Partner Spotlight
Without our partners, San Diego Design Week simply could not have taken shape. From our presenting sponsor Mingei International Museum to our founding sponsor Intuit to our design partners BASIC and Raygun (you can see the full list of our supporters here) we rely on community support to drive the forces behind our event. Right now, we’d like to focus on Raygun, a San Diego-based creative studio helping organizations advance the public good. Along with BASIC, Raygun is our design partner and developed our website in alignment with our brand identity. We spoke with co-founder Stacey Edelstein to learn more about the process and the event she is presenting for SDDW.
Why did you want Raygun to be involved with SDDW?
Creating our very own Design Week for San Diego has been a long-time dream. When we were approached with the opportunity to help bring it to life, we signed on right away. Having worked with the Mingei International Museum for the past four years, we knew that collaborating on such an expansive project like SDDW would be a courageous and creative experience. An honor.
Tell us about the website design process. How did you collaborate with all the key players?
We've been working with the SDDW committee as advisors since the beginning. We met regularly to plan out and strategize what the festival should feel like, sound like and look like. We wrote an extensive brand and event strategy that outlined our shared values, challenges and opportunities that would eventually drive all decision-making about the festival, including the website. From there we created wireframes for the website to demonstrate information hierarchy then developed a prototype based on the identity designed by BASIC. We used collaboration tools like Invision and Slack to share ideas, feedback and comments all throughout the process.
Your event “Design in 48 Hours: A Social Justice Campaign” sounds amazing. Why did you decide to focus on social justice? Why the time crunch? [Raygun’s SDDW event focuses on planning, conceptualizing, and designing a social justice campaign in 48 hours.]
We love a good challenge! And it all comes back to why we do what we do. At Raygun, we partner with causes who work to make our communities healthier and stronger. It's our life's work, and we see this sprint as an extension of our studio's values. We want as many causes as possible to have access to good design. Good design is good fundraising. We're most excited to bring our creative community together during the sprint to create a real impact using our professional skills. Having done a few of these sprints before with Good Measure, the time crunch creates this kind of magic energy. It drives us to work hard, collaborate freely and build self-confidence. Constraints are awesome for designers. This is our first virtual sprint, and we hope the first of many!
Can you tell us what non-profit you worked with?
We are honored and proud to be collaborating with the March 4 Black Womxn.
What/who are a few SDDW events/presenters you’re looking forward to engaging with?
There are SO MANY...getting choked up just thinking about all the amazing people and organizations who have come together for this. It's an outstanding display of community power and ambition. Here’s my shortlist: Michael Cox of Black SD Magazine, Outside the Lens, Loren Cobbs of SD Melanin, our fam at San Diego Made, all of Yomar Augusto's workshops, ARTS, Ramel Wallace at BAM The Agency, Object and Chitra's installation at You Belong Here.