In the fall of 2008, I collaborated with seven other designers to submit a proposal for the Aspen Design Challenge addressing the global water crisis. Our group began by mapping the physical, cultural, social, technological and economic systems in which the issues of water quality and water access exist. We felt that the premise everything is local allowed us to consider the global context, but target the local context that we could thoroughly understand in the time allowed. We strategically chose different audiences to target based on the David Rose description of audience readiness; ranging from not ready to know, ready to know, ready to hold an opinion, ready to act on an opinion, to ready to advocate. The matrixes above were created to keep pinned up in our shared studio space to facilitate brainstorming and negotiation of content and research. The maps below illustrate how water is needed, disposed and managed within specific cultural conditions that are often influenced by other cultural systems. Working collaboratively with seven other designers required that we externalize our thinking at every step of the project.

Collaborators: Rebecca Tegtmeyer, Sydney Fritz, Alberto Rigau, Cady Bean-Smith, Lauren Waugh, Caroline Prietz and Tania Allen