Join Design Core Detroit for the 2024 , September 1 -30, 2024.

for Detroit Month of Design is now live and the theme for 2024 is Creative Currents.

Detroit Month of Design is a citywide collaboration of creativity that gathers designers, consumers, residents and the greater community to celebrate Detroit鈥檚 role as a national and global design capital. Detroit Month of Design returns for its 14th annual edition this September 1-30, 2024!

Every September, partners across Detroit鈥攆rom emerging studios to established companies and educational institutions鈥攃ome together to show off their latest works and ideas. These cross-disciplinary events take place in all corners of the city, highlighting the talent and innovation that makes Detroit a UNESCO City of Design.

“As champions of Detroit design and fierce advocates for inclusive design specifically, Design Core plays a unique role in the GEM initiative,鈥� Bonnie Fahoome, Co-Executive Director of Design Core Detroit said. 鈥淜evin鈥檚 career experience as a global leader in design and his personal passion for design education, civic leadership and participatory design making, made him the ideal person for this role on our team.”听听

Funded by a federal grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Gilboe fills a crucial role connecting Design Core Detroit (which is a part of the 黑料专区) and mobility initiatives in the Detroit region. And for Gilboe, his new role with Design Core is like a return home.听 Gilboe previously worked closely with 黑料专区 on sponsored projects as the Director and Head of Design, International for 3M and the former Brand Studio Manager for KitchenAid. Prior to that he took continuing education courses in Transportation Design and Alias while studying Industrial Design at the University of Michigan.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 been very meaningful to come back here because of that long-term relationship. After my time in the corporate world, this is all about giving back and how I can help the future be a better place.鈥�

Equipped with a multimillion-dollar grant to revolutionize the Detroit region (11 counties) and elevate the mobility ecosystem, GEM鈥檚 core principles are to champion mobility leadership, inclusivity and capabilities in order to make Detroit a global leader in mobility design. Design Core Detroit is part of an impressive coalition with TechTown (Wayne State University), Centrepolis Accelerator (Lawrence Tech), Endeavor Detroit, Invest Detroit, Michigan Founders Fund and the University of Michigan. Gilboe describes it as 鈥渆xciting to work on an ecosystem-level challenge that engages businesses, community champions, and the public sector. This is truly design for the real world.鈥� Gilboe鈥檚 role with GEM as an expert in product, brand and design strategy serves as a crucial resource to accelerating mobility startups, particularly in the Detroit area.

鈥淎s Detroit accelerates, we play a key role in amplifying our unique creative culture and bringing communities together. Great cities need inclusive, well-considered design for moving people, goods and ideas.鈥�

To learn more about Design Core Detroit please visit . To learn more about the Global Epicenter of Mobility please visit .

The Optimistic Power of Design

Kiana Wenzell, Director – Detroit Month of Design – Design Core Detroit

November is a month of thanks.

Thanksgiving is an American national holiday that started as a day of giving thanks for the blessing of the harvest and year.

According to History.com Editors:

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn鈥檛 until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November.

Since then, Thanksgiving has been celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November and has been an annual tradition. On Thanksgiving Day, it is common for Americans to share a family meal and attend cultural or sporting events.

Personal Reflections: Kiana Wenzell听

It is important to note that the sentiment people have today about Thanksgiving didn鈥檛 always exist and sometimes still doesn鈥檛. The holiday is marketed as a time to get together with family and friends and talk about what we are thankful for and that’s how the holidays should just be. However, in reality, the original Thanksgiving was marked with much turmoil and for many indigenous people signifies a change in their way of life with scars that are still present today.

For me, Thanksgiving means so much more than a meal and football game. I spend the entire month of November and Thanksgiving Day as a time to reflect and actively embrace gratitude despite the challenges ahead and disappointments behind. Focusing on what I am thankful for and observing how that optimism is translated into my everyday decision-making and experiences has been transformational. Perhaps this is because I am a designer. I believe that designers are inherently more optimistic than most people due to their ability to dream and conceive of ideas that don鈥檛 currently exist. I believe that designers are innately optimistic because they believe in the transformative power of their decisions and actions.

Designers believe that they can change things. When faced with challenges and obstacles, designers don鈥檛 give up, they lean in, and work towards solutions. For me, the transformational power of design is the ability to solve a problem on all levels and from within. The ability to visualize something that doesn鈥檛 exist and take steps towards making it a reality no matter what barriers stand in the way. The optimistic power of design is the ability to take an idea that is born in the mind, knowing that the idea was only born because it is possible. As we glide our way through the month of November and beyond, I hope that everyone can grab on to a sense of gratitude in their own lives and see where that optimism will take you.听

Upcoming Design Core Events听

: Design Core Detroit’s Client Services Boot Camp is an interactive, six-session program for small-to-medium-sized design firms/agencies and freelancers, based on the fundamentals of client services for design service providers. Applications are due by October 24.听

Ways to Celebrate

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