Communicating the Wellbeing of a City with Santa Monica challenged ArtCenter students to work alongside Santa Monica civic leaders and other community stakeholders to translate the City of Santa Monica’s pioneering Wellbeing Index into innovative transmedia design campaigns that would communicate a shared understanding of the community’s strengths and needs, encourage collaboration among city leaders and local organizations, and improve a collective sense of wellbeing for all citizens of Santa Monica.
Employing wellbeing data results and field research, student teams designed, constructed and tested conceptual campaigns in real-time with real residents. Teams had immediate feedback to retool and iterate on their concepts. Students drew upon the knowledge of Santa Monica experts to help guide them to create captivating, connective and resonant campaigns for residents of Santa Monica.
Since the conclusion of the Communicating the Wellbeing of a City with Santa Monica studio in April of 2017, the two final projects, SAMOpoly and Santa Monica Community Portrait have been implemented at several community events in and around Santa Monica.
“What really impressed me about this studio was that it was very engaging, multi-dimensional, and structured, but it also gave us the chance to share our knowledge and to learn from the fresh eyes of the students. Co-creating was really exciting for us. The process energized us; it was fun! We never could have imagined an Awkward Family Photo or a Board Game. This creative engagement had such unexpected, delightful and smart outcomes.”
– Julie Rusk, Chief of Civic Wellbeing/City Manager’s Office