Design Brief: Decorative DiscouragementWilliam Wood

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1. Title and descriptionDecorative Discouragement. A combination of unpleasant design and hostile urban architecture to manipulate behavior and create social oppression.

2. StakeholdersDesign Ecologists, architectural designers and Urban Planners have stake in this concept because they use methods like this to produce a desired behavior from the audience that interacts with their spaces.

Product designers also take claim in this because they also have the opportunity to use similar techniques in their designs.

3.ContextThis design problem is not a recent one, but has been becoming more an more inventive in the past twenty years. It starts with systems like dividing communities by highways and making sure essential items in a grocery store are in the back, but it has evolved to become incredibly manipulative and has given a rise to objects that are so unpleasant and hostile they become an anomaly in their own space.

This is a viable research project because not a lot of research is really done on how these mechanics are used to promote social equity. Instead, everyone seems to focus on how it creates a disconnect and social oppression. There is an opportunity to highlight a solution to design problems instead of discouragement.

4. Problem IdentificationHow might we use Decorative Discouragement to promote social equity and disrupt the current social oppression?

5. ObjectivesTo educate the audience on Decorative Discouragement and open up the opportunity for change with this new knowledge. An accomplishment to me is just recognizing these elements in the environment, understanding why they are being used, and opening up the opportunity to advocate for change by providing alternatives. Success is measured in the experience of the work in the gallery and a better understanding of Decorative Discouragement from the reader.

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6. Audiencea. Demographics

Any member of an urban/city environment, age range of 20-35 that relies on public transportation and interacts with the environment around them consistently such as using benches, waiting in banks, interacting with corporate building etc.

b. PsychographicsValues social equity, interacts with architecture and has a surface understanding of behavior manipulation.

c. GeographicsLocal audiences that live in urban and city environments.

7.Positioning and Communication Strategy• Behavioral manipulation can be found all around a city and many

of us interact with these objects every day.

• Maybe a little surprise should be conveyed and that good “aha” moment.

• I want my audience to understand more and have more knowledge on the subject.

8. Pragmatic Issues• I have to find a way to distract my audience first before introducing

them to the object to correctly convey how these systems work.

• I can see an issue in people getting the message right away and not getting distracted because of the space.

• I have to compete with other artists that use a 3D work to get people distracted.

• This is entirely new to me and I haven’t tried this before

• The extend of the research on promoting social equity is going to be difficult.

• I want to be able to correctly distract my audience and if I can’t successfully do that the message won’t be correctly conveyed.

9. Thesis SupportColleen Toomey - Social Equity CoordinatorJim Banning - Expert on Design Ecology

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Thank You