Public Workshop

Yesterday was an opportunity for me to gain experience working with local citizens to envision what changes they would like to see for the future. We worked in multiple groups, and Noelle and I were fortunate enough to have the mayor, a council woman, and a retired educator at our table. We truly got to see politics at play as the mayor defended nearly every need and desire of the retired educator. It was also interesting to see how the council woman did not voice her true opinions while the mayor was sitting there. It was important to have the mayor involved because he did shed a lot of light onto what was already in the works for the community, but it made me realize that the people of the community may not be involved in or aware of what is regularly occurring around them or in the decision making process. I found it particularly interesting that there are services already existing in the community that most people may not know about. One of the most important things that I learned out of this experience is the need to disseminate materials to the public so they are aware of changes in their community. I also realized how important marketing may be for the community if they want to draw people and businesses back into the downtown. Right now, the community is relying on mere chance that a business owner will explore their community and hunt down vacant building owners to purchase their properties or to know how expensive it may be to renovate a building to meet building codes. The Town of Bamberg must attempt to reach out to the public to make them know they want a thriving downtown, that they can have local businesses cater to their needs, and that their needs can be met with what they already have in their own town. Sometimes putting lipstick on a pig is all that is needed to start a makeover.

Check out this link to see how Chapin, SC has incorporated its branding into signage: http://www.arnettmuldrow.com/casestudies/Chapin.pdf
We could use this same idea in Bamberg to inform the people that something is happening here, and that we are attempting to make some change. We could draw upon the existing sign that incorporates a cotton blossom, we could also draw in the historic cotton mill tower that is still standing near downtown into the sign. This brings the past into the branding and states - this is where we came from- now we are headed forward. I put these elements together to create what you see above. This is a rough idea of what I am thinking of for this community. This could be used for banners throughout the community, and elements from this image could be used in signage throughout the redevelopment area.