A City Driven By Design
By: Breanne Krager
Tags: Phoenix Design, Design, Phoenix Design Week, Phxdw, Aiga Arizona

Design, whether we realize it or not, is present in everything we experience — our work environments, the app you used to order your coffee this morning, our transportation, the craft beers we consume, and so on. The list is limitless — design is everywhere. And perhaps its most compelling (albeit covert) superpower is its ability to influence civilizations, shape communities and help foster a new age of growth and opportunities.

This superpower is not lost on AIGA Arizona though. The organization has long held, through its mission, that design is capable of encouraging social impact and promoting community excellence.

Phoenix is a testament to this belief. Throughout the years, the Greater Phoenix community has been subject to a number of circumstances that have led to innovative change. And design has been at the heart of it all.

Here are but a few of the many industries impacted — and elevated — by design with commentary from some of the area’s creatives who can speak to design’s multifarious and far-reaching impact.

Education and classrooms

Recently, there’s been a shift in creating classrooms better outfitted to support experiential learning, which in turn has been proven to impact the short- and long-term effects of students’ learning outcomes. One of the keys to creating a learning space conducive to many different types of educational approaches is flexibility. Ultimately, the way a learning space is designed directly influences the learning activities that can occur there. For example, Phoenix’s Biltmore Prep Academy and Creighton Elementary, among other schools, have turned to open classroom designs to keep kids engaged and learning in a variety of ways.

How is education and the modern-day classroom impacted by design?

“We are becoming a more planned community, thus requiring design and sustainable planning to converge. Specifically, I see that office space and creative thinking design has been translated to the classroom à la whiteboard walls, creative workspaces, etc.” — Lisa Glenn Nobles, executive director for CO+HOOTS Foundation and Phoenix resident for 11 years.

“As leadership begins to realize the importance of design and design-thinking, more and better changes are being made to accommodate students, facilitate learning, and provide a physical (and digital) space that encourages the sharing of knowledge and an affinity to the school. Tools, especially, are easier than ever for students to use, making educational environments more inclusive and welcoming.” — Perri Collins, social media specialist at Arizona State University and Phoenix resident for 18 years.

Technology and the digital space

Design is an indispensable factor in creating humanized and easy-to-use interfaces in the rapidly evolving digital landscape. In many ways, great tech cannot exist without great design. And it’s the creative’s job to help technology deliver the desired experience users crave. This is especially significant in Phoenix, a city dubbed as the next tech hub. With some of the biggest names in tech — along with countless promising startups — relocating or rooting their companies in the Valley, there has been an increase in opportunities for creatives to gain a foothold in this emerging industry.

How is design changing how we interact with technology?

“Design is a key player in the tech space because it helps customers visualize and understand new technology that hasn’t even been built yet and make technical concepts easier to understand.” — Julie Bonner, marketing director at FreeFall Aerospace and Tucson resident for 16 years.

“Design has helped to bring technology and the internet to the masses… I think how well things work is overlooked in favor of how good things look. People tend to gravitate toward beautiful products over simple products. I think beauty in design has its place, but I would take a simple tool — regardless of how ugly it is––like Craigslist, over a beautiful but difficult to use tool any day of the week.” — Carter De Angelis, product design consultant and Phoenix resident for nearly two years.

City planning

One of the most prominent ways design is reflected in the City of Phoenix is its well-known grid system. Taking advantage of the area’s relatively flat positioning, the city’s early designers mapped out roads on an easily-maneuverable layout, replete with big, arterial boulevards that supported the transportation conducive to our city’s original purpose as a farming town.

Civil engineers and designers were also heavily influenced by the techniques used by the native inhabitants of this land, incorporating their methods to build up civilizations that support various ways of life.

How Phoenix as a city works with — and for — its residents.

“Design is very much alive and integrated throughout Phoenix’s construction industry. The majority of citizens don’t realize the level to which our cities and environments are designed… One of the most prevalent ways is its grid system. It is a powerful, yet subtle influence from design that many take for granted.” — Janelle Elizabeth Thomas, marketing lead at DPR Construction and born and raised in Arizona.

“Design is the act of evolving… For hundreds of thousands of years, native peoples have been designing homes, communities and cities, to create a continuation of cultural stories through the means of sustaining our way of life. Take Phoenix, for example. This city is here because of native peoples and the canal systems they designed to sustain life in a desert. It is important for our community to preserve these designs for our young to learn and grow from, especially now that we are in the technical age. It will help us to contribute our inherited design systems to a larger world that will still sustain our homelands, cultural knowledge, newer engineered communities, careers, economic prosperity, etc. This is the impact design will have in our world.” — EuniQue Yazzie, creative director at euniQue Design LLC and a member of the Navajo Nation.

Government workflows and services

In addition to city planning, there has also been a rise in creatives working within local governments. Designers’ abilities to create products that work for people rather than systems have been keenly sought after by government officials who are striving to create systems and services better suited to meet the needs of their constituents. Creatives offer a different perspective, looking to identify the root of the problems that may be causing issues within a city. Chief among these issues is typically failure to integrate human-centric design — both in regards to the buildings themselves as well as the service they provide.

Reimagining the citizen experience through design.

“If government services were designed as well as our road system, I imagine we’d all enjoy a much more pleasant ‘citizen experience.’ The user experience of interacting with our public services is mundane at best and abysmally counterproductive at worst. Visiting the DMV, voting, interacting with our courts and even trying to track down a record of receiving a government grant — practically none of it is memorable and nearly all of it is a pain in the ass. We need proper design work, like what some agencies are doing with the help of 18F and others. Whoever can redesign the citizen experience — what it means to interact with our government on every level — will win big in the long term.” — Jérémy Chevallier, cofounder of PubLoft and GigLoft, and Phoenix resident since 1993.

Restaurants and hospitality

Phoenix is one of the fastest-growing foodservice markets in the country, making it a desirable destination for those in restaurant architecture and interior design. A restaurant’s aesthetic — from the paint colors, to its wall decorations, and all the way down to the uniformity and intricacies of the table setting — has become a crucial part in delivering the ultimate guest experience today’s restaurant-goers expect.

One of our area’s most renowned chefs, Chris Bianco, views restaurant design similarly to how he views the food he creates, asking himself how he can bring out the essence of each so that they’re the best versions of themselves. According to Bianco, “You have to look at a space and ask what it wants to be, or look at a community and ask what it needs. Then, do the thing you like to do the best you can possibly do it. Seeing something you disagree with doesn’t mean you need to tear it down; it means you do your thing as well as you can to bring light to the darkness.”

How restaurant design can elevate the guest’s experience.

“Today’s restaurant design agencies have a responsibility to encourage their core clients to design for quality and responsible experiences — not disposable products or wasteful, irresponsible sourcing and manufacturing. Our city’s bars, restaurants and event venues such as the Arizona Science Center are created for the community — and all aspects of their design should be made available to everyone. I hope new venues and experiences that come to the Valley continue to reflect our established knowledge of good design.” — Diane Serpa, art director and owner of GreyCatDot Digital Design and Arizona resident since 1976.

Breweries and beer

Design has also helped elevate the Valley’s micro-brew scene. From the breweries to the product packaging, beer-making has opened up another avenue for designers to flex and expand their creative prowess. Additionally, the design that goes into marketing these craft brews has been crucial to breweries’ successes, helping put Arizona’s local beer on a national stage.

How design supports local brews’ marketing efforts.

“Design has played a huge role within the brewery world. Since the beginning of the craft beer revolution that’s been sweeping the county, Arizona included, breweries have provided an outlet for designers to create for a newer platform that before they would not have had the opportunity to be a part of (with the exception of the limited large companies).

Local beer and design go hand-in-hand. If you want to stand out from everyone else you better damn well have a fun, unique, and new take on your branding, your voice, and ultimately its labels. There has been a lot of great designs and illustrations that now have a new and exciting platform to be paired with — not to mention one that’s a fun, recreational product most people enjoy. It’s also been an exciting space for designers to push the boundaries a little since there aren’t as many rules to what makes good beer packaging.

I think if anything, the brewery industry has helped the design world get more attention by providing more direct exposure to packaging design––exposure that’s now seen by the masses. This ultimately demonstrates the importance of good design to non-designers.” — Mark Johnston, co-owner, designer, illustrator and pixel-pitted Pisces at Prickly Pear Paper.

As is abundantly evident, design infiltrates our lives in countless ways — the examples mentioned above are only the tip of the iceberg. As a result, design has helped shape and transform Phoenix, serving as a catalyst to its evolution throughout the years.

To learn more about the ever-morphing craft of design, the diverse implications it has within our everyday lives, and the creatives (both local and national) who are leading the charge, come out to the Evolve Design Conference, which will take place on October 12 and 13, 2019.