Designing the Message

Abstract

“Brands are persuasive lifestyle packagers, powerfully focused on molding our ideas about what our identity should be.” (Klingmann, 2007, p. 2) Many companies use brand identity to persuade people to buy their product, but what if we used branding as a tool to persuade people to build community? Every day in the retail market we purchase items because of the relationship built between the consumer and the product. The community brand that will be created is .seed (Sustainable Environment for Emerging Detroit) that plants itself within a community. Through phases, .seed will work with the community by rebuilding an identity that the residents can take pride in and develop strong relationships. As each phase becomes successful, the more they will work to a more permanent solution. This approach will decide what it is that the community wants and will use. By creating a specific identity, or brand the idea is to create a rebirth of community throughout Detroit Neighborhoods. For this thesis, this experiment will start in Core City, Detroit. The “new” community would be treated as a product that would be marketed through strong graphic advertisement and strategy to a variety of social classes to create diversity rather than develop an unsuccessful mono culture. By branding Core City, it will persuade and entice people to want to be a part of something they themselves can create. This thesis examines how to improve neighborhood development of within Core City, not to simply destroy existing burnt out houses or warehouses and replace with new structures but to build a stronger community by examining what it is that Core City needs and wants. Overall the design will be a Civic Project that includes program that is appropriate specifically for that neighborhood. All programming features will be implemented but would be experimental. When a program such as an art fair is tested and found successful, it could be plugged into the site permanently or plugged in somewhere else within the neighborhood or in neighboring neighborhoods and tried out. For Core City a flexible, mobile and inexpensive solution was created by the reuse of shipping containers to develop appropriate program. This thesis examines not only how you get from point A to point C, but also looking at what point B entails, meaning one cannot head directly for a final design result. It is important to look at what exactly will build community and it is not just a single structure. It is the behavior and relationships that need to be built in order to create a sense of pride to make this project successful. The program will work on a variety of different levels or layers that if successful, would be systematic and be adaptable all over Detroit, and possibly other geographical urban areas. The main objective is to create a safe environment to families to live and grow, but also create a realistic thriving neighborhood. Looking at local case studies such as m1/dtw’s 6 Salon branding strategy, and MOMA’s P.S.1. and P.F.1 as case studies. As a whole, this project’s purpose will attempt to create possible solutions to Detroit’s dilapidated and suffering neighborhoods.