TownSquare: Designing Community: Applying Graphic Design Principles and Strategies in Rural/Urban Development

By Betsy Berger.

Published by The International Journal of the Humanities

Format	Price
Article: Print	$US10.00
Article: Electronic	$US5.00

Vernon, Texas, is a town that began a collaborative effort called The Vernon Project. The project’s primary objective was to establish a new identity system and revitalize Vernon by helping the small town shift its focus from the past to a new vision of its present situation and positive evolution. The process demonstrated how local citizens and civic leaders collaborating with a visual communicator/designer can facilitate a city’s reinvention and subsequent ownership of its identity through applying design thinking in all phases of development. The Vernon Task Force, a group of local citizens, civic leaders, and business owners led by a graphic designer, used ethnographic research and responsive design to create artifacts that led to the design and creation of a brand identity system that began the process necessary to begin revitalizing Vernon.

Keywords:	Graphic Design, Culture, Rural/Urban Development, Collaboration, Globalisation

The International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 4, Issue 9, pp.51-70. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 2.971MB).

Prof. Betsy Berger

Assistant Professor, Art and Design, College of Arts and Science, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates

Elizabeth Berger teaches graphic design and typography at Zayed University in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She received her MFA at the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas and studied the University of Art and Design Basel, HGK Basel, Switzerland. She is a practicing designer and design educator with a 20-year career in advertising and design in the Dallas market. Her work has earned awards in various shows and annuals such as the New York Art Directors Annual, Print magazine, Graphis magazine, and the Dallas Society of Visual Communications. “The world of design is expanding to become a discipline that incorporates more than aesthetics –it is embracing research, technology, multiculturalism, and manifesting its power beyond business.” Berger feels the future for designers is in their critical thinking skills and how that is applied to making connections in complex systems within our global society.

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