Long story short, a friend of mine decided to run for Highland Park City Council. Through out her life she has watched her surroundings decay, as the birthplace of industry evolved into the center of blight. As an active member of her community, and a retired professor, she wanted to become a stronger force in the fight towards the betterment of the community of Highland Park.

In order to promote awareness, and an interest in City Council, she enlisted me as her graphic designer and photographer. Since her election I have continued to stay involved with City Council and Highland Park.

At last months council meeting, the growing issue of illegal dumping in Highland Park was addressed. The Illegal Dumping Task Force presented a need to spread awareness and promotion for change. What was the number one goal of their whole presentation? To get the attention of community members. They were discussing the idea of billboards, posters, and a completely redesigned form of public trash receptacles that will stimulate the community to be active participants in their initiative.

There is in fact a great need for design here in Detroit, and people are noticing. The problem is that very few people within Highland Park know how to access the right designer for their needs, and even fewer individuals outside of Highland Park will ever hear about their need for design. As designers, we can find an abundance of people in need of our services; sometimes it just takes a little digging. I’ve experienced first hand the positive affect that well thought out design can have in the smallest of situations. Not everyone is taught to see design as we do, but I’ve discovered that the more we invest design into the community, the more aware of it people become.

Though Detroit has become definable by its many economical, social, and political inadequacies, the city has seen a prolific emergence of many local and grassroots organizations, devoted to the area’s revitalization. The success of these programs, which range from urban agricultural activity to utilizing bicycles as a means of city transportation, have little to do with top-down city-governed structures, and more to do with local, community driven initiatives. Indeed, “the vision of few,” and the “effort of many,” has enabled some major changes to materialize in and around the city.

So, can we follow this same model in the design community, as a way in which to bring awareness to our profession, and simultaneously posit it as a powerful tool for economic transformation? I agree with Chad, that the collaboration among like-minded individuals is essential. I would add to his useful list that members of the Detroit design community, (and yes that includes all of you participating in this blog), must begin to support and defend our city. We must position Detroit, not as a city stuck in its industrial past, but as an urban space who’s inhabitants are actively seeking and incurring change. I’m always surprised to hear that many CCS students rarely, and sometimes never, venture away from campus and into the immediate midtown or downtown areas. To hear students denounce a city that they’ve never actually allowed themselves to discover is quite distressing. We, the people who live, work, and go to school in this city, must begin to focus our attention to the good things Detroit has to offer and move away from the naive assumptions that surface all to commonly.

But its an old record.

The people in Detroit could care less about

design, to them this is fluffed up nonsense.

Go knock on a door of a residence in Detroit..

See what they are doing, what they care about.

The people I grew up around never seen the

worth in design.

I’ve seen grown men cry, telling their son that

they don’t know what to tell them in terms of

direction. The High School I went to was

violent and didn’t prepare me for anything

beyond McDonalds.

Where I grew up is tore down. Those people

are trying to survive. literally.

Detroit, like,.. the real city and its populace

IS NOT prepared for the current reality, let

alone prepared to embrace it. Speaking on the

flow of talent coming out of the school is great..

But are they Detroit kids? Honestly, how many

of these kids are implants? Are they going to

stay in a city which they are not apart of on a

grass root level..?

What I’m trying to get at is the fact that the

PEOPLE,.. the meat of Detroit aren’t moving

forward. It seems to me that overall, they are

trying to survive. When you are worried about

the shitty job you have to work a ton of hours at

just to make ends meet, its hard to care about

things such as design. I’m not trying to be a

downer, but rather point at, what I feel is

constantly being glossed over, the people.

Without the natives on a positive, productive,

and progessive path then where is the

city going?

The believed dependancy on the automotive industry to drive the Michigan economy and the false presumption that the addition of Casinos in the city of Detroit will solve everything.