Brittany Kugler designed and constructed a series of rain and trench coats that light up and have reflective tape designs called the Trench Coat Wayfinding project. These coats were used during a May 2018 First Friday arts event to make crossing a busy street without a crosswalk safer for those attending the events. This project also shined a light on the several arts businesses in the area (The Tube Factory, Listen Hear, Garfield Park Arts Center, and two active and participatory installations) that attendees did not realize we all taking part in First Friday events.
While the coats were fun to wear, Kugler discovered that a majority of the May 2018 First Friday attendees did not know there were other events happening within walking distance. Small maps placed in the coat pockets ended up being the hit of the May 2018 event and Kugler gave out 10 times more maps than coats. The data collected from surveys on the maps, head counts, and personal accounts was passed along to the local businesses participating in the event with the hope that this info might better serve their visibility and connectivity.
Kugler is continuing to dream about the inherent movement of the coats and what their next step might be.
