Setting up the Working Wall

The concept of a working wall is to immerse the researcher or designer (depending on the project) in the topic(s) of the project. It is a visual attempt at solving wicked problems and understanding the entirety of a project’s many aspects and how these aspects interact and affect each other.

For the beginning of this project’s working wall I have created 4 topics, numbering in 6 sections: The local breweries being observed in this project (Bold City Brewery, Intuition Ale Works and Engine 15 brewing company), general knowledge of beer, local brewery beer distribution, and project questions. As of right now I do not have a section for the actual brewery patrons (which are the subject of the project). I plan to add this section later so that I can have a fuller understanding of the industry that they power in order to make well developed connections to them.

For breweries being observed, I have placed images of the breweries, Images of their website (branding), and my personal sensory perceptions of the locations. I did this in an attempt to see comparisons and differences between the locations and the outward “message” that their brand is trying to project to the brewery patron. My hope is that once the interviews begin, that I can compare my thoughts with those of the patrons and see if the imagery and message of the brewery add to the brewery’s appeal.

In the center of the wall I have information and info graphics that detail the basics of beer, such as key ingredients, brewing process, and national craft brewery statistics. I hope to later see if the practices of the local breweries match this information, what the motivations are for being different than this information, and if the differences add to their appeal.

The small section on the local breweries’ beer distribution is to compare locations where the beer is sold with the living locations of the patrons that I am able to interview. I must note that one of the breweries, Engine 15, has been open for 3 years and still does not distribute its beer. I hope that is section will give me an understanding of the various ways that the beer is brought to the consumer, and if the current distribution is where the local breweries “want” to be.

Lastly, I have the project’s four main research questions, along with the project’s interview questions posted to the wall. When I have an “Aha!” moment during my research, I hope to compare it to these questions and see if the information really matters to the project, and how the information answer’s the project questions.

Currently, the information placed on the wall is relatively simple, and does not interact with itself a great deal. I feel that as more research is developed, questions are answered, and connections are made that the wall will most definitely need to be reorganized. The next step will be adding my observational findings and research to the wall and in doing so develop a more solid picture of the local brewery and brewery patron culture.

– Joshua Plotkin