Download - I Love Detroit
I love Detroit
A CHANCE PROJECT
Location Selection
Image of courthouse entrance.
The beginning of this project started with the selection of an everyday
location--one that holds both relevance to us as a culture and also
representation of some kind of social issue. After much consideration of
several locations, we finally decided to select the criminal division of the
Wayne County Circuit Court as our location of choice. The location was
used as a starting point where we could take various elements from to
build a focus and eventually a strong concept. Using a courthouse as a
location for a project that would be based on chance seemed like it might
lend itself to a lot of random elements beyond our control.
Visiting the Site
Image of a courtroom inside the Frank Murphey Hall of Justice.
We went to the Wayne County Circuit Court in Detroit on Monday,
September 21, 2009 and spent about five or six hours there going in and
out of different courtrooms where we sat in on random cases. We saw 12
cases total, a number pre-determined by the outline of the assignment.
There would be no way for us to know what type of case was going on in
any room at any given time, so regardless of any method we may have used,
everything we saw that day would have been beyond our control.
Still, we wanted to use some sort of method to try ensuring (if we could)
that we would see a variety of cases with different people, judges,
situations, etc. We started by going in the first courtroom we saw and
stayed for two cases. We then went across the hall to the opposing
courtroom, stayed for two cases, then went up to the next floor to the
opposite side and opposing room of the last case, and repeated this
process until we whitened 12 cases total. If we got to a room that was
locked or didn’t have a current case running, we went to the next available
room and continued the process from there.
Image of a judge’s desk in a courtroom.
Image of graffiti in the courthouse holding cell.
Image of graffiti in the courthouse holding cell.
Image of the side of a police van.
Notes taken during court hearings.
Notes taken during court hearings.
Notes taken during court hearings.
Court docket for one of the judges.
From the 12 cases we witnessed, we needed to narrow them down to four
so that we could begin developing a concept from them. To do this, we used
a chance method.
Chance
Information provided on a specific court case.
Information provided on a specific court case.
We wrote down the numbers 1-12 on strips of paper. These were
representative of the 12 cases we saw in order. Then, applying the same
method used when summoning a jury, an off-duity officer drew four of our
numbers at random out of his hat.
The numbers that were selected were: 9, 6, 10 and 12.
9. Case #: n/a
6. Case #: 09-017687-01-FH
10. Case #: 09-022093-01-FH
12. Case #: 08-018563-01-FC,
08-018563-02-FC and
08-018563-03-FC
Stills from video taken while officer pulled numbers from his hat.
All four selected cases involved violence, or included elements which lead
to violence. We used this concept of violence to question why Detroit seems
like it’s maintaining the same problems (violence, racism, lack of education,
poverty, etc.) year after year.
Word map of initial concepts.
ConceptDevelopment
Research from Detroit News article.
In our opinion, it seems that the people both in and around Detroit have
become somewhat apathetic about the amount crime and violence within the
city--like it’s something we’ve all just become adjusted to or have accepted as
the way things are. Homicides are a part of everyday life in the city. Instead of
taking pride in our neighborhoods, we allow them to become run down with
garbage and ignore the abandoned houses that are left falling apart.
What we do take pride in, apparently, is our “murder city capital” title. We’ll
boost whatever reputation we can – anything is better than nothing, right?
WRONG. Why should we just accept violence, let alone be proud of it?
Violence should be unacceptable in our communities. The attitude towards it
should be: we won’t accept this, how can we help fix it?
Research from newsvine.com.
Gathering Content
Content research on metropolismag.com article and comment section.
In search of real thoughts and opinions on Detroit, we chose to conduct
our research strictly online through article comment sections and forums,
assuming that people would probably give more honest feedback if it was
made anonymously.
Content research on forums.
Refined content.
After living in the city for a few years, you hear about the attitudes and
stereotypes of Detroit. Citizens of Detroit pride themselves in the fact that
Detroit is the murder capital of America. In order to expose these attitudes
we scoured the internet and took direct quotes and statistics about Detroit
and local crime for our text. In forums and comments left on news articles, we
found that people were more open and expressive about Detroit.
This is where we found a way to approach the concept with a touch of wit and
sarcasm. We paired these opinions of the city with cold hard facts or words of
encouragement in order to create a narrative about the city and its problems.
Content Refine-ment
Refined content.
HistoricalResearchRacial tension had been building for decades and in 1967, it finally exploded in
a multitude of political, economic, and social ways. On Sunday, July 23rd, 1967
the infamous race riots broke out in the streets of Detroit and lasted over the
course of five long days.
Image taken during the 1967 Detroit riot.
Gun fire, police brutality, looting, fires and destruction overcame Detroit
affecting both the city and its citizens. In the end, 43 people lay dead, 1,189
injured and over 7,000 people had been arrested.
Much of Detroit currently looks the way it does as a result of these riots.
Furthermore, Detroit’s current problems of violence, racism and poverty all
stem in part from this event.
Image taken during the 1967 Detroit riot.
60s poster inspiration.
ReferencesWe chose the 1960s as an area of research because of the 1967 race riots,
looking at psychedelic poster art as inspiration for type and color. This
poster craze in the United States was a grassroot movement fostered
by social activism and focused on social issues rather then commercial
messages. The first wave of posters emerged from the hippie subculture
centered in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. The media and
general public related these posters to anti-establishment values, rock
music, and psychedelic drugs. The rock environment projected fields of
color and bursting strobes. Artists tried to emulate this graphically with
swirling forms and lettering that warped and bent into illegibility.
Type & ColorInspiration
We drew inspiration for color and type from the psychedelic graphic
language of the posters. Our color studies from this genre used intense
optical colors. Colors from this era were frequently printed in close-valued
complementary hues which made them vibrate.
60s poster inspiration.
60s poster inspiration.
60s poster inspiration.
Interstate and Serifa type studies.
Bell Centennial type studies.
Univers and Candice type studies.
Typography Using the same chance method we used when narrowing down the court
cases, we selected Candice as the typeface that would be used for the
headline quotes. Candice was designed by Alan Meeks in 1976. While it
was not a font that came out of the 1960s, it was influenced by that time
period and is reminiscent of the psychedelic poster era. Candice has been
described as a “groovy swirl font that looks like an ice cream sunday
topped with whipped cream.” This playfulness helped to reinforce the
sarcasm of the quotes.
For our sub text, we used the same chance method in selecting Univers.
Designed by Adrian Frutiger in 1954, Univers was very popular in the 1960s,
especially in the corporate setting. Using this typeface for the sub text,
which predominantly dealt with factual information about Detroit, paired
well with Candice which is more romantic.
Layout
Image of color studies and composition process.
When determining text, leading, and placement of type on the grid we
reused the same chance method. We took four of the twelve case numbers
and wrote them down on slips of paper and drew just one. The case number
that was drawn was: 08-018563-02-FC. The numbers included within this
case number could then be used in a multitude of ways to determine text
size, leading and grid. All numbers had to be used within a composition,
but could be used in any way as long as leading, text size, and a grid
were made. The numbers did not have to remain in the same order. They
could also be added, multiplied, subtracted, etc. in order to get a different
number. The system was restrictive, but also allowed for exploration in
creating unexpected combinations.
Image of composition process.
Image of hand-painted type in Detroit.
SolutionIn Detroit, hand-painted signage is commonly used by local businesses.
Sign paintings are seen by more people than any other type of painting in
the city. The artists of these signs are virtually unknown, just as we plan to
be unknown. The signs are at the mercy of rain and sun, and carry an old-
fashioned image reminiscent of the industrial boom.
We thought hand-painting signs would work for design activism. We used
plywood for our substrate since it is commonly used to board up abandoned
houses and closed businesses. In a city devastated by job loss and containing
over 44,000 vacant houses, abandonment becomes a common vernacular for
urban blight.
Image of hand-painted type in Detroit.
Image of hand-painted type in Detroit.
Compositions were projected and then traced onto plywood.
Painting in the sub-text on plywood.
Painting in the headline type on plywood.
We chose Michigan Ave as our location because it is one of Detroit’s main
roads and, since the ‘67 riots, has undergone a significant change. Prior to
the riots, Michigan Ave, like many areas of Detroit, was full of life and activity.
However, since then, it has become a long, desolate avenue filled with trash,
boarded-up abandoned buildings, graffiti and homelessness. We wanted to
place our messages in an area that was once thriving but has been deeply
affected by crime and apathy.
Location
Intersection where I LOVE DETROIT is installed.
Attaching sign to abandoned building.
Street view of installation.
Street view of installation.
Image of completed signs.
Image of completed sign.
Image of completed signs.
Image of completed sign.
Image of completed sign.
<3 I LOVE DETROIT