Field Report: Social Marketing Design for At-Risk Teens

Nancy Stock-Allen, Professor, Moore College of Art and Design
Paige Davis, MA Candidate, New England School of Art and Design

As graphic designers we hold the potential to communicate important social messages and initiate constructive dialogues within troubled communities. However, in order create effective messages we often have to overcome, understand and address potential obstacles such as race, language, age, cultural norms, and social values. How can we create valid design solutions that will be understood and accepted by our intended audience to make a difference in these communities? This presentation reviews the conclusions of two graphic designers, one a design anthropologist in Boston and the other a teacher of social marketing in Philadelphia, who spent a year exploring these questions as they independently addressed the problem of teen violence in their cities.

Paige Davis immersed herself in the teen community of her Boston neighborhood, (attending after school events, performances and social functions) to understand her audience on a deeper level, so that she could communicate their messages in a way that was authentic. In Philadelphia, Nancy Stock-Allen assigned the problem of teen gun violence to her junior level class at Moore College of Art and Design. The class formed an ad hoc organization and navigated through city agencies and professional social marketers to research and gain feedback from teen focus groups. When Davis and Stock-Allen compared notes at the end of their projects, they found similarities and compiled suggestions and experiential anecdotes that will help any graphic designer or teacher who wants to get involved in social marketing in their community.