pathfinder leadership summit: an interactive experience for summit attendees
Lead the Way
The Girls Empowerment Network of Austin is an organization with a mission to help guide girls in making wise life choices as they navigate the unique pressures of girlhood” (GEN Austin.) One of the many programs the organization promotes is the Pathfinder Leadership Summit, where girls, ages fourteen to seventeen are encouraged to find their inner leader, through workshops hosted during one week of the summer. After volunteering with GEN Austin, I was introduced to and worked with Blair Stirek, a GEN project manager, to find ways to enhance the Pathfinder Leadership Summit experience.
design challenge
At the beginning of this project, the only design element GEN Austin was using for the summit was their logo on print collateral. The challenge for this project was to discover other opportunities in which to expand the brand during the summit. The goals from this concept were to design 2016 Pathfinder brand components that would be applied to bags and t-shirts.
design approach & my role
Analysis of the summit activities prompted an idea, in which the girls at the summit, could apply design thinking methods to demonstrate what they learned during the summit. Through research and brainstorming I developed a concept, with an interactive element, to help the attendees design a physical demonstration of their path through the summit following the design thinking process. This would instruct the girls on how to take inspiration from the activities of the day and apply that to a conceptual design solution; which included a button making workshop for the girls to design and build a path using their summit bag. I would lead the workshop and provide details about the goals for building the path.
process
Get to Work
I took the existing Pathfinder logo and added elements to create a circular design outcome. My inspiration for this design came from the connection between ideas of using a compass to locate a desired course and creating a sense of direction using various shapes to create lines. The branded compass was then screen-printed to t-shirts and bags, which I completed myself, and then were used in the “build a path with design thinking” workshop.
The compass symbol is the starting piece to help the girls build their path to leadership
The design solution for this element was a stylized compass that represents paths that can start in multiple directions with the Pathfinder Summit logo in the center.
solution: the summit workshop
Working with Design Thinking
After production of base assets was completed it was then time to focus on sharing of design thinking approach with a younger generation. I started with the definition of what design thinking is in addition to steps on how to apply this to the buttons, which they would then build their own path with by adding the buttons to their bags.
These were the example instructions:
Design thinking is a process used from inspiration to start conversations, express ideas, communicate issues, and visually explore how to solve some of life’s problems. Design thinking is not limited to graphic designers so any person can use this process to communicate how to solve problems. While creating these buttons think about how they fit into your path of leadership.
Step 1: Think of topic, image, talk, etc. that inspired you today. You could use notes from your journal, an image you saw, or talk you heard.
Step 2: What is your design thinking telling you? Create an image, write a quote, use stencils, or make a stencil, use typography, and color collage. However you think you can communicate your idea visually.
Step 3: Create your design. Sketch out the design first if you want to see how your idea comes together. Start with the background on the round circle. Test your design or start work on your final piece. This is your design thinking process.
After I completed a few demonstrations, the girls used scrap paper to draw and test materials to see how they could produce their ideas while maintaining their concept.
results
The workshop was successful in educating a new group of people about design thinking. Button designs from the workshop showcased quotes of the day, categories and visuals that were special to the girls, and even prompted some collaboration about how to use the materials to create impactful designs.
