Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

Identity
through diversity

Located in the “middle of the mitten” [of Michigan], an idyllic community had been overshadowed by monoliths around town and around the state. Mt. Pleasant needed to define its own identity to fuel community pride, jumpstart economic engines, and expand perception beyond “just a college town?”

Mt. Pleasant, Michigan

Identity through diversity

Located in the “middle of the mitten” [of Michigan], an idyllic community had been overshadowed by monoliths around town and around the state. Mt. Pleasant needed to define its own identity to fuel community pride, jumpstart economic engines, and expand perception beyond “just a college town?”

The Pure Michigan statewide advertising campaign provided a platform for promotion.

Only, small towns like Mt. Pleasant—lacking beach fun or big city appeal—struggled to pinpoint their positioning against other adjacent community brands like a regional university and the largest casino in the Midwest.

Living at the intersection of Native Americans, lifetime residents, boomerang families, and incoming students, what was the shared narrative and meaning of this place?

City manager

“My goal is for others to say this is a great place to live/work/play, without us saying it for them.”

Tour the place

To fully consider the complex human and built context—a Native American community, a mainstreet America, miles of golf courses, and a dynamic university—we needed experiential research. How did this place look and feel?

Meet the people

With so many segments of stakeholders, every voice had to be included. Could we find common ground within such diversity?

[Small business owners. Economic development officials. Local native tribespeople. Educators. Families. Students.]

Understand the vision

An initiative seven years in the making, there were plenty of opinions, plans, and visions. Tasked with a dozen explicit goals originating from all corners of the community, should we step back and begin with problem-framing?

Connect (?) the dots

As a last-minute creative pivot—necessary to begin to bridge—we needed to fully expose the divergent thinking among stakeholders. Could we use a human-centered design town hall to display the challenges for all to see?

Tour the place

To fully consider the complex human and built context—a Native American community, a mainstreet America, miles of golf courses, and a dynamic university—we needed experiential research. How did this place look and feel?

Meet the people

With so many segments of stakeholders, every voice had to be included. Could we find common ground within such diversity?

[Small business owners. Economic development officials. Local native tribespeople. Educators. Families. Students.]

Understand the vision

An initiative seven years in the making, there were plenty of opinions, plans, and visions. Tasked with a dozen explicit goals originating from all corners of the community, should we step back and begin with problem-framing?

Connect (?) the dots

As a last-minute creative pivot—necessary to begin to bridge—we needed to fully expose the divergent thinking among stakeholders. Could we use a human-centered design town hall to display the challenges for all to see?

As the list of stakeholders grew, everyone was asking a fundamental question: “What unites us?” But, maybe that was the wrong question. Instead, the narrative lived within the incredible diversity. After voting, plotting, and debating, it was clear: Mt. Pleasant is where many people come together. Introducing: Meet Here.

In place of developing a prescribed, banal tourism tagline, we empowered the community to democratize the story with a simple subjective framework that could scale and morph, yet carry symbolic meaning across the community and the state. We replaced the desire to surrender to an “all things to all people” framework with a “we the people” ambassadorship campaign.

Community reaction