Ricardo Gomes, IDSA, Professor/Director
Design Center for Global Needs
San Francisco State University
Design & Industry Department

"Few designed objects are as universal as shoes. They are the most common and primary extension of our body into the landscape. They are complicated constructions that have to last, look good and be comfortable. …In recent years, high performance footwear has pushed each of those criteria to the point of expressing speed, power and rugged comfort in an array of colors, materials and compositions."…Sneakers are an essential part of the uniform fashion of the urban nomad." They are not just functional playthings: they are part of the way in which we present ourselves to the world.

Aaron Betsky, SFMOMA curator of architecture, design, and digital projects

Introduction: "Why Sneakers?"

The athletic shoe industry has evolved to encompass both technological innovation and style, from the sport-celebrity, power marketed, hi-performance, cutting-edge forms of Nike, to the hi-geared, fashion persona of Prada's casual sport shoes.

The number of traditional athletic shoe manufacturers is more diverse and expansive, than the days of the old school homogenous PF Flyers, KEDS, or "classic" Converse "Chuck Taylor's." Nevertheless, there is still a great need to be more inclusive in "profiling" the diversity of under representation of students of color in the product design profession.

The Organization of Black Designers, in conjunction with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) Education Department decided to, "Put the shoe(sneaker) on the other foot," by empowering the urban youth to create their own style, identity, approach to the potential form, function and "FUN" of sneaker design. They do not need to limit their dreams to just, "Be like Mike!" They can design visionaries that, "Design the shoes that Mike likes!" This high-profile approach to design mentoring outreach was intended to go where the popular interests and attention of high school youth may be based - on the foot!

We wanted to capitalize on the trend that many sneaker (shoe) design manufacturers have marketed in promoting on-line e-commerce, through the "ID; customizing; designing of your own sneaker," such as Nike ID and Customatix.com. In this same context, we also wanted to reveal and raise the consciousness of young consumers (students) to the complexity, ethics and controversy today of shoe design, production and marketing, in respect to overseas work conditions, labor laws, profitability and environmental awareness.

The Design Center for Global Needs in the Department of Design and Industry (DAI), along with the Organization of Black Designers (OBD), has developed a Multicultural Curriculum and Skill Development Program for African-American, Latino and other underrepresented students into the field of design. The objective of this program is to increase the awareness and appeal of 9th-12th grade students to the variety of professions in design and technology.

The OBD Chapter had previously conducted a very successful "Design Your Own Sneaker," OBD Design Youth Forum in Chicago the year before with some Nike sponsorship. Consequently, the OBD San Francisco Bay Area Chapter decided to follow-up with a similar Forum in San Francisco. This event coincided with the extremely popular athletic shoe design exhibit, "Design Afoot" which was held at SFMOMA during the Summer and Fall 2000. We thought that it would be an ideal opportunity to take advantage of this wonderful attraction and resource that the SFMOMA, "Design Afoot" exhibit was generating in the San Francisco. The SFMOMA Education Department, as well as local high school educators and designers in the Bay Area enthusiastically supported this collaborative Design Youth Forum. In addition, Customatix.com, a local on-line athletic shoe manufacturer, offered to assist us in facilitating the workshop by having its marketing and design staff present the product development process, along with various product samples.

Following the end of the preliminary design Workshop, students were given vouchers to go to the Customatix.com web site to carry forward their design ideas to personally design and purchase their own sneakers. Two weeks later, at the conclusion of the Final Design Workshop and Presentation at San Francisco State University, students where able to pick up the shoes that they had designed on-line to see how their design specifications were employed, within the framework of the Customatix.com design matrix. This design finale was hosted by the IDSA Student Chapter, in which students from the DAI department, and Customatix.com displayed their sneaker design concepts, products and development process during the workshop activities to the high school student participants.

Development Objectives

One of the principle objectives was to expose and orientate both the university and high school students to communication skills that would reveal to them the significance of aesthetic and cultural expression. This concern was of particular significance in regards to nurturing creative problem-solving skills, as it relates to the value of design in facilitating human and environmental needs. In this context, the program was designed to engage them in the practical application of design concepts, critical thinking and self-expression through the development and realization of their sneaker design concepts.

The SFSU design students interacted with inner-city high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area and the SFMOMA Educational staff. As a result, high school students were involved in collaborative interfaces with design organizations, firms and manufacturers such as, the Organization of Black Designers, the OBD/SFSU Student Chapter, the IDSA/SFSU Student Chapter, frogdesign, Inc. and Customatix.com.

The objective of this curriculum development project was to make an effort to stimulate the level of innovation and industrial competitiveness of underrepresented high school students in design education programs with a stylish appealing and popular "classic" footwear icon - the "Sneaker!"
Students were asked to "Develop a Sneaker design concept for a contemporary, urban youth target market."
Our objectives was to optimize measures that would enhance the academic and practical competence of these students in art, design and technical subjects. This alternative approach provided the high school students with the knowledge to utilize conceptual, problem-solving and critical thinking skills at the proper cognitive levels.

Design Considerations

Students were presented with the facts that in Athletic Footwear design is the result of the intense thought, creative energy and labor of many different people. The dynamics, methodology and equity surrounding the product development process and production is as diverse and controversial, as the faces and places that dictate its realization. This dichotomy of global design unfortunately fluctuates from the illustrious high-profile marketing, research and design development centers in the U.S. to the questionable low-profile overseas production factories in the Pacific Rim.

The student response both from the high school students to the DAI design students was enthusiastic, dedicated and constructive. "The proof was in the pudding." High school students volunteered to participate in a series of extracurricular sessions that extended over a two-month period. This period consisted of an after school design orientation at their respective schools to, Saturday workshops at SFMOMA and SFSU. What was noteworthy of these sessions was that, it is rare when one can not only, convince 24 - 30 from various high school students, to give up there after school and Saturday free time to design sneakers, but to also maintain their unequivocal interest. This earnest commitment was continually demonstrated in the project.

Students were placed in design teams of 3-4 students. They were asked to employ design considerations for:
a) User Profile
b) Function/Application
c) Aesthetics/Creativity
d) Style/Form
e) Graphic Detail
f) Technology/Innovation
g) Material/Texture
h) Environmental Material Responsibility
i) Quality Production /Assembly/ Labor & Work Facility Standards
j) Retail Cost

Curriculum Development & Workshop Format:

The initial framework for the curriculum development for the Introductory Design Studio course (DAI 300: Design 1) was initiated on a trial-basis with a Summer Session course that orientated the university design students to design-based learning projects that address actual situations in multicultural urban consumer economies .

The events took place in four stages of development starting with: 1) developing a core mentoring base of design students at SFSU through a series of visual communication/promotional graphics and sneaker design concepts for the OBD Design Youth Forum "Design Your Own Sneaker" project; 2) conducting product design overview and sneaker design orientation at local high schools; 3) Sneaker Design Preliminary Workshop at SFMOMA in conjunction with the "Design Afoot" exhibit; and 4) Sneaker Design Final at SFSU.

Selected San Francisco Bay Area youths formed "Design Teams," led by a design "coach," a design professional, with an "assistant coach," DAI student, and the "design player," the high school students. In the workshops, high school students worked directly with design students and local design professionals. The format of the workshops gave students the opportunity to see how a real design team works, as well as enabled them to present their original designs to the public and a panel of designers. This event consisted of a list of participants consisting of high school students, their parents, SFSU/DAI students, educators, OBD members, other participating design professionals whom all worked together to facilitate a final display of the collaborative Design Team student sneaker design concepts.

This event was part of a collaborative Community Outreach, Mentoring and Skill Development program of the OBD National Mentoring Program; the IDSA/SFSU Student Chapter DAI Department and Design Center for Global Needs at SFSU. The introduction of such a hands-on experience and participatory skill development foundation, has exposed high school and university design students to better understand consumer target marketing and product development. It also creates early intervention resource in actively identifying future educational and career opportunities for design entrepreneurial, economic development for the youth in urban inner-city communities.

Benefits of Program: Community Service

This program provided an excellent opportunity for students in the Department of Design and Industry at San Francisco State University to partake in a participatory community outreach program. At the same time, the program facilitated curriculum development, vocational and teacher training skills, as well as professional development in the field of design. The program sought to foster, a cross-cultural and diverse interdisciplinary environment that promoted a responsive exchange among design professionals, manufacturers and institutions. Such dialogues were realized and disseminated through lectures, seminars, and workshops. In addition, the program received avid support and financial donations from design offices in the Bay Area with consonant goals, such as Lunar Design, Klitsner Industrial Design (K.I.D.); Moore, Iacafano & Goltsman (MIG) and Praxis Design.
Conclusion

The objective of this curriculum development was to make an effort to stimulate the level of innovation and industrial competitiveness of underrepresented high school students in design education programs. Our objectives was to optimize measures that enhanced the academic and practical competence of these students in art, design and technical subjects. This alternative approach provided high school students, and design students in our program with the knowledge to utilize conceptual, problem-solving and critical thinking skills at the proper cognitive levels.

The Design Center for Global Needs, in conjunction with the IDSA Student Chapter and the OBD SF/Bay Area National Mentoring Program, will continue to further development this curriculum and skill development program that has greatly facilitated the exposure and mentoring of African-American, Latino and other underrepresented minority urban youths in design education and practice. This is essential in synthesizing an inclusive diversity in industrial design education that is responsive to a changing economy, technology and environment. This is acute matter of concern, particularly in regards to the articulation of the potential educational and career opportunities in industrial design product development.

See More Information

(note: in order to view the file above, you must either have MS PowerPoint, or download the free viewer here.)