Stories Beyond Words is a virtual media design consultancy formed in English 3741 to study and practice media-based community engagement. Cornell has “a deep-rooted commitment to outreach, extension and engagement” which “infuses [their] state, domestic and global mission of developing knowledge that benefits humanity” (cornell.edu/engagement). As students, we try to embody this commitment in our work. Our class split into two team to work with our two community community partners: George Junior Republic and the Ithaca Urban 4H.
Stories Beyond Words specializes in a co-consulting engagement process with community members in Ithaca. The co-consulting process focuses on collaborative facilitation rather than saying how things should be done. We acknowledge that consultants are outsiders and shouldn’t “lay down the law”, but rather work on creating media jointly with our partners. The goal is to help and empower the client to be able to help themselves. We do through the use of a Human Centered Design lens and various design theories in order to both empathize and validate the clients opinions and views and also to help them creatively construct solutions that work best for them.
Stories Beyond Words uses three distinct design frames: CAT, UX, and DT. CAT refers to how we break down and evaluate design based on Conceptual, Aesthetic and Technical aspects. UX stands for User eXperience and consists of experience design (the overall impact on audience), information architecture (how that experience is structured), and information design (the look and feel of individual moments). DT is Design Thinking, a human-centered design process used to address organizational and social challenges that has three phases: HEAR (empathize with parters), CREATE (define problem and ideate possible solutions) and DELIVER (prototype and test solutions). Together, these design frames help us analyze and create at both intimate and system levels using input from our partners.