Interactive Poster Activity

Encouraging community members to collaboratively leave feedback on design concepts

PARTICIPANTS:

Community members over the age of 10

MATERIALS NEEDED:

Printed posters

Designs split into smaller sections

Questions

Stationary/Writing Tools

TIME REQUIRED:

Activity can take about an hour, and then however much additional time is required to gain community feedback from anyone unable to attend the event.

DO'S AND DON'TS

Do write questions that direct a conversation and warrant a specific answer.
Don’t leave questions open-ended.
Don’t assume participants will automatically understand every graphic you provide.
Do take the time to explain and describe your designs to participants.

Overview

While some methods take the form of a “free for all” brainstorm session with a community, it is sometimes helpful to take a more directed approach that provides options to choose from and build upon. By providing different design variables, participants can pick and choose what features they like and dislike in a “mix and match” fashion. This keeps design limitations in mind as participants are directed to use what is already provided to them, while still holding space for them to add both constructive and critical feedback.

Steps

(Before the Event)

Design and print posters that display proposed designs divided into smaller areas as well as directed questions.

Examples: What activities do you want to have in this space? What type of experience do you want from this space? Any additional ideas or suggestions?

Organize an event where community members can gather to review proposed design ideas.

(During the Event)

Have participants write directly onto the poster with directed questions and explain the design concepts as they arrive.

Encourage an open discussion as participants are writing.

(After the Event)

Posters can be left with the community for a few days following the event so that anyone unable to attend the event can leave feedback at their own leisure.

Case Example

Our group used this activity for both of our served communities: the Pinewoods Library and the Broadacres Community Center. We took the time to organize a collaborative community event with both clients, and we provided some refreshments as an incentive that would increase participation. We also took into account that these communities are predominately made up of families, so we also provided coloring pages for the children so that we could collect feedback from them as well. The posters, however, provided specific feedback and wants from the adults who have been wanting to see improvements in their neighborhoods.

At the Pinewoods Library, we set up an activity on the same day as their Hispanic Heritage Month celebration, which was incredibly helpful as there were already dozens of community members in the space. We set up a small area indoors where people could come and go as they pleased, and although we worried that there wouldn't be much interest due to the other festivities happening outside, we were pleasantly surprised by the excitement people expressed for the project. We were sure to stay in the area so that we could answer any questions about the posters, and we directed conversations towards different activities they would like to be able to do outdoors. We received several ideas that we kept in mind while designing such as book clubs, movie nights, and tree houses.

For the Broadacres Community Center, we scheduled their feedback event during their weekly "Reading Rainbow" program to ensure that we would receive feedback from the children participants as well as their parents upon dismissal. This event had significantly fewer attendees than Pinewoods, potentially due to it taking place during the work week. Nonetheless, we set up refreshments as well as seating since we were anticipating some elderly community members. About five adults participated in the activity and showed interest and excitement for the project. Toward the end of the event, we discussed with the community leader and decided to leave her with the posters for another week so that people unable to attend the event would be able to leave additional feedback at their own leisure.

Lessons Learned

Participants will be as excited as you encourage them to be, it's important to speak positively and optimistically when facilitating discussions.
Providing refreshments will increase participation, but be sure to emphasize their affiliation to the activity as some participants may only show interest in the incentives.

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