Active Inclusion
Summary Because we all have different life conditions, everyone views an issue from a unique perspective. Designing a system to incorporate active participants into the process is an effective way to develop a communicative piece. Involving participants from the audience empowers them to influence the work, which should ensure that the outcome serves more of a collective point of view than if the designer had sole power over the process. Though the solutions may be the best possible, allowing active participation is time-consuming. As time-consuming as design already is, creating systems in which non-designers can make contributions can be even more so. The fact that design can create this type of inclusive system does not relieve any workload from the designer. It simply allows space for open contributions, but the designer must know how and where to bring in the active participation and set up the constraints to keep the participation relevant to the subject and goal. Whether we create a space for participants to actively make, like I achieved with Circle, Square, Triangle, or design a way in which they can contribute their thoughts, as Janet Zweig did with Columbus Never, we can make use of active participants to dictate the final form and message of our work. I could have drawn all of the shapes myself, just as Zweig could have written the story of Columbus on the side of a building, but what would we gain from that? What would our audience derive from this type of interaction? It is important to consider the way we frame a project and think about where the audience lives within the process, as well as what it means for the final piece of work. Asking the audience members to contribute draws out their individual perspective and creates or builds upon a shared experience.
57