Design Collective : Learning Cohesive Design

It wasn’t the first time I have been given a task and been told to get it done together, but never have I been given a group where it was so crucial that we have cohesive thoughts, and ideas. Day one of senior studio, we walk in and are given a list, everything from Cheese, to Bicycle. The list was for various concepts on Museums, all which already existed, we just had to re-imagine what it meant to have this type of establishment. My group of 3 was quickly drawn to the idea of Bicycles. We thought with a vintage American approach, this could be a fun, inviting, family friendly atmosphere. Set in downtown Kansas City, Spoke started to become alive.

At first we divided and conquered, but we quickly found out we were most pleased by the outcome if we talked through each step, and each decision. Often one of us would start something and a different person would finish it so everyone had a hand in the outcome. There were ads, bags, gift shop items, a museum map, bicycle trading cards, a fully functional website and even an animated logo. Every aspect of the concept was branded, from the identity set to museum tags on the wall. It was a chance to really look at designing the whole package, but with other designers in on the mix it turned out light years different than if we all had the same assignment and finished it separately. Key lesson learned, more often than not, two heads are better than one, and three, well even better.