A Simple Simple Short Shot
Art & design is important at all levels of a project - Does NASA think differently?
Even NASA engineers rely on designers for a pitches
The possibility of a project often comes down to the pitch. A good pitch or proposal can make a client change course or shift budgets; a poor pitch can easily dissuade a client from a good idea. I’ve seen the sad: hand-drawn, nearly stickfigure pencil drawings for event proposals, and I’ve seen the impressive: interactive websites as proposals for building renovations. It’s nearly impossible to be completely objective when your brain is hardwired for aesthetics.
A little known aspect of NASA is their Jet Propulsion Laboratory, responsible for design and art that complements the work done throughout the organization. One of the most useful ways the designers and artists contribute to the technological institution is how they work with engineers to create pitches. In fact, the $750 million Juno Mission may not have happened if it weren’t for the pitch worked out by engineers and designed by artists at JPL.
The designers asked the questions engineers needed to answer. They helped steer their way of thinking closer to layman’s terms, and helped create an overall look and even created models to represent how sections of the mission would go down. The art of the project made the science a reality. So if their art-supported pitch convinced NASA to spend almost a billion dollars of the US taxpayer’s money, just think what it could do for your campaign.
Check out their video “State of Creativity: Aerospace” – a mini documentary on the studio.
