Designing and Building Futures

Jackie Adams

Red Dot Studio is a proud supporter of KIDmob, a mobile, kid-integrated design firm that believes design education is an opportunity for creative engagement and community empowerment. At the beginning of March, Red Dot was honored to participate in a KIDmob workshop as a facilitator, and witness first-hand their project based curriculum in action with a group of great kids at June Jordan School for Equity’s Urban Sprouts program in San Francisco. A member of Red Dot, along with other KIDmob facilitators, spent a week empowering a group of future designers, helping them plan and build an outdoor area in their school garden, to make their new outdoor kitchen reflect their community’s needs and culture.
Our Red Dot associate reported back that, every day, the project started in the June Jordan garden, sharing a meal made by some of the participating students. The garden is bordered by the majestic trees of McLaren Park, surrounded by rows of chard and lettuce and graced with five friendly chickens; an environment indeed conducive to learning and creativity.
KIDmob’s design curriculum gave the June Jordan students a sense of agency through the design process, guiding them to produce imaginative solutions “for their community, by their community.” The students swam in post-its and prototypes to get to their shared goal: a shaded outdoor seating area with a mural painted on the exterior of the kitchen.
Built on the diligently identified themes of Community, Diversity, Social Justice, Fun, Nice and Caring, these kids took an idea and made it come to life. Thank you, KIDmob, for empowering our future.