blitz was led by Ryan Clifford with the support of John Bielenberg, Brian Jones, Ryan LeCluyse, and Lauren Dellaquila.

You Choose

admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 13:27:53 +0000

Overview:
B’more for Healthy Babies and the Baltimore City Health Department created the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative. Together with the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)’s Center for Design Practice, they hope to reduce teen births in Baltimore City by ensuring that young people have access to education, clinical services, and opportunities for leadership and community service.

Eat Right Live Well

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:06:59 +0000

Overview:
The objective of this proposed research is to develop and test a series of innovative supermarket intervention strategies aimed at increasing the purchase of selected healthy promoted foods. This is a two-part research project that will combine qualitative methodology to inform the intervention and quantitative methods to evaluate the effects of the intervention.

We will carry out qualitative formative research study of a) community perceptions of the Southwest Baltimore Food Depot’s business practices and food for sale b) the local community’s attitudes toward eating healthy foods and c) perceived barriers to eating healthy foods. This information will be used to design culturally appropriate and potentially sustainable intervention strategies.

For the intervention study, we will manipulate aspects of the food environment in the Southwest Baltimore Food Depot and compare sales to another Food Depot in a similarly low-income area in East Baltimore. The intervention will include three modules focusing on 1) training the Food Depot personnel in how to effectively promote healthy food choices, 2) changing the layout and displays of promoted foods, and 3) implementing a price manipulation strategy to promote consumer trial of healthy foods. Results from this research may help identify strategies that can be disseminated to other supermarkets to improve eating patterns in underserved neighborhoods. Study findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed manuscripts and presentations at relevant professional and scientific meetings.

Power In Dirt

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:03:09 +0000

Overview:
Power in Dirt will revitalize vacant lots in some of the most blighted areas of the city through volunteer engagement, and get the government red tape and bureaucracy out of the way to make this happen.

Residents in Baltimore have already stepped up to turn blighted vacant lots into vibrant community managed open spaces. In fact, there are over 150 of these spaces so far, serving residents in numerous ways, as spaces to gather, to appreciate art, to grow food, to play sports, to just sit and enjoy relief from the built environment of concrete. Crime reduction, improved physical and mental health, improved nutrition, increased property values, and stronger ecosystems are all proven benefits of maintaining, greening, and caring for our physical surroundings.

Challenge:
Promote StepUP, Baltimore’s Cities of Service Plan, and focus on promotion and awareness of the Power in Dirt Initiative.

bSAS: Baltimore Substance Abuse Systems

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:59:35 +0000

Overview:
bSAS is the designated substance abuse treatment and prevention authority for Baltimore City. The organization is responsible for the administration of federal, state and local grant funds for substance abuse treatment and prevention services. bSAS administers funding, monitors treatment programs, collects client demographic and treatment data, works in collaboration with other agencies to improve services, and plans for the development of new services. bSAS does not provide treatment services directly but does provide information and referral.

Challenge:
Collaborate and engage directly with youth (high school and college aged) from the Oliver Community as part of the newly formed Youth Advisory Council. The objective is to work with the targeted demographic to ensure effective communication tools, strategies, and messages. Secondarily, it provides an opportunity for the Oliver youth to experience a first-hand transfer of knowledge and skills around design process.

Status Update

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:56:24 +0000

Overview:
The Bureau of STD/HIV Prevention is a program within Baltimore City Health Department charged with preventing HIV by providing testing, education, and services focused on HIV prevention.

In Baltimore City, MSM are at significant risk of acquiring HIV and syphilis. According the Infectious Disease and Environmental Health Administration, there has recently been a resurgence in the proportion of newly reported HIV cases occurring in MSM in Baltimore, with a near doubling of this proportion from 15% to 30% in the last 5 years. In the BESURE study conducted in Baltimore City in 2004-2005, 40% of MSM who participated in the study were HIV-positive and 62% of HIV-positive individuals were unaware of their status. According to BCHD surveillance data, rates of syphilis are on the rise in Baltimore City in 2010 compared to 2009. The Bureau of STD/HIV Prevention has worked for over 20 years employing a variety of outreach strategies to increase rates of testing for and decrease rates of transmission of HIV, syphilis and other STDs in these high-risk men.

Challenge:
Working with representatives from the Baltimore City Health Department to develop and design ways to decrease risky sexual behavior and increase HIV and syphilis testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) at high risk for HIV and syphilis.

Greensboro 2012

admin — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 18:25:51 +0000

Greensboro Blitz 2012: Explore Greensboro

“Kill Your Timid Notions”

Eleven MICA students and one professor, immersed ourselves in rural Greensboro, Alabama, where catfish is king and everyone waves “hello.” The bunkhouse became our home and Pie Lab our studio. We went to get inspired and do some good.

Captivated by the friendly spirit of Greensboro, we engaged with the community and got energized. We formed new relationships and made friends of acquaintances. Even though it was only one week, we took home a semester’s worth of experiences.

We painted until 4:00 a.m., We heard stories of a gorilla on the loose. We talked to random passerby. We met the Music Man. We challenged each other to rap, bake, and draw. We thought wrong, and we killed our timid notions.

STD/HIV Prevention

admin — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:35:19 +0000

Real Food Farm

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:51:55 +0000

Overview: Real Food Farm is Civic Works’ (Baltimore’s urban service corps and an AmeriCorps program dedicated to building a future for Baltimore’s youth through community service and skills development) new urban agriculture enterprise, located on six acres of Clifton Park in northeast Baltimore. RFF uses sustainable farming methods to grow fresh fruits and vegetables to address the community’s food access issues and promote agriculture as an economic opportunity for Baltimore.

Challenge: Develop and design ways to increase public awareness of and demand for the farm’s products as well as support the Farm’s weekly mobile markets initiative.

Great Kids Farm

admin — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 19:51:14 +0000

Overview: Great Kids Farm provides opportunities for Baltimore City school students to understand and participate in every aspect of food preparation—from seed to fork—and prepares them to lead 21st century sustainability efforts. The Baltimore City School system serves more than 85,000 students across the city, and as many as 74% of these students are, given the poverty levels in the city eligible for free lunch programs that directly benefit from the educational experiences provided and farm produce grown at Great Kids Farm.

Challenge: Increase awareness and generate excitement around the Farm’s activities, specifically among Baltimore City School students K through 12th grade. This experience should also be focused on achieving the ultimate goal of providing every Baltimore City school student with a personal experience at the Farm.

Design Altruism

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:12:40 +0000

Challenge 4: Design Altruism
Working individually, students were challenged to identify a local business, organization, or individual in their neighborhood and anonymously create a “random act of design kindness” to increase their visibility.

Design credit in order of appearance: Aron Fay, Jillian Erhardt, Jenna Kaminsky, JT Holly.

Tell Someone’s Story

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 06:02:51 +0000

Challenge 3: Tell Someone’s Story
Working individually, students were challenged to talk to someone in their neighborhood that they had regular contact with but didn’t know, and to share their story through a design solution.

Design credit in order of appearance: Jenna Kaminsky, JT Holly, Aron Fay, Charles Cooper, Bryan Connor.

Touch Someone’s Heart

admin — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:55:37 +0000

Challenge 2: Touch Someone’s Heart
Working in teams of two, students were challenged to use design to make someone in the MICA community happy and make a positive impact in their day.

Design credit in order of appearance (groups of two): Jenna Kaminsky and Jillian Erhardt, Aron Fay and Charles Cooper, Nick Hum and Chris Muccioli, Huong Le and Bryan Connor.

Good Balloon: James Holly, Jenna Kaminsky, Claire Mueller, Aron Fay.

EmPower Maryland

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 12:00:46 +0000

Overview:
The mission of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) is to maximize energy efficiency while promoting economic development, reducing reliance on foreign energy supplies, and improving the environment. The MEA is currently focused on the “EmPOWER Maryland” initiative, whose goal is reduce energy consumption by 15 percent by the year 2015. To help achieve this goal, the Maryland Energy Administration encourages residents to adopt the combination of energy savings measures that are most appropriate for their home.

Challenge:
Create an educational outreach initiative promoting the “EmPower Maryland” Initiative (15% reduction in energy use statewide by 2015) specifically targeting an often overlooked population: college student renters in Baltimore City.

MEA Box

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 11:00:52 +0000

Overview:
An idea emerged out of the original collaboration between the Center for Design Practice (CDP) and the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA). That idea was the MEA box—a physical, modular installation that would educate the college student demographic about en- ergy efficiency. The installation would become a physical space activating 15 things one could do to reduce personal power consumption and save money. It would also serve as a way for the MEA to gather relevant data on the college students’ energy usage and behavior.

Challenge:
As a follow-up to the “EmPower Maryland” campaign (15% reduction in energy use statewide
by 2015), design and develop the MEA box to travel around the state of Maryland stopping at college campuses.

Virtual Supermarket

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 10:00:57 +0000

Overview:
The Baltimore City Health Department has developed a Virtual Supermarket using an Internet model to bring healthy eating options to food deserts, areas with limited health food options, as a way to increase food access to City residents to curb the rise of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease, the number one killer in Baltimore City.

Help research, develop, and produce an effective model for the supermarket and an associated strategy for disseminating information to the targeted audiences.

CARES Mobile Safety Center

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:00:41 +0000

Overview:
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and the Baltimore City Fire Department launched the CARES Safety Center in 2004 to keep children safe from unintentional injury, the leading cause of death for children nationwide. The mobile safety center is a forty-foot vehicle built as a house on wheels, with interactive exhibits and low-cost safety products.

Challenge:
Develop injury prevention educational exhibits materials that are innovative, conducive to learning, and unified to meet the needs of both English and Spanish speaking audiences who visit CARES Mobile Safety Center.

Ken’s Kids, Inc.

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 08:00:52 +0000

Overview:
Ken’s Kids, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing a sense of purpose and independence to the lives of young adults with cognitive disabilities through job placement and vocational training within the Home Depot stores. The goal is to teach candidates to learn to work independently and to become valued employees. Recently, the organization received funding to widen its reach.

Challenge:
Develop communication tools to help Ken’s Kids, Inc. transition from a regional to a national organization.

HERO

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 07:00:09 +0000

Overview:
MICA’s Center for Design Practice partnered with Piece Studio to develop a campaign benefiting HERO: Housing Resource Center in Hale County, Alabama. HERO is a community organization that empowers the citizens of Hale County, Alabama and surrounding areas through education and access to opportunities. The project was funded by a Sappi Fine Paper‚ “Ideas That Matter” grant. The design team traveled to Alabama to spend a week immersed into the community and culture and develop a strategy for the project. We worked with the staff at HERO as well as individuals in the community, then traveled back to Baltimore to execute the project.

Challenge:
Develop a way to disseminate information about HERO to both the internal community and external funders, partners, and volunteers.

Arts Every Day

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Overview:
Arts Every Day is an organization focused on making arts education and cultural experiences an integral part of education in all Baltimore City Schools, through collaboration among the arts, educational, cultural, and leadership communities.

Challenge:
Position Arts Every Day as the authentic voice for Arts Integration in Baltimore, and across the country.

Healthy Homes

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 05:00:14 +0000

Overview:
Healthy Homes is a Division of the Baltimore City Health Department created to build a home environmental health program dedicated to reducing health disparities in asthma, lead poisoning and injuries in the City.

Challenge:
Create a lasting, sustainable means of disseminating information about lead safe work practices with the goal of ultimately eliminating lead hazards in Baltimore City.

30 Things

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:32:08 +0000

Challenge 1: Thirty Things
Working individually, students were challenged to visually depict 10 things that they (the student) think, they (the student) know, and “they” (others) say about Baltimore to explore the role and effects of perception in social design.

Design credit in order of appearance: Huong Le, JT Holly, Sarah Machicado, Shannon Craver.

The M&FC

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:31:40 +0000

Located in the Middle East neighborhood of East Baltimore, the Men and Families Center (M&FC) is one of the longest–running and most well–respected community establishments in Baltimore. Utilizing a holistic, open door approach, the M&FC has supported thousands of individuals who have needed guidance to become positive members of their community. This is manifested by providing services for people who are at risk of developing poor habits that will negatively affect their ability to serve as parents and have positive influences on those around them. Some of these services include: drug rehabilitation and prevention, job placement, developing support networks to provide employment and ensure completion of education, free health services that help keep people employed, domestic mediation, and skills to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

Students were posed with the challenge of re-branding and strategizing ways to reach targeted audiences who could make a difference in keeping this non-profit up and running to continue to serve the people in East Baltimore.

Urban Forest Project

admin — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:00:50 +0000

Overview:
The Urban Forest Project is an outdoor banner exhibition and series of community events promoting trees and green space in Baltimore City. All proceeds went to TreeBaltimore, program of Baltimore City, coordinated by the Department of Recreation and Parks, Forestry Division. The vision of TreeBaltimore is to double the City’s tree canopy by creating a sustainable urban forest.

Challenge:
Create an opening event to promote the Urban Forest Project while educating and engaging the community.