Embrace art and design to build better communities: Shervonne Cherry’s ‘One Big Idea for Baltimore’ [VIDEO]

This is Technically Baltimore’s weekly One Big Idea. We’d like to use this space to allow technologists, community organizers, activists and other thought leaders in Baltimore city propose one idea for making this city a better place to live and work.
Shervonne Cherry, creative and social strategy lead at Mindgrub Technologies, delivers this week’s One Big Idea: embrace art and design in order to build better solutions, companies and communities. Cherry says that while “most people focus on the technology behind solutions,” they “forget how design influences users.”

She writes:

Incubators and events, such as Eyebeam in New York [City], and Betascape in Baltimore, showcase how art and technology can work together for social enterprise, economic growth and community building. Why is this important? Simple fact: Design makes code look desirable. Fast Company named Baltimore a growing tech scene this year. We’re on the national radar, and if we want investors, established tech hubs and tech job seekers from around the country to take us seriously, we can’t just say we know what we’re talking about. We need to LOOK like we know what we are talking about.

And how do we look like we know what we’re talking about? Cherry explains.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xJiM9l4ggG8?version=3&hl=en_US

1. Professional Mentorship for Design Students: Most development shops are looking for computer science students to add to their intern teams, but have they thought about the benefits of adding a design student into the mix? Having a right-brained thinker on a left-brained development team can give Baltimore companies a competitive edge. For example, a designer can ensure the company brand is forward-thinking, or a user base can visually connected with an application.
2. Create Usable Spaces integrating Art with WiFi: We need to cultivate & inspire the next generation of innovators, and this can be achieved by creating safe and engaging spaces where they can connect and explore. I would love to see “digital gardens” of WiFi-enabled murals and sculptures in every single Baltimore neighborhood. Permanent versions of the the traveling Solar Flowers project developed by Poetic Kinetics, but featuring the art of Baltimore-based artists.
3. Create a Digital Network of Designers: Most of us are familiar with Baltimore Tech, which is an online directory of Baltimore technologists — developers, user experience architects, entrepreneurs, investors, etc. While designers are featured on this site, I would love to have a sister site that showcases designers and their proficiencies, such as mobile app design or illustration, so they can be easily found by small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to build and enhance their brands, services and products.
4. Create an Annual Art/Tech-athon for Students: This summer Art Bytes became the first art museum hackathon in Baltimore, where technologists and creatives worked together to build applications inspired by art. We also have CreateBaltimore, an annual unconferance for creatives and technologists. But I would love to see more of these events for our high school and undergraduate art and computer science students. Specifically, an event to give them time, space and the resources to conceptualize and develop future technologies. This will establish relationships early and help bridge the gap between designers and developers in professional spaces, and allow for the creation of more user-centric products coming out of Baltimore.