Design Week Portland

DWP

Design Week Portland (DWP) is an annual, city-wide festival celebrating creative professionals of all ilks. Design studios, retail shops, ad agencies and others invite the wider world into their creative corners. There are activities and talks hosted by DWP itself. There are events put on by the aforementioned studios, shops and agencies. Some companies simply host an open-house, offering cocktails, cheese plates and a look at how they do business.

DAD wanted to host an open house. But they also wanted it to be something special.

Creative Therapy

For months leading up to DWP, Tess and Peter had been experimenting with the concept of Creative Therapy. It was a way to explore the emotional process of selling creativity for a living. Because according to DAD, all creative professionals share certain experiences—and to some extent, those experiences come with complex emotions. (Rejection, self-doubt and imposter syndrome, to name a few.) Addressing this shared reality became the concept for DAD’s open house.

Four Stations to Happiness

The open house came to life as an experiential exhibit in four stages (or “stations”). Attendees entered the experience at stage one: Let It Go. There, they were encouraged to write an anonymous creative confession and pin it to the Studio DAD Confession Board. At stage two: Let It In, attendees experienced a brief audio/visual experience: the Studio DAD Mindcleansing Center ©. Stage three proved to be the most intense—and most popular—part of the event. Attendees entered an antechamber where they found Peter (a Certified Creative Therapy™ Counselor) sitting in a chair, surrounded by greenery, whalesong playing in the background. They were then encouraged to spend 60-seconds voicing their darkest creative fears, free of judgment or consequence. Following their session with Peter, guests were given a prescription, which could be redeemed at the Studio DAD In-House Pharmacy ®.

The DAD offices were transformed into the living Creative Therapy™ experience, where an affinity for monochromatic lighting was put to the test. Tess created a visual identity for every aspect of the event, down to the pins on the Studio DAD Confession Board ®. Custom posters, pens, pill bottles and pharmaceuticals (aka branded mints), note cards, prescription pads and installation pieces were all carefully designed. For the experience itself, Tess acted as hostess, welcoming hundreds of ailing creatives in a mere four-hour window.

Did it change anyone’s life? Hard to say. But it definitely proved that creative industry professionals can rest easy knowing that they’re not in these struggles alone.