Youth Design » Youth Design

Youth Designing For The Real World: Alumni Conrad Ennis Takes A Look Back While Moving Forward

Youth Design — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:15:16 +0000

I graduated from Youth Design in the summer of 2008 between my junior and senior year of high school. Probably like most amateur designers, I went through high school sketching and doodling in my notebooks, occasionally making collages or coming up with t-shirt designs. I had an eye for aesthetic, communicative design but no one had ever demonstrated how I could apply my interest and skill in school, let alone as a profession.

Youth Design played an immense role in promoting my enthusiasm for design as well as in determining my direction for the future. I had not anticipated that one summer program and internship would be this beneficial for my design education. Interning with Catapult Thinking was influential in my understanding of design strategy, branding, and research based projects. It was an introduction to a holistic design approach, a primer for the skills and methodology that I would later learn at Carnegie Mellon.

Carnegie Mellon University School of Design

After almost three years of immersion in design school, it’s difficult to comprehend a time when design had little to no significance to me. And I think that a lot of design students are content completely forgetting that there was ever a stage in life when design did not play an important role in their way of thinking, acting, and making. However, students in public high school are less likely to realize the potential for design because the opportunity is rarely presented to them.

My future in design revealed itself one day when I came across a hi-lighter yellow flier for the Youth Design program unassumingly taped to the wall outside my history classroom. For the next month before interviewing for the program, I spent my free time creating and consolidating a portfolio of my best work. This process was my first experience compiling a portfolio, one that would prepare me for when I applied to Carnegie Mellon’s industrial design program the next year.

My Sanctuary "aka" My Design Studio

Now that I am a junior at CMU, much of what I have learned is beginning to culminate in the development and synthesis of integrated products and systems. It’s been a short time since I graduated from Youth Design and I’ve already witnessed the positive outcome that the program can offer students like me. That’s not to say that it doesn’t take some diligence on the individual’s part. All of the effort I put into my work is formative in my progress as a designer, and I have come to learn that (much like the Thursday YD sessions) an experiential and collaborative process is a substantial component of design.

Conrad Ennis is a Youth Design Class of 2008 Alum and is currently studying Industrial Design at Carnegie Mellon University. Click here to view his work.

GOING DIGITAL: YOUTH DESIGN TACKLES SOCIAL MEDIA TO CREATE SOCIAL CHANGE

Youth Design — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:51:14 +0000

Last fall, Youth Design was given the opportunity to participate in the 2011 Future M: College Face-Off “Social Media For Social Good.” It was a competition that provided area college students with the opportunity to give back and provide support to local nonprofit organizations through the development of online marketing strategies to help them increase awareness across their target audience segments through the use of social media. Students who participated in the “College Face-off” were exposed to “real” online marketing challenges facing many nonprofits today.

Youth Design was teamed up with an amazing group of students from Harvard University who came into the challenge with the background knowledge needed to help Youth Design develop a robust social media strategy that supported our online marketing objectives. The Harvard students were given 1 hour to create a strategy to better market Youth Design through the various social media platforms available.

The team identified tactics which were included in their overall strategy that would ultimately increase traffic to the Y0uth Design website and to our Facebook page. The presentation of the strategy painted a vivid picture of how Youth Design could be marketed more effectively through the strategic use of digital communications.

I came into the event having little to no knowledge on how much marketing through social networks can impact an organizations’ awareness and engagement efforts. While listening to the presentations that each of the college teams crafted on behalf their assigned non-profit, I was exposed me to the many different ways organizations can approach their online marketing strategy in order to deliver intended results.

With endless platforms to choose from that are “cheap to free,” there is a wide-array of digital communication tools organizations’ can tap in order to effectively engage their target audiences and keep them coming back for more – content that is!

As the program coordinator for Youth Design, the use of social media platforms to raise awareness, disseminate information and keep our alumni and supporters engaged is critical to our overall success.

So take it from me, don’t be afraid to explore your organizations’ use of social media. It may seem daunting at first glance, but I assure you with upfront investment in the development of a sound online marketing strategy your organization will receive the much sought after return on investment!

Until Next Time,

Ivan Richiez
Youth Design Class of 2010

Special thanks to the Harvard University Team and Future M

Youth Design Wins a Civie!

Youth Design — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:29:56 +0000

On Thursday, April 22, 2010, Youth Design attended the Civies award ceremony at Blackman Auditorium at Northeastern University, presented by the Young Civic Leaders program of Mass Vote. Civie recipients are nominated by members of the community, for their work in various fields of youth leadership and youth development in the city of Boston.

YD received the Arts Civie, as an organization that makes a difference in the lives of youth in the community. Youth Design was previously nominated in 2009, and is delighted to be honored alongside other Civie 2010 winners such as: Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz; Sociedad Latina, Beantown Society, and Boston Community Center for Justice.

Former Youth Design student Lisa Wang is a member of the Young Civic Leaders program and presented the award to Youth Design Founder Denise Korn and Director of Operations Tara Oremus.