On the Wall:Designers as Agents for Change in Environmental Communication

Abstract

Environmental communication plays a vital role in determining the use of public space through the design of artifacts that connect users to a physical environment and assign meaning to spaces. By strategically establishing order and consistency in environmental communications, designers have significantly contributed to the privatization, commodification, and sanitization of corporatized and privately-owned public spaces that often fail to fulfill their intended use and, most importantly, to generate solutions that are sensitive to the cultural identity, social needs and values of communities. By investigating a particular form of vernacular design applied to hand-painted, large-format murals that advertise music band appearances in Mexico, this project examines the social capital of environmental communication and the dynamics that shape it into a culture-defining medium that connects people and efficiently uses resources in an environment where the forces of regulation and the needs of people are in balance. This article advocates for the practice of environmental design to align with people's needs to facilitate more inclusive, sustainable and socially engaged solutions.