Thursday, November 15, 2007

Nest is Best

It's been a while since my last post - feverishly working on many exciting projects and one in particular which could have a significant impact on childhood obesity. This diagram, a work-in-progress, shows the connections being made through a collaborative project I led with visual communications seniors at Washington University in Spring '07. The Design School along with the Brown School of Social Work partnered on a creative and social marketing campaign for the Healthy Youth Partnership, a member of the United Way of Greater St. Louis. For an entire semester we researched, interviewed, studied, investigated, brainstormed and presented our findings and strategies regarding childhood obesity, its effects on youth and innovative creative strategies for getting kids to make healthier choices. We connected with a lot of interesting people and hope to form alliances that might never exist if not for this project. My colleague and Brown School practicum student, Stephanie Kilstein, initiated the idea and I'm visually exploring ways it might be realized. I sort of like the egg and nest-like appearance so far. This diagram will be part of a larger case study documenting the collaboration with the goal of securing additional partners to help realize the proposed program. More on this project in future posts.