Communication Design

staying on the playground

mckenzie knight

Exhibition

See it On Campus: Level 2

Visitor Info

exploring how play can invite people into the designed world

Staying on the Playground takes form as two publications,
built from over 100 prompts that invite curiosity, discussion, and intuitive creativity.

The project exists in a world where thinking differently is prompted by
questioning which letters wear glasses, or whether your bedside lamp was born in February or November.

Because as I’ve been learning, to provide constraints in a playful way we can get people to get out of their head, shake the sillies through and experience something not reserved by language but approachable by its shift of it, just like that wacky mnemonic that helped you pass your 9th grade science test.

Using the playground as a metaphor,
I’ve been looking at ways to encourage people of all ages into making and thinking differently with the same openness as a kid
climbing onto a swing without hesitation.

As Bruno Munari so beautifully put it:
“To preserve the spirit of childhood throughout life means to preserve the curiosity to learn,
the pleasure to understand,
and the desire to communicate.”

the big design playbook

The first of the two publications is The Big Design Playbook, an 166 page large format book, where there’s space to debate why that specific hue of yellow is definitely marigold and not lemon, or how lavender is definitely a serif and not a sans serif.

paper ephemera

The big design playbook also features a series of physical pop ups that invite interactivity and emphasize print cultures importance. The inserts in the Big Design Playbook were a huge factor for me and some of the most fun I had with this project. The paper ephemera came both before and after prompts were made, sometimes the activity informed if a pop up could be added or the idea for an insert informed the creation of prompt to fit.

I find that the paper inserts invite an interactivity that gets you out of your head, a jumping off point to feel inspired by. A theme integral to the success of the design play books.

the smaller design playbook

The Small Design Playbook carries that same curiosity, in a pocket-sized 100 page format , where imagination can travel with you. Perhaps for but not limited to those with better dexterity than the crayon users.

the features

Both books feature a cohesive visual language, an envelope of designed ephemera, and journal-like features such as a date and place prompt, acting as a time capsule of design explorations. Each book invites you into the same world of play while differing in exact content, both following themes of a vintage workbook revamped into a black and white graphic world, supported by physical print media and hand drawn illustrations.