Melissa Martin

Role: Co-Professor
Level: Undergraduate / Diversity Studies Requirement
Term: Fall 2011
California College of the Arts

Course Description

For the Fall 2010 edition of the Graphic Production course within the Diversity Studies and Community Arts programs, our class partnered with the CCA Research and Planning Departments, and Facilities Dept. and PG&E’s Pacific Energy Center. Students were responsible for designing a site-specific map, data visualization or other graphic narrative that sought to accomplish one or more of the following:

• Exposes hidden energy narratives: We all use energy every day but do we know where it comes from? How is it produced (where it comes from), distributed (how it got here) and used (how is it translated into human action) within a particular space?

• Increases awareness of the social, economic, environmental and/or cultural implications of energy production, delivery and usage. How can a piece of graphic design work unpack the larger social, economical, environmental and/or cultural implications of energy production, distribution and delivery?

• Alters/Debunks perception of energy as an intangible infinite commodity: This could be done by visualizing the effects energy use has in our lives, proposing alternative realities or visualizing the physical labor needed to produce the energy we use. Whatever the tactic – your goal is to challenge people’s passive attitudes towards energy usage.

The final project was installed in various site-specific locations on the CCA SF campus and presented to representatives of CCA Research and Planning Departments and PG&E’s Pacific Energy Center.